Newport Jazz Festival Artists Set to Perform Music From Other Countries

Thursday, May 17, 2018

GoLocalWorcester Lifestyle Team

Several artists attending the Newport Jazz Festival are set to introduce fans to various art forms from other countries.

Artists to Watch

Paris-based drummer Tony Allen will make his Newport debut on Friday, August 3.

Allen comes to the stage off of two CDs released in 2017. A Tribute to Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers is a four-track EP that takes Allen back to his primary influence - performing the Jazz Messenger classics, "A Night in Tunisia," "Moanin," "The Drum Thunder Suite" and "Politely."

Allen's full-length CD, The Source is a worthy complement to the EP, with its fuller, fleshed-out arrangements give some of the tracks like "Moody Boy," and "Push and Pull," add a New Orleans feel, contrasted by the Tokyo-fied take on "Cruising."

New York-based alto saxophonist/composer/educator Rudresh Mahanthappa has molded and melded the music of his ancestral heritage into a swinging synthesis where antiquity and modernity exist on equal and evocative terms.

Mahanthappa's virtuosity is self-evident on his dozen-plus recordings, including his 2015 Charlie Parker-influenced CD, Bird Calls, and on his 2017 recording Agrima with Indo-Pak Coalition, his 20 year-old ensemble, with guitarist Rez Abbasi, and percussionist/tabla player Dan Weiss, which fuses classical South Asian music with electronics, pop elements and jazz.

Israeli-New York saxophonist/clarinetist Anat Cohen has concentrated on Brazilian music in her repertoire - from the bossa nova to the lesser-known, choro genre, which includes the clarinet as a leading instrument, as evidenced by her CD's Luminosa, and Claroscuro.

She comes to Newport on Saturday, August 4, with the Rio-born, arranger and seven-string guitar virtuoso, Marcello Gonçalves to perform selections from their Grammy-nominated 2017 recording, Outra Coisa: The Music of Moacir Santos.

Grammy Award-winning Dominican pianist/composer/educator/lecturer Michel Camilo received critical and audience acclaim for his trio CD Thru my Eyes, his appearance in the 2000 Latin jazz documentary Calle 54 and his 2017 recording, Live in London.

The Cuban-born, New York-based wunderkind Harold Lopez-Nussa won a piano contest sponsored by Montreux Jazz Festival producer Claude Nobs and recorded his first CD, Canciones in 2007. Six years later, he released New Day, his first CD on an American label, followed by Havana-Paris-Dakar, and his latest, El Viaje. He also was featured in the 2011 documentary/soundtrack Ninety Miles with saxophonist David Sanchez, vibraphonist Stefon Harris, and trumpeter Christian Scott.

Canadian soprano saxophonist/flutist Jane Bunnett was the spark that lit the Afro-Cuban fire. With her group, Spirits of Havana, Bunnett and her partner, trumpeter Larry Cramer, started going to Cuba in the eighties, playing with, and learning from Cuban musicians.

Newport Jazz Festival

The 2018 Newport Jazz Festival will run from August 3 to August 5 at Fort Adams State Park and the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

Tickets are on sale now.

Click here for more information.

2017 Newport Jazz Festival - Friday Highlights

The 2017 Newport Jazz Festival kicked of its weekend of smooth music at Fort Adams State Park yesterday.

Berklee Global Jazz Institute Workshop Ensemble

Newport Jazz Festival Artists Set to Perform Music From Other Countries

2017 Newport Jazz Festival - Friday Highlights

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