Carolyn McClair Public Relations

Saxophone Summit!
Newport Jazz Festival® Presented by Natixis Global Asset Management
August 5 – 7, 2011
International Tennis Hall of Fame at Newport Casino
Fort Adams State Park

Produced by George Wein and the Newport Festivals Foundation

Jazz Journalist Eugene Holley, Jr.
Writes about the Magic of the Sax

NEWPORT, RI – Jazz is the ultimate music of collaboration – or, as they say in today’s younger generation, “collab.”  For six decades, George Wein’s Newport Jazz Festival® – now presented by Natixis Global Asset Management – has been the scene of many exciting and historic mash-ups featuring saxophonists. This year’s edition of the festival exhibits an unprecedented array of sax masters old and new.

Tenor saxophonist Ravi Coltrane could have done it the easy way; he could have cashed in on being the son of John and Alice Coltrane, and debut on the scene before he was musically mature. But, he worked on his singular sound, took his time, and released a handful of well-crafted CDs, and now, takes to the Newport stage with his quartet on Sunday, August 7, as a musician well-versed in his father’s idiom, along with the contributions of all of the saxophone titans.

One of those 20^th Century sax masters who hired Ravi Coltrane as a sideman was the highly iconoclastic and influential Chicago-born alto saxophonist/composer/bandleader Steve Coleman, who led the Brooklyn-based aggregation known as MBASE during the so-called Young lions period of the 1980’s, and single-handedly created a jazz genre characterized his odd-metered, and uniquely textured compositions that embraced post-bop, Asian, Afro-Cuban and African music. On Saturday, August 6, Coleman and his Five Elements step on the Newport stage with their patented brand of cosmo-quantum brand of collective improvisation heard on their latest release, The Mancy of Sound.

The Puerto Rican alto saxist Miguel Zenón, a profound and impassioned improviser, whose jazz-laced explorations into the vivid and varied inventions and dimensions of Latin music earned him the prestigious MacArthur Genius Grant in 2008, blows into Newport on Sunday, performing selections from his forthcoming CD, Alma Adentro: The Puerto Rican Songbook. It features the music of Puerto Rican composers Rafael Hernandez, Bobby Capo, Tite Curet, Pedro Flores, and Sylvia Rexach, with Zenón’s quartet, augmented by a 10-piece wind ensemble conducted by the Argentinean keyboardist/composer Guillermo Klein. Zenón and company will  play island music with Afro rhythms and Hispanic melodies that span from San Juan to Sugar Hill.

But it gets even better! Those aforementioned musicians will join forces for a historic collaboration – A Meeting of Saxophone Masters featuring Steve Coleman, Ravi Coltrane, and Miguel Zenón on Sunday for a special set, which figures to be one of the most anticipated events on the jazz calendar.

The Festival’s “saxual” magic continues throughout the weekend. The transcendentally-hip tenor sax master Charles Lloyd and his Sangam combo teams up with Indian tabla master Zakir Hussain, with James Farm drummer Eric Harland to dispense summer-friendly, Lester Young/Traneish love vibes on Sunday. The blazing Filipino-American, Illinois-born alto saxist Jon Irabagon, winner of the 2008 Thelonious Monk Saxophone Competition, fronts the irrepressible unit Mostly Other People Do The Killing on Saturday.  The forward-thinking, Indian-American alto saxophonist Rudresh Manhanthappa, a master of improvisation; American and sub-continental, and his Chicago counterpart Bunky Green, a legendary educator whose learning didn’t stand in the way of his swinging, bring their dynamic duo to Newport on Sunday.  And the 19-year-old, alto saxophonist/singer Grace Kelly from Massachusetts makes a triumphant return to Newport on Saturday, building on her spectacular, sizzling set last year. This year she brings the mythic alto sax giant Phil Woods – who recorded with her on her latest CD, Man With the Hat – to the bandstand. And, it promises to be a masterclass that she and the audience won’t soon forget!

Produced by George Wein and the Newport Festivals Foundation, the Newport Jazz Festival Presented by Natixis Global Asset Management takes over Newport, RI, August 5-7 at the International Tennis Hall of Fame at Newport Casino and Fort Adams State Park. The Festival features Wynton Marsalis and Michael Feinstein “Come Fly with Me” with Special Guest Joe Negri on Friday, August 5.   On Saturday August 6, don’t miss  Wynton Marsalis; Esperanza Spalding and Friends; Hiromi; Regina Carter’s Reverse Thread; Al Di Meola World Sinfonia Pursuit of Radical Rhapsody Tour 2011 with Special Guest Gonzalo Rubalcaba; Eddie Palmieri Latin Jazz Band; Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue; Randy Weston’s African Rhythms Trio; Michel Camilo “Mano a Mano with Giovanni Hidalgo and John Benitez;  Ambrose Akinmusire Quintet; Joey DeFrancesco Trio; Grace Kelly with guest Phil Woods; Steve Coleman and Five Elements; Mostly Other People Do the Killing; and New Black Eagle Jazz Band.

On Sunday, August 7, catch Angélique Kidjo; James Farm with Joshua Redman, Aaron Parks, Matt Penman and Eric Harland; Charles Lloyd’s Sangam featuring Zakir Hussain and Eric Harland; Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue; Hiromi: The Trio Project featuring Anthony Jackson and Simon Phillips; Mingus Big Band; Ravi Coltrane Quartet; Esperanza Spalding and Friends; Brubeck Brothers Quartet with Special Guest Dave Brubeck; Ravi Coltrane Quartet; Apex: Rudresh Mahanthappa & Bunky Green; Miguel Zenón presents the Puerto Rican Songbook with conductor/arranger Guillermo Klein; John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble; Avishai Cohen’s Triveni with special guest Anat Cohen; Berklee College of Music: Mario Castro Quintet; Plus a special bonus set: A Meeting of Saxophone Masters featuring Steve Coleman, Ravi Coltrane and Miguel Zenón.

TICKETS & OTHER INFORMATION

Tickets for the Newport Jazz Festival Presented by Natixis Global Asset Management are on sale worldwide through www.ticketmaster.com and www.newportjazzfest.net as well as by phone, by mail and at the new Festival office at the Alex and Ani store at One Bowen’s Wharf during limited hours. General admission tickets (single-day passes only) also can be purchased at the Newport Visitor Information Center, located at 23 America’s Cup Avenue.  For general information, craft vendor information or to leave a message for festival staff, call (401) 848-5055.  For more information, log on to www.newportjazzfest.net.

Partners

Presenting sponsor Natixis Global Asset Management is one of the world’s leading asset managers. The 2011 Newport Jazz Festival Presented by Natixis Global Asset Management also celebrates support from Alex and Ani (sponsor of the Alex and Ani Harbor Stage), Amstel Light, DownBeat, NPR Music, Jazz Times and travel partners JazzFest Travel Inc., Hyatt Regency Newport, The Newport Harbor Hotel and Marina, Marriott Newport and Hotel Viking Newport.

