This year’s JVC Jazz Festival in Newport, Aug. 11 to 15, will be a tribute
to what’s great about jazz.
There will be salutes to early 20th-century powerhouses like Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie and Benny Goodman as well as the innovators like the spiritual John Coltrane and the eccentric Thelonious Monk.
According to festival founder George T. Wein, such a tribute on the 50th anniversary
of the venerable Newport tradition is just what the jazz scene needs as popular
culture has pushed the genre to the back racks of the music store.
“This festival is to let people know jazz is alive and well,” said Wein, who founded the event back in 1954 and is CEO of the event organizing company Festival Productions Inc. in New York City. “This anniversary is an opportunity to get jazz out there and expose more people to it.”
Performers scheduled to play are made up of the big names in jazz, including Dave Brubeck, Branford Marsalis, Harry Connick Jr. and Herby Hancock. There will be jam session-like performances with the big names leaving their bands behind to perform in all-star ensembles.
“There are innumerable times between 1954 and 1971 that this type of exciting jazz programming made Newport the event for which it is most remembered,” Wein said.
About 10,000 tickets to the event have been sold at this point and in all 25,000 people are expected to attend over the five-day period. Wein said it is already impossible to find a hotel room.
Evan Smith, vice president of marketing for the Newport Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, said the jazz festival is a part of a blockbuster lineup of events expected to bring in 5 percent more revenue to Newport’s tourism industry. This is a marked and welcome improvement considering there have been no revenue gains in the past three years.
Although poor weather could dampen expectations, “the schedule of events in Newport is one of the best we’ve had,” he said.
The 50th anniversary of the jazz festival is joined by the 50th anniversary of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, both of which have increased the spotlight on Newport by attracting wide national media attention.
Wein was the organizer behind the first Newport Jazz Festival, the first event of its kind dedicated to the American-born genre. Stars like singer Ella Fitzgerald and Gillespie performed for 13,000 people over two days and in the rain at the outdoor event.
A collection of articles of the event details the triumphs and near mishaps of that festival. This includes a story about some of Gillespie’s band members missing the Jamestown ferry three times while waiting in line to cross Narragansett Bay to Newport.
This particular tale ended with a police escort scurrying the musicians to the Newport Casino. For Wein, a jazz pianist and owner of a pair of Boston jazz clubs, the festival was a dream come true and at the end, proclaimed, “We’ll be back next year and for many years to come.”
Future festivals highlighted an evolving scene, including a number of crossover bands like funk, soul, avant-garde and other jazz hybrids.
Wein said the 50th anniversary festival is a bit different from recent years in that the focus of the music will be on jazz innovators. The all-star ensemble and the attention paid to the fathers of jazz has been well-received, he said.
“The response has been fantastic,” he said. “Although we don’t plan to stay this way.”
He said jazz makes up about 1 percent to 2 percent of the sales in music, but unlike other more popular forms like rock, it has a universal appeal and a dedicated following. Wein added that the exposure of this festival will be used to expand that base of support.
“If you open up your vista of life to include jazz, you are enhancing your life,” he said.
The festival begins Wednesday, Aug. 11, at Rogers High School with Brubeck, who has been coming to the festival since 1955, performing what is being billed as a “sacred music concert” called “The Gates of Justice.” He will be accompanied by vocalists, including The Providence Singers.
On Thursday, a concert to benefit the Newport Preservation Society will be played at The Breakers and will include host Bill Cosby, Brubek, McCoy Tyner, Roy Haynes, Rob Carter and others.
On Friday, Connick will play at The Newport Casino as part of his “Only You” tour.
The main festival takes place Saturday and Sunday on three different stages
at Fort Adams State Park and includes more than 125 performers.
