Newport Jazz Announces Lineup Topped By Wynton Marsalis, Trombone Shorty & Andra Day

Newport Jazz is set for July 30 through Aug. 1 at Fort Adams State Park in Newport, R.I.

The festival features Artist in Residence Robert Glasper on all three days, along with Charles Lloyd, Cory Wong, Makaya McCraven and four-time Grammy-nominated artist Yola becoming the sixth artist in the fest’s 60-year history to play both Jazz and Newport Folk. Ledisi is also booked to sing the songs of Nina Simone. 

Newport Jazz Artistic Director Christian McBride will take the stage on Friday for a performance as the Christian McBride Situation and then return on Sunday to take part in the “Jam Jawn” supergroup with John Scofield, Marco Benevento, and Joe Russo.

Tickets go on sale June 3 at 11 a.m. EST via Eventbrite, priced at $199 for three-day passes and $79 for single-day tickets. Single-day child tickets and discounted student tickets will also be available. 

Wednesday’s announcement notes that detailed COVID protocols will be announced closer to the event date but for now attendees should note they will “most likely be subject to certain health protocols required at the time of the event that include proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test, temperature checks, social distancing and mask-wearing.”

Newport Festivals Foundation is a 501(c)(3) profit organization with a mission “to foster the legacy and expand the impact of its Folk and Jazz Festivals through educational initiatives that celebrate innovation while preserving the deep traditions inherent in Jazz and Folk music.” Since 2018 the foundation has “provided more than 100 grants to music education programs in over 30 states, including instruments for public schools, funding for music instruction workshops for Veterans, Girls Rock Summer camps, after school music lessons for children with learning disabilities, and more” via NFF’s Artist Gives initiative. 

Early in the pandemic the foundation established the Newport Festivals Musician Relief Fund (MRF) to provide financial relief to musicians whose livelihood had been affected by the COVID-19 crisis and subsequent ban on public gatherings. Announced in March 2020, the Musician Relief Fund’s focus is on assisting musicians who have performed at Newport Jazz or Folk Festivals, as well as artists in the Rhode Island community, with other applications considered on a case-by-case basis. More than 450 musicians have received aid from the fund since April 2020. 

“It’s easy to feel paralyzed [by the effects of the pandemic]. It happens to me three or four times a day where I just  kind of look at my computer, and hearing these heart wrenching stories of artists, it can get overwhelming. But there’s no point in stopping. You realize you have to wake up everyday and you either get busy living or get busy dying. This is one thing I hope is contagious and viral – the desire to do something and give,” Executive Producer Jay Sweet told Pollstar in March 2020, the day after the fund was announced.

Because of COVID-19 capacity restrictions Newport Folk has been reimagined this year as Folk On!, two unique three-day events July 23-25 and July 26-28 at Fort Adams State Park. Tickets to the events – promising “surprise performances, storytelling, and workshops” – are sold out. Fans can request tickets via Newport Folks’ fan-to-fan ticket exchange on Lyte.