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Schedule Subject to Change

The 2011 Newport Jazz Festival® is a production of Newport Festivals Foundation, Inc., a pending 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, under license from Festival Productions, Inc. and George Wein; all rights reserved

Berklee’s Mario Castro Quintet performs at the Newport Jazz Festival,
presented by Natixis Global Asset Management
Students join star-studded lineup, including many Berklee alumni

August 1, 2011, Boston, MA – Berklee College of Music’s Mario Castro Quintet will perform at the 57th annual Newport Jazz Festival, which features some of the most innovative acts in jazz, on four stages, over three days. Castro’s band, composed of some of Berklee’s finest musicians, has been a regular fixture at Wally’s Café, the legendary Boston club where many of the best young jazz players have cut their teeth.

The Quintet’s performance will be heard later that day on NPRmusic.org, as part of NPR’s series of live recordings captured at the 2011 Newport Jazz Festival.

The Newport Jazz Festival takes place August 5-7. The Mario Castro Quintet will perform on Sunday, August 7, at 11:15 a.m. on the festival’s Harbor Stage, at Fort Adams State Park, Harrison Avenue, in Newport, RI. For tickets and information, visit http://www.newportjazzfest.net.

The Mario Castro Quintet joins a festival lineup filled with Berklee alumni, among them Dan Brubeck, Avishai and Anat Cohen, Henry Cole, Al DiMeola, Hans Glawischnig, Hiromi, Grace Kelly, Guillermo Klein, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Matt Penman, Walter Smith III, Esperanza Spalding, and Miguel Zenón.

Hailed by the New York Times as “the festival that put jazz festivals on the map,” the Newport Jazz Festival was founded by jazz pianist George Wein in 1954 as the first outdoor music festival of its kind devoted entirely to jazz. Referred to as “a Mecca of jazz,” the event draws thousands of people from all over the world to its uniquely picturesque outdoor stages at the International Tennis Hall of Fame and Fort Adams State Park.

Natixis Global Asset Management is the presenting sponsor of the Newport Jazz Festival.  Headquartered in Paris and Boston, Natixis provides investment solutions to both institutions and individual clients.  The company also sponsors

Berklee’s Summer in the City music series, including the Berklee BeanTown Jazz Festival.

Mario Castro Quintet – Bios:

Mario Castro – From Humacao, Puerto Rico, saxophonist Mario Castro began his musical studies at the age of 12, and later became interested primarily in jazz.  In 2004 he performed in the Puerto Rico Heineken Jazz Festival with the Berklee in Puerto Rico Big Band, and his performance brought him to Berklee.  He has performed with a great variety of artists and groups such as the Puerto Rico Philharmonic Orchestra, Giovanni Hidalgo, Humberto Ramirez, Mike Clark, Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez, Davíd Sanchez, Paoli Mejias and many more. Today Mario leads his quintet, and attends Berklee full time.

David Neves – Born in 1989, trumpeter David Neves is the winner of the 2010 International Trumpet Guild Jazz Competition.  He has just completed his studies at Berklee College of Music and the Berklee Global Jazz Institute, where he’s had the pleasure of studying with some of his favorite jazz musicians, including Danilo Perez, Joe Lovano, Ben Street, John Patitucci, Tiger Okoshi, and Hal Crook, to name a few.

Jonathan Pinson – Jonathan’s dynamic and explosive percussion sound has been described as that of a “young Elvin Jones”. His formal music training began at the age of six with instruction on the piano. He transitioned to the drum set in 1999 with instruction by Jerry Kalaf, at Los Angeles’ Colburn School of Performing Arts, up until 2007.  He’s been fortunate to have the opportunity to study with the late, great Billy Higgins, at the World Stage in Los Angeles, California. Jonathan came to Berklee on the full-tuition Jimmy Lyons Scholarship, awarded at the Monterey Jazz Festival, and named after the festival’s founder.

Tamir Shmerling – A double and electric bass player from Israel, Tamir completed his mandatory national service as a bass player for the Israeli Defense Forces Orchestra from 2005 to 2008, performing with the orchestra around Israel, Europe and the US. He held the bass chair in both the Tel Aviv and Holon big bands, directed by Amikam Kimelman and Guri Agmon respectively, and in the “Israeli Idol” TV show band. Prior to coming to Berklee, Tamir studied at the Rimon School of Jazz and Contemporary Music on a scholarship, and was a student of Eli Magen from 2008 – 2009.

KyuMin Shim was born in Seoul, Korea in 1984 and began to play the piano at age five. He began with focused on classical music, but soon after he started playing the jazz piano, he won the performance prize in Jazz Music Competition held by Seoul Institute of The Arts (SITA), one of the best music schools in Korea. A year later, SITA presented him with a full scholarship.  Since 2009, he’s been studying at Berklee on scholarship, where he works with Joanne Brackeen, Danilo Pérez, Ed Tomassi, to name a few.

TICKETS & OTHER INFORMATION

Tickets for the Newport Jazz Festival Presented by Natixis Global Asset Management are on sale worldwide through www.ticketmaster.com and www.newportjazzfest.net as well as by phone, by mail and at the new Festival office at the Alex and Ani store at One Bowen’s Wharf during limited hours. General admission tickets (single-day passes only) also can be purchased at the Newport Visitor Information Center, located at 23 America’s Cup Avenue.  For general information, craft vendor information or to leave a message for festival staff, call (401) 848-5055.  For more information, log on to www.newportjazzfest.net.

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Veteran Jazz Stars Shine
at Newport Jazz Festival® Presented by Natixis Global Asset Management
August 5 – 7, 2011
International Tennis Hall of Fame at Newport Casino
Fort Adams State Park

Produced by George Wein and the Newport Festivals Foundation™

Jazz Writer Eugene Holley Takes A Look at
Veterans of Jazz Performing at Newport Festival

NEWPORT, RI – Real jazz is music for grown-ups, played by grown-ups.  And, as the impressive array of artists assembled at the 2011 Newport Jazz Festival® Presented by Natixis Global Asset Management aurally illustrates, with rare exceptions, most musicians arrive at their own sound when they hit their thirties and forties.  So when you see them, it’s not about “catching a rising star,” it’s more like witnessing an assemblage of distinct musical planets circumnavigating their own orbits, encompassing the tradition and their own individual approaches to that tradition.

The ageless octogenarian pianist/bandleader Randy Weston has orbited all of the jazz and blues-based inventions and dimensions of the African Diaspora for more than six decades.  Though born in “The Village of Brooklyn,” Weston is a proud global citizen of a proud and profound Black planet, with parental lineages that include Jamaica, Panama, and the American south.  Pianistically, he is a descendant of the great jazz pianists: Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Nat King Cole and John Lewis. His touch on the keyboard is bone deep; as if each finger on his six foot seven-inch frame is weighted the ancestral ache of the blood, sweat and tears of a people.  As a composer, Mr. Weston has penned some of the most identifiable jazz standards of the modern era, including the hip-notizing “Little Niles,” and the ebullient “Hi-Fly.” Not one to merely pay lip service to the African origins of the music, Weston lived in the Motherland, ran a jazz club in Morocco, and established life links with the mysterious Gnawa musicians of that country.   A recipient of an NEA Jazz Masters Award, and the co-author of a long-awaited autobiography, African Rhythms – co-written by Willard Jenkins – Weston comes to the Newport stage on Saturday August 6, 2011, with his African Rhythms Trio, featuring his long-time cohorts bassist Alex Blake and drummer Neil Clarke, for a sizzling and spiritual set that best exemplifies the Roman historian Pliny the Elder’ ancient dictum, “Out of Africa, always something new.”

Another wonderful African export (by way of Detroit) is the ever-inventive and elegant violinist Regina Carter. She was a youngster when she soloed on the on the seventies hit “This Must be Heaven” with the R&B group Bloodstone, and she launched into her creative wellspring as a leader in the eighties and nineties, working with jazz masters like Kenny Barron, Danilo Perez; R&B/hip-hop stars including Aretha Franklin, Lauryn Hill, and rock icon Billy Joel.  And she’s made jazz recordings range from a soulful Motor City tribute to her universally acclaimed Paganini After a Dream, where she made an incredible pilgrimage to Italy to play the legendary violinist’s violin nicknamed “The Cannon.” She’s gone from swing to pop, bossa nova, Latin and classical, and when she takes the Newport stage on Saturday, August 6, she reprises the jazz-meets-West Africa grooves she laid down on her latest recording Reverse Thread – a kind of musical middle passage from the New World to the Old, piloted by Carter, kora virtuoso Yacouba Sissoko, accordion master Will Holshouser, bassist Chris Lightcap and drummer/percussion Alvester Garnett. What Carter and company will do is invert the Middle Passage with a musical language that shares a trans-Atlantic Black past and looks forward to a globally brown future.

When one ponders the future of the jazz organ, Philadelphia’s Joey De Francesco must always be in that discussion. A child prodigy of a proud Italian family, Francesco made his emulating the best of the modern organ tradition – from Jimmy Smith and Richard “Groove” Holmes to Larry Young.  Before he could drive he worked with Hank Mobley, Philly Joe Jones, and when he emerged in the eighties, he also gigged with Miles Davis, and recorded a string of grooving CDs for the Columbia label. De Francesco, brings a no-nonsense, straight-ahead triad to the festival stage on Saturday, with drummer Byron Landham and guitarist Paul Bollenbeck for a foot-stomping, head-bobbing set that will feature selections from his forthcoming CD appropriately entitled “40,” celebrating the four decades he’s been stealing the scene on the scene.

If  you combine the careers of saxophonist Joshua Redman, drummer Eric Harland, keyboardist Aaron Parks, and bassist Matt Penman – collectively known as the supergroup, James Farm – which is also the same as  their debut  CD that puts a spin on 21^st Century improvisation, electronica, classical, folk,  and pop idioms  – it would tally dozens of recordings as leaders and sidemen,  along with some very distinguished stints with Charles Lloyd,  Dave Douglas, Terence Blanchard, and Joe Lovano; highlight diverse regional musical accents from Berkeley, CA, New Zealand, Seattle and Houston; and deliver  intricate and imaginative takes on the music of Radiohead!  Founded in 2009, the quartet previously worked together as members of the SFJazz Collective from 2005 to 2007, toured in 2010, and got their sound and group ID together before they recorded their first CD in the upstate New York recording studio called The Clubhouse. What this foursome brings to Newport on Sunday, August 7, is not a clichéd, market-driven aggregate of stars, but a conscious and committed group of swinging and sensitive musicians who happen to be stars, who selflessly blend their artistic lights together to offer listeners a new and brighter jazz flame fueled by the creativity of four masters; one small jazz nation under a groove.

Produced by George Wein and the Newport Festivals Foundation, the Newport Jazz Festival Presented by Natixis Global Asset Management takes over Newport, RI, August 5-7 at the International Tennis Hall of Fame at Newport Casino and Fort Adams State Park. The Festival features Wynton Marsalis and Michael Feinstein “Come Fly with Me” with Special Guest Joe Negri on Friday, August 5. Don’t miss  Wynton Marsalis; Esperanza Spalding and Friends; Hiromi; Regina Carter’s Reverse Thread; Al Di Meola World Sinfonia Pursuit of Radical Rhapsody Tour 2011 with Special Guest Gonzalo Rubalcaba; Eddie Palmieri Latin Jazz Band; Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue; Randy Weston’s African Rhythms Trio; Michel Camilo “Mano a Mano with Giovanni Hidalgo and John Benitez;  Ambrose Akinmusire Quintet; Joey DeFrancesco Trio; Grace Kelly with guest Phil Woods; Steve Coleman and Five Elements; Mostly Other People Do the Killing; and New Black Eagle Jazz Band; on Saturday, August 6.

On Sunday, August 7, catch Angélique Kidjo; James Farm with Joshua Redman, Aaron Parks, Matt Penman and Eric Harland; Charles Lloyd’s Sangam featuring Zakir Hussain and Eric Harland; Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue; Hiromi: The Trio Project featuring Anthony Jackson and Simon Phillips; Mingus Big Band; Ravi Coltrane Quartet; Esperanza Spalding and Friends; Brubeck Brothers Quartet with Special Guest Dave Brubeck; Ravi Coltrane Quartet; Apex: Rudresh Mahanthappa & Bunky Green; Miguel Zenón presents the Puerto Rican Songbook with conductor/arranger Guillermo Klein; John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble; Avishai Cohen’s Triveni with special guest Anat Cohen; Berklee College of Music: Mario Castro Quintet; Plus a special bonus set: A Meeting of Saxophone Masters featuring Steve Coleman, Ravi Coltrane and Miguel Zenón.

TICKETS & OTHER INFORMATION

Tickets for the Newport Jazz Festival Presented by Natixis Global Asset Management are on sale worldwide through www.ticketmaster.com and www.newportjazzfest.net as well as by phone, by mail and at the new Festival office at the Alex and Ani store at One Bowen’s Wharf during limited hours. General admission tickets (single-day passes only) also can be purchased at the Newport Visitor Information Center, located at 23 America’s Cup Avenue.  For general information, craft vendor information or to leave a message for festival staff, call (401) 848-5055.  For more information, log on to www.newportjazzfest.net.

Partners

Presenting sponsor Natixis Global Asset Management is one of the world’s leading asset managers. The 2011 Newport Jazz Festival Presented by Natixis Global Asset Management also celebrates support from Alex and Ani (sponsor of the Alex and Ani Harbor Stage), Amstel Light, DownBeat, NPR Music, Jazz Times and travel partners JazzFest Travel Inc., Hyatt Regency Newport, The Newport Harbor Hotel and Marina, Marriott Newport and Hotel Viking Newport.

#  #  #

Schedule Subject to Change

The 2011 Newport Jazz Festival® is a production of Newport Festivals Foundation, Inc., a pending 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, under license from Festival Productions, Inc. and George Wein; all rights reserved

A Keyboard Kaleidoscope: Four Generations of Jazz Piano
Perform at Newport Jazz Festival Presented by Natixis Global Asset Management
August 5 – 7, 2011
International Tennis Hall of Fame at Newport CasinoFort Adams State Park

Produced by George Wein and the Newport Festivals Foundation™

Jazz Writer Eugene Holley Celebrates Pianists
Performing at 2011 Newport Jazz Festival

NEWPORT, RI – No other instrument in jazz is as complex and comprehensive as the piano. By extension, the pianists who play it represent all of the vivid and varied complexities of the art form, from the percussive pianisms of Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk, to the get down grooves of Horace Silver, and the harmonic hurricanes generated by McCoy Tyner. The 2011 edition of the Newport Jazz Festival® Presented by Natixis Global Asset Management, set for August 5 – 7, features four generations of piano royalty.

Sitting at the top of the ivory throne is the majestic, 6’ 7”, octogenarian pianist/composer Randy Weston: the music’s most profound living link to Africa, born in Brooklyn to parents whose roots are in Jamaica, Panama, and the American south.  Pianistically, he is a descendant of Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Nat King Cole and John Lewis, which accounts for his storytelling, bone deep keyboard touch; anchored in the ancient, ancestral ache of the blood, sweat and tears of his people.  Mr. Weston has written some of the most identifiable jazz standards of the modern era, including the hip-notizing “Little Niles,” and the immortally cool “Hi-Fly.” Unlike a lot of people who talk about Africa, Weston actually lived in the Motherland, ran a jazz club in Morocco, and established life links with the mysterious Gnawa musicians of that country.   A recipient of an NEA Jazz Masters Award, and the co-author of a long-awaited autobiography, African Rhythms – co-written by Willard Jenkins – Weston comes to the Newport stage on Saturday August 6, 2011, with his African Rhythms Trio, featuring his long-time cohorts bassist Alex Blake and drummer Neil Clarke, for a sizzling and spiritual set for the head, heart  and hips.

Another equally and eternally hip pianist is Spanish Harlem’s indestructible pianist/composer/bandleader Eddie Palmieri.  His driving rhythms and finessed phrasing perfectly bridge Afro-Cuban rhythms and jazz, with a drum-like, Thelonious Monk-meets McCoy Tyner-style dissonance that makes them dance from Havana to Harlem. He was an innovator of salsa music with his two-trombone La Perfecta groups in the sixties, and his amazing Fania records make him “The Sun of Latin Music.” And he’ll shine his Afro-Antillean, clave-coded rays on his generations of fans  when he takes to the Newport stage on Saturday, August, 6 with his Latin Jazz Band featuring:  trumpeter Brian Lynch, baritone sax master Ronnie Cuber, Louis Fouche on alto sax, percussionists Vicente “Little Johnny” Rivero, Jose Claussell, and Orlando Vega, and bassist Luques Curtis. Mr. Palmieri will bring some Cubop grooves worthy of Minton’s Playhouse or the Palladium.

Michel Camilo – the Dominican Republic’s answer to Art Tatum – is younger than Maestro Palmieri, but, as George Wein discovered years ago, and as many saw in his scene-stealing segment in the film Calle 54, he also brings the Afro-Caribbean heat to the mainland. A classically-trained pianist, who speaks the musical languages of bop, mambo and his native land’s Afro-derived pambiche rhythms, Camilo has released many critically-acclaimed recordings in an impressive array of settings, from solo, duo and orchestral. But the  trio remains his best format, as evidenced by his new CD, Mano a Mano with master conguero Giovanni Hidalgo (recorded a killer album with Camilo entitled Hands of Rhythm in 1997) and bassist John Benitez. A refreshingly upbeat musician who always brings his best to the bandstand, Camilo and company will make your festival seat moot, because you won’t be sitting down when they are through with you!

The term “last but not least” certainly applies to the thirty-something Japanese wunderkind Hiromi Uehara. A protégé of the legendary Ahmad Jamal, this baby-faced, Berklee-educated diminutive dynamo is exploring and incorporating the jazz piano tradition into her special brand of swinging Nippon soul. Equally adept in acoustic and electric settings, Hiromi is a once-in-a-generation combination of power, precision and passion that usually is not found in someone so young. On her latest CD, Voice, supported by bassist Anthony Jackson and drummer Simon Phillips, Hiromi shows how 21^st Century piano jazz is supposed to sound, especially when she puts her inventive vibe on “Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 8, Pathetique,” Whether she’s in solo mode on August 6 or with the  trio the next day,  Hiromi offers a glimpse of jazz piano’s future.

Produced by George Wein and the Newport Festivals Foundation, the Newport Jazz Festival Presented by Natixis Global Asset Management takes over Newport, RI, August 5-7 at the International Tennis Hall of Fame at Newport Casino and Fort Adams State Park. The Festival features Wynton Marsalis and Michael Feinstein “Come Fly with Me” with Special Guest Joe Negri on Friday, August 5. Don’t miss  Wynton Marsalis; Esperanza Spalding and Friends; Hiromi; Regina Carter’s Reverse Thread; Al Di Meola World Sinfonia Pursuit of Radical Rhapsody Tour 2011 with Special Guest Gonzalo Rubalcaba; Eddie Palmieri Latin Jazz Band; Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue; Randy Weston’s African Rhythms Trio; Michel Camilo “Mano a Mano with Giovanni Hidalgo and John Benitez;  Ambrose Akinmusire Quintet; Joey DeFrancesco Trio; Grace Kelly with guest Phil Woods; Steve Coleman and Five Elements; Mostly Other People Do the Killing; and New Black Eagle Jazz Band; on Saturday, August 6.

On Sunday, August 7, catch Angélique Kidjo; James Farm with Joshua Redman, Aaron Parks, Matt Penman and Eric Harland; Charles Lloyd’s Sangam featuring Zakir Hussain and Eric Harland; Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue; Hiromi: The Trio Project featuring Anthony Jackson and Simon Phillips; Mingus Big Band; Ravi Coltrane Quartet; Esperanza Spalding and Friends; Brubeck Brothers Quartet with Special Guest Dave Brubeck; Ravi Coltrane Quartet; Apex: Rudresh Mahanthappa & Bunky Green; Miguel Zenón presents the Puerto Rican Songbook with conductor/arranger Guillermo Klein; John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble; Avishai Cohen’s Triveni with special guest Anat Cohen; Berklee College of Music: Mario Castro Quintet; Plus a special bonus set: A Meeting of Saxophone Masters featuring Steve Coleman, Ravi Coltrane and Miguel Zenón.

TICKETS & OTHER INFORMATION

Tickets for the Newport Jazz Festival Presented by Natixis Global Asset Management are on sale worldwide through www.ticketmaster.com and www.newportjazzfest.net as well as by phone, by mail and at the new Festival office at the Alex and Ani store at One Bowen’s Wharf during limited hours. General admission tickets (single-day passes only) also can be purchased at the Newport Visitor Information Center, located at 23 America’s Cup Avenue.  For general information, craft vendor information or to leave a message for festival staff, call (401) 848-5055.  For more information, log on to www.newportjazzfest.net.

Partners

Presenting sponsor Natixis Global Asset Management is one of the world’s leading asset managers. The 2011 Newport Jazz Festival Presented by Natixis Global Asset Management also celebrates support from Alex and Ani (sponsor of the Alex and Ani Harbor Stage), Amstel Light, DownBeat, NPR Music, Jazz Times and travel partners JazzFest Travel Inc., Hyatt Regency Newport, The Newport Harbor Hotel and Marina, Marriott Newport and Hotel Viking Newport.

#  #  #

Schedule Subject to Change

The 2011 Newport Jazz Festival® is a production of Newport Festivals Foundation, Inc., a pending 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, under license from Festival Productions, Inc. and George Wein; all rights reserved

Jazz Journalist Eugene Holley Takes a Look
at Brass Masters Performing in Newport

Brass Appeal
Brass Masters Sound Off
at Newport Jazz Festival® Presented by Natixis Global Asset Management

August 5 – 7, 2011
International Tennis Hall of Fame at Newport Casino
Fort Adams State Park

Produced by George Wein and the Newport Festivals Foundation

NEWPORT, RI – From its inception in the fifties, the Newport Jazz Festival has been the place to hear the full scope of the jazz trumpet tradition: from the promethean horn of Louis Armstrong and the re-birth of the cool Prince of Darkness Miles Davis, to the debut of the late20th Century Crescent City crown prince of classic jazz, Wynton Marsalis. And the 2011 edition of this historic event continues to spotlight all of the magnificent hues and grooves of the instrument.

The world-renowned Grammy and Pulitzer Prize-winning trumpeter, composer, bandleader, humanitarian and educator Wynton Marsalis has been busy since his appearance last year at the festival, as evidenced by his never-ending tours with Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and his new Blue Note recording, Here We Go Again: Celebrating The Genius Of Ray Charles, with vocalist Norah Jones and country star Willie Nelson. And if those weren’t enough, Marsalis recently began teaching a music course entitled “Music as Metaphor” at Harvard University. But at his core, the ubiquitous Mr. Marsalis is a master musician, as he will show when he headlines a quicksilver quintet on August 5 and 6, consisting of pianist Dan Nimmer, saxophonist Walter Blanding, drummer Ali Jackson and bassist Carlos Enriquez.  Expect nothing less than Marsalis’ Congo square-coded clarion call to conjure the inner and outer limits of the tradition that encompasses the full fire of the fundamentals: 4/4 swing, waltzes, ballads, Afro-Hispanic rhythms and, of course, the blues.

Just as Marsalis announced to the world that a new jazz star was born when he debuted at the festival in the early eighties, so to, does the critically-acclaimed Oakland native Ambrose Akinmusire. The 28 year-old trumpeter burst on the scene with two impressive first place awards at the 2007 Thelonious Monk International Trumpet Competition and at the Carmine Caruso International Jazz Trumpet Solo Competition along with the release of his debut recording Prelude To Cora on the Fresh Sound New Talent label that same year. In addition to his BA from the Manhattan School of Music and his MA from the University of Southern California, Akinmusire picked up some invaluable experience as a sideman with Joe Henderson, Steve Coleman, Vijay Iyer, Esperanza Spalding and Jason Moran, who featured Akinmusire on his re-creation of Thelonious Monk’s 1957 Town Hall Concert. In 2011, Moran co-produced Akinmusire’s Blue Note debut, When The Heart Emerges Glistening, a scintillating, 21^st Century post-bop tour de force which earned the leader the Up And Coming Artist of the Year and Trumpeter of the Year awards from the Jazz Journalists Association.  Akinmusire’s formidable and fluid trumpet lines – buoyed by drummer Justin Brown, bassist Harish Raghavan, pianist Sam Harris, and tenor saxophonist Sam Harris – will appear on the bandstand on August 6 – be prepared to be literally blown away by this emerging trumpet king in-the-making.

Trombonist/trumpeter Troy Andrews AKA Trombone Shorty is already a star in the heavens of entertainment. His fans include Wynton Marsalis, Jimmy Fallon, Dave Matthews and Bono. A graduate of the famed New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts (where the Marsalises, Kent, Marlon, Rachel and Stephanie Jordan, Harry Connick, Jr. and Terence Blanchard graduated), he played with Bo Diddley when he was six, and he enjoyed a very prominent gig with rocker Lenny Kravitz, and also worked with Mos Def, Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton. And, all of this was before his scene-stealing appearances on the hit HBO series Treme – the legendary Black New Orleans neighborhood that can arguably be called the birthplace of jazz, where he was born. Then he hit the ground running with the release of his hit Grammy-nominated 2010 Verve debut CD, Backatown, featuring Shorty’s band, Orleans Avenue, and universally lauded as one of the best releases of the year from Billboard, and OffBeat magazine. An energetic, crowd pleasing performer who easily blends R&B, jazz and second line cadences and rhythms into a combustible sonic stew he calls “Supafunkrock,” guaranteed to rock the house, Shorty comes to the stage for two shows on August 6 and 7 with his musical co-horts in crime; bassist Mike Ballard, Tim McFatter on tenor sax, guitarist Pete Murano, baritone saxophonist Dan Oestreicher, Joey Peebles on drums and percussionist Dwayne Williams.

Wynton Marsalis, Ambrose Akinmusire and Trombone Shorty all bring to this edition of the Newport Jazz Festival Presented by Natixis Global Asset Management the myriad inventions and dimensions of the life-affirming jump music powered by what noted author Albert Murray termed “the velocity of celebration;” the dancing, dark and lovely DNA of American music that animates pop, soul, rhythm & blues and of course, jazz!

Produced by George Wein and the Newport Festivals Foundation, the Newport Jazz Festival Presented by Natixis Global Asset Management takes over Newport, RI, August 5-7 at the International Tennis Hall of Fame at Newport Casino and Fort Adams State Park. The Festival features Wynton Marsalis and Michael Feinstein “Come Fly with Me” with Special Guest Joe Negri on Friday, August 5. Don’t miss  Wynton Marsalis; Esperanza Spalding and Friends; Hiromi; Regina Carter’s Reverse Thread; Al Di Meola World Sinfonia Pursuit of Radical Rhapsody Tour 2011 with Special Guest Gonzalo Rubalcaba; Eddie Palmieri Latin Jazz Band; Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue; Randy Weston’s African Rhythms Trio; Michel Camilo “Mano a Mano with Giovanni Hidalgo and Charles Flores;  Ambrose Akinmusire Quintet; Joey DeFrancesco Trio; Grace Kelly with guest Phil Woods; Steve Coleman and Five Elements; Mostly Other People Do the Killing; and New Black Eagle Jazz Band; on Saturday, August 6.

On Sunday, August 7, catch Angélique Kidjo; James Farm with Joshua Redman, Aaron Parks, Matt Penman and Eric Harland; Charles Lloyd’s Sangam featuring Zakir Hussain and Eric Harland; Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue; Hiromi: The Trio Project featuring Anthony Jackson and Simon Phillips; Mingus Big Band; Ravi Coltrane Quartet; Esperanza Spalding and Friends; Brubeck Brothers Quartet with Special Guest Dave Brubeck; Ravi Coltrane Quartet; Apex: Rudresh Mahanthappa & Bunky Green; Miguel Zenón presents the Puerto Rican Songbook with conductor/arranger Guillermo Klein; John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble; Avishai Cohen’s Triveni with special guest Anat Cohen; Berklee College of Music: Mario Castro Quintet; Plus a special bonus set: A Meeting of Saxophone Masters featuring Steve Coleman, Ravi Coltrane and Miguel Zenón.

TICKETS & OTHER INFORMATION

Tickets for the Newport Jazz Festival Presented by Natixis Global Asset Management are on sale worldwide through www.ticketmaster.com and www.newportjazzfest.net as well as by phone, by mail and at the new Festival office at the Alex and Ani store at One Bowen’s Wharf during limited hours. General admission tickets (single-day passes only) also can be purchased at the Newport Visitor Information Center, located at 23 America’s Cup Avenue.  For general information, craft vendor information or to leave a message for festival staff, call (401) 848-5055.  For more information, log on to www.newportjazzfest.net.

Partners

Presenting sponsor Natixis Global Asset Management is one of the world’s leading asset managers. The 2011 Newport Jazz Festival Presented by Natixis Global Asset Management also celebrates support from Alex and Ani (sponsor of the Alex and Ani Harbor Stage), Amstel Light, DownBeat, NPR Music, Jazz Times and travel partners JazzFest Travel Inc., Hyatt Regency Newport, The Newport Harbor Hotel and Marina, Marriott Newport and Hotel Viking Newport.

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The 2011 Newport Jazz Festival® is a production of Newport Festivals Foundation, Inc., a pending 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, under license from Festival Productions, Inc. and George Wein; all rights reserved

Jazz Journalist Eugene Holley Takes a Look
at Big Bands Performing in Newport

A Joyful Noise: Big Bands x 2
at Newport Jazz Festival Presented by Natixis Global Asset Management

August 5 – 7, 2011
International Tennis Hall of Fame at Newport Casino
Fort Adams State Park

Produced by George Wein and the Newport Festivals Foundation

Newport, RI – From Duke Ellington’s “rebirth” in 1956 and Count Basie’s Sixteen Men Swinging, to Dizzy Gillespie’s bebop sounds and the soulful strains of the Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra, George Wein’s Newport Jazz Festival has presented the full range of jazz’s finest big bands for six decades. And, as we are locked and loaded into the21st Century, this year’s festival, presented by Natixis Global Asset Management, continues to present the boldest and brightest big bands in the business.

In the right hands, a leader of a big band goes beyond merely directing the notes the musicians play; s/he bends, shapes, alters and textures the sounds much like a painter uses the multi-colors of a canvas. Billy Strayhorn’s and Gil Evans’ evocative arrangements were the perfect sonic fit for Ellington and Miles Davis. The New York-born percussionist/composer/bandleader John Hollenbeck, is a sonic descendant of those aforementioned arrangers, and his critically-acclaimed 18-piece Large Ensemble – an amazing aggregation of the Big Apple’s most exceptional musicians that includes bassist Kermit Driscoll and saxophonist Tony Malaby. Hollenbeck and company — riding in on the beautifully blue notes from the highly-praise CDs, Eternal Interlude, Royal Toast (featuring the Claudia Quintet) and Shut Up and Dance, co-starring the Orchestra National de Jazz — will appear on the Newport stage on Sunday, August 7, in a dancing and diverse program showcasing the leader’s iconoclastic arrangements featuring the music of Imogen Heap, Jimmy Webb, Ornette Coleman and Kraftwerk, plus Hollenbeck’s original work, set for CD release in 2012 with the Frankfurt Radio Big Band.

Along with special guest vocalists Theo Bleckmann and Kate McGarry, and keyboardist Uri Caine, Hollenbeck, an Eastman School of Music alum, covers the entire jazz band tradition from Ellington to Thad Jones and Mel Lewis, while utilizing the inventions and dimensions of electronica and world music. The result is a hard-to-define, yet identifiable style; distinct yet accessible: two necessary requirements for jazz immortality.

With his passionate, comprehensive and hard driving mélange of classical, bop, swing the avant-garde, and gospel, Charles Mingus has already achieved jazz immortality, as evidenced by his protean compositions “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat,” “Better Get Hit in Your Soul,” and “Haitian Fight Song;” and his spectacular combos and large groups featuring drummer Dannie Richmond, Jackie McLean and Jimmy Knepper – not to mention his famous (some would say infamous) fiery personality – all of which garnered him praise for a diverse array of musicians from Duke Ellington to Elvis Costello and Joni Mitchell.

Since his passing in 1979, the mercurial bassist/composer/bandleader’s widow, the tireless Sue Mingus created and managed The Mingus Big Band and made it into one of the most durable and dynamic big bands today, thanks in large part to their groundbreaking residence in The Fez Under Time Café in Manhattan, and CDs like their recent Grammy award-winning recording, Mingus Big Band Live at Jazz Standard. Yes, the musicians are exclusively devoted to Mingus’ music. But the incredible imagination and improvisational artistry of some of the  personnel including trumpeters Ryan Kisor, Lew Soloff, Randy Brecker, and Jack Walrath; saxophonists Vincent Herring, Craig Handy and Wayne Escoffery; pianists Orrin Evans, David Kikoski, Helen Sung, George Colligan, and Kenny Drew Jr.; trombonists Conrad Herwig, Ku-umba Frank Lacy, and Robin Eubanks; bassists Andy McKee and Dwayne Burno, plus drummers Victor Lewis and Jeff “Tain” Watts,  goes way beyond anything resembling a museum-piece band. Charles Mingus uttered his famous declaration “And, thanks to my wife – and the magnificent musicians she assembled” – the Mingus Big Band continues its dynastic reign into the second century of jazz, when it takes the Newport Jazz Festival Presented by Natixis Global Asset Management stage on Sunday, August 7. In the words of Charles Mingus,” Let My Children Hear Music!”

Produced by George Wein and the Newport Festivals Foundation, the Newport Jazz Festival Presented by Natixis Global Asset Management takes over Newport, RI, August 5-7 at the International Tennis Hall of Fame at Newport Casino and Fort Adams State Park. The Festival features Wynton Marsalis and Michael Feinstein “Come Fly with Me” with Special Guest Joe Negri on Friday, August 5. Don’t miss  Wynton Marsalis; Esperanza Spalding and Friends; Hiromi; Regina Carter’s Reverse Thread; Al Di Meola World Sinfonia Pursuit of Radical Rhapsody Tour 2011 with Special Guest Gonzalo Rubalcaba; Eddie Palmieri Latin Jazz Band; Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue; Randy Weston’s African Rhythms Trio; Michel Camilo “Mano a Mano with Giovanni Hidalgo and Charles Flores;  Ambrose Akinmusire Quintet; Joey DeFrancesco Trio; Grace Kelly with guest Phil Woods; Steve Coleman and Five Elements; Mostly Other People Do the Killing; and New Black Eagle Jazz Band; on Saturday, August 6.

On Sunday, August 7, catch Angélique Kidjo; James Farm with Joshua Redman, Aaron Parks, Matt Penman and Eric Harland; Charles Lloyd’s Sangam featuring Zakir Hussain and Eric Harland; Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue; Hiromi: The Trio Project featuring Anthony Jackson and Simon Phillips; Mingus Big Band; Ravi Coltrane Quartet; Esperanza Spalding and Friends; Brubeck Brothers Quartet with Special Guest Dave Brubeck; Ravi Coltrane Quartet; Apex: Rudresh Mahanthappa & Bunky Green; Miguel Zenón presents the Puerto Rican Songbook with conductor/arranger Guillermo Klein; John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble; Avishai Cohen’s Triveni with special guest Anat Cohen; Berklee College of Music: Mario Castro Quintet; Plus a special bonus set: A Meeting of Saxophone Masters featuring Steve Coleman, Ravi Coltrane and Miguel Zenón.

TICKETS & OTHER INFORMATION

Tickets for the Newport Jazz Festival Presented by Natixis Global Asset Management are on sale worldwide through www.ticketmaster.com and www.newportjazzfest.net as well as by phone, by mail and at the new Festival office at the Alex and Ani store at One Bowen’s Wharf during limited hours. General admission tickets (single-day passes only) also can be purchased at the Newport Visitor Information Center, located at 23 America’s Cup Avenue.  For general information, craft vendor information or to leave a message for festival staff, call (401) 848-5055.  For more information, log on to www.newportjazzfest.net.

Partners

Presenting sponsor Natixis Global Asset Management is one of the world’s leading asset managers. The 2011 Newport Jazz Festival Presented by Natixis Global Asset Management also celebrates support from Alex and Ani (sponsor of the Alex and Ani Harbor Stage), Amstel Light, DownBeat, NPR Music, Jazz Times and travel partners JazzFest Travel Inc., Hyatt Regency Newport, The Newport Harbor Hotel and Marina, Marriott Newport and Hotel Viking Newport.

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The 2011 Newport Jazz Festival® is a production of Newport Festivals Foundation, Inc., a pending 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, under license from Festival Productions, Inc. and George Wein; all rights reserved

All Great Jazz Is Local at the 2011 New Haven Jazz Festival
August 13, 4:30 – 9:00 pm, New Haven Green

28th Annual Festival features Jay Hoggard, Tina Fabrique,
Ed Fast & Conga Bop, Jonathan Barber and Ryan Sands

NEW HAVEN, July 19, 2011 – One of the area’s largest and longest-running outdoor jazz celebrations, the New Haven Jazz Festival, takes over the New Haven Green on Saturday, August 13, from 4:30 – 9:00 pm. With a rich history of bringing jazz lovers together to enjoy good company and world-class music, the 2011 event will return to the theme, All Great Jazz Is Local. Presenting some of Connecticut’s established and emerging jazz musicians, the festival features vibraphone/marimba master Jay Hoggard’s Africaribbean Vibes, vocalist Tina Fabrique and drummers Ed Fast, Jonathan Barber and Ryan Sands.

Produced by Jazz Haven since 2008, the festival is free of charge.

“Over the past 28 years, the New Haven Jazz Festival has proven why jazz is a tradition worth keeping alive,” said festival producer Doug Morrill. “This year will be no different, and I believe it will be our best festival to date. The Jazz Festival has done more than make music history, it has created countless family stories and become a yearly pilgrimage for music lovers throughout the East coast and beyond.”

8:00 pm – JAY HOGGARD  AFRICARIBBEAN VIBES

Vibraphonist Jay Hoggard headlines the New Haven Jazz Festival with his Africaribbean Vibes, featuring saxophonist Dwight Andrews, pianists James Weidman, bassist Belden Bullock, drummer Pheeroan akLaff, guitarist Tony Lombardozzi, and percussionists Kwaaku Martin Obeng, Jarawa Brian Gray and Asher DeLerme.

Hoggard’s music has touched the hearts and souls of listeners around the world for 30 years. Born in Washington, D.C., he was raised in Mt. Vernon, NY in a religious family. At age 15, Jay began playing the vibraphone. “One night I had a dream that I was playing the vibes. I asked my father to rent me a set and from the first moment, I knew that this was what I was supposed to do.” Jay majored in the World Music program at Wesleyan University and toured Europe and played at Carnegie Hall during his freshman year. In his junior year, he traveled to Tanzania to study East African xylophone music. After graduation in 1976, Jay returned to New York City where he was proclaimed “the most dazzling new vibraphonist in jazz” by Robert Palmer in the New York Times.

Hoggard draws on traditional and contemporary musical vocabulary to develop new directions for the vibraphone, seamlessly blending jazz and gospel roots with African marimba rhythms. His performance repertoire represents the three B’s of the jazz tradition (Blues, Bop, Ballads) with original innovations. “Solo from Two Sides,” released August 1, 2009 – the latest of his over 20 CDs as a leader and collaborator – is a beautiful program of 13 compositions performed by the composer on both vibraphone and marimba, by way of digital overdubbing. He has toured the globe to rave reviews, performing throughout the United States, Africa, Europe, South America, the Caribbean and Asia. He led a quintet on an extensive tour sponsored by the US government to North Africa, the Middle East and India. Jay Hoggard is an Adjunct Professor of Music at Wesleyan University where he has been the director of the Wesleyan Jazz Orchestra and has taught and mentored hundreds of students for 20 years.

7:00 pm – TINA FABRIQUE

Tina Fabrique is no stranger to the Connecticut community and is very happy to be a part of the jazz scene as well. Most recently, she starred in the Long Wharf Theater’s production of “Ella,” the award-winning musical theater production about the jazz legend Ella Fitzgerald. The Broadway veteran’s career has featured first class acting, singing, song-writing, and recording in many musical genres, successfully creating work that has received rave reviews around the world. Fabrique has an extensive performing résumé and has made numerous television appearances. Fabrique sang the theme songs to “Reading Rainbow” and her CDs include the soundtrack for the documentary “Mad Hot Ballroom,” “Tina Fabrique Sings the Great Composers” and “He’s Able.”

5:45 pm – ED FAST AND CONGA-BOP

Since 1995, drummer, vibist and composer Ed Fast has been involved in a variety of musical projects throughout Connecticut, New York and around the world. Most recently, he was the drummer on the national tour of “Chicago,” and performed with Chita Rivera on the national tour of “A Dancer’s Life.” In the Hartford area, Ed regularly performs with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and at the Mohegan Sun Casino, including concerts with Aretha Franklin, Charo, Frank Sinatra, Jr., Paul Anka and Martin Short. Fast’s band, Conga-Bop, combines the harmony and sensibilities of hard-bop with the rhythms of the Caribbean to produce an original and vibrant sound that falls in the genre of Latin jazz. He leads this octet through an exciting array of his own soulful originals as well as Latin jazz classics by legendary artists Cal Tjader, Tito Puente and Hilton Ruiz, among others. Enjoy the unique voice of Conga-Bop, a band with a Caribbean heart and hard-bop soul.

5:00 pm  – JONATHAN BARBER QUARTET

Born in Hartford, CT, Jonathan Barber began playing the drums at the early age of five after watching his father play. In his high school years, Barber played the drums in the Marching Band, Symphonic, Concert Band, Jazz Ensemble and Gospel Choir, and was awarded best solo in his division at the annual Berklee School of Music High School Competition. Later, Barber furthered his music studies at the University of Hartford and the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz. Additionally, he has participated in music festivals in Toronto, Virginia Beach, Myrtle Beach and many other locations. Joining Jonathan at the New Haven Jazz Festival will be Jeremy Pelt on trumpet, Zaccai Curtis on piano and Stephen Porter on bass.

4:30 pm – RYAN SANDS QUARTET

Ryan Sands has been surrounded by jazz greats his entire life, beginning when he studied jazz drums and percussion under Jesse Hameen II at the age of five. Sands later honed his skills under the direction of jazz legends Jimmy Heath, Tootie Heath and Dr. Billy Taylor as well as Winard Harper, Avery Sharpe, Thaddeus Expose, Jeff Fuller and Mike Assetta. He has performed with his brother, Christian Sands, at the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage in Washington, DC, Clifford Brown Festival in Wilmington, DE, Orange Summer Festival and Allendale Youth Summit in Allendale, SC. He is currently enrolled as a student at the Manhattan School of Music Pre-college Program and can be heard on XM radio playing the tune “Brother to Brother,” which he recorded with Christian. Joining Ryan at the New Haven Jazz Festival are trumpeter Adam O’Farrill, bassist Daryl Johns and guitarist Gabe Schnider.

JAZZ HAVEN

Since its inception in 1996, Jazz Haven has promoted the culture of Jazz through unique collaborations with artists, organizations, schools and other groups. The skill and passion that its Board members have demonstrated for the culture of jazz encourages a growing network of organizations and programs that help promote jazz education as well as jazz as an art form.

With its beginnings as a series of performances at Artspace, Jazz Haven incorporated programming — always in collaboration with other organizations — that have included master classes with visiting artists, concerts featuring internationally and locally known musicians, including the New Haven Jazz Festivals since 2008 on the New Haven Green, tributes to late jazz masters, benefits for not-for-profit organizations, consultation for programming and technical support of other organizations with similar missions, and education. Jazz Haven has organized and presented Jazz in the parks and other venues and presented educational programs in the New Haven Public Schools. Artists who perform at the New Haven Jazz Festivals also give workshops, master classes and performances for students at the Neighborhood Music School Summer Jazz Program.

For more information on Jazz Haven and the New Haven Jazz Festival, visit www.jazzhaven.org.

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2011 Newport Folk Festival® Sells Out Two Weeks in Advance

Two-day Festival, July 30-31, to Celebrate with 10,000 Fans Per Day

NEWPORT, RI, July 19, 2011 – Thanks to music fans across the country, the 2011 Newport Folk Festival® is sold out, it was announced today by George Wein and the Newport Festivals Foundation, Inc.™   Two weeks in advance of its July 30-31 dates, the iconic festival is sold out on Saturday and Sunday, the first time in history that both days have sold out in advance.  Ten thousand fans per day will celebrate the music at Fort Adams State Park from 11:00 am – 7:00 pm.

“We thank all of the folk music fans for buying tickets in advance and showing their love for the great musicians that are booked on this year’s festival,” said George Wein, Producer of the Newport Folk Festival and Chairman of the Board of the Newport Festivals Foundation. “In 2004, the festival sold out when Bob Dylan returned to Newport and in many years, including 2010, the festival has come very close to reaching its maximum limit of 10,000 people per day.   The Newport Festivals Foundation, producers Jay Sweet and Bob Jones and I salute the music lovers who will join us in Newport and those who support the music all year long.”

“There’s no doubt that the fans, especially our online social network, are owed a great deal of thanks,” added Sweet. “Our Folk can certainly share in the excitement and each and every one of them can say he or she helped to make it happen. This includes the festival artists who should be applauded as well.  It’s their willingness to play our festival by the sea that makes our job a lot easier. Our family of Newport Folk Festival supporters continues to grow each year, and the communal spirit is really what makes this such a ‘folktastic’ festival.”

This year’s festival features: The Decemberists, Emmylou Harris, Elvis Costello, Gillian Welch, Amos Lee, Earl Scruggs, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, Gogol Bordello, M. Ward, Wanda Jackson, Mavis Staples, Tegan & Sara, The Felice Brothers, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Justin Townes Earle, Delta Spirit, Middle Brother, The Wailin’ Jennys, Freelance Whales, The Secret Sisters, Trampled by Turtles, The Civil Wars, The Head & The Heart, Pokey LaFarge & The South City Three, The Cave Singers, What Cheer? Brigade, Mountain Man, David Wax Museum, Devil Makes Three, Song Circle with Dar Williams Ellis Paul John Gorka & Liz Queler, Typhoon, Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside, Chris Thile & Michael Daves, The Seeger Clogging All-Stars, BrownBird, River City Extension and PS22 Chorus.

For general information, craft vendor information or to leave a message for festival staff, call (401) 848-5055 or log on to www.newportfolkfest.net.

The Newport Folk Festival welcomes Alex and Ani as sponsor of the Alex and Ani Harbor Stage.  The eco-friendly jewelry and lifestyle brand also will create limited edition charms that will be introduced and available exclusively at the 2011 Newport Folk Festival and Newport Jazz Festival Presented by Natixis Global Asset Management.

Other supporters of the 2011 Newport Folk Festival are Magic Hat Brewing Company, NPR, Tom’s of Maine, Lego/Duplo, WERS, mvyradio and WFUV.

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About Alex and Ani

Alex and Ani (www.alexandani.com) is a celebrated eco-friendly jewelry and lifestyle brand, known for their use of recycled materials and their personal and meaningful designs and packaging.  A company founded on awareness, empowerment, inner beauty and the human spirit, each piece is created to reflect the personality and importance of the wearer.  Alex and Ani was created with the unique idea that the jewelry you wear, speaks wonders about who you are, and what you value as important in this lifetime.  Alex and Ani products are designed and manufactured entirely in the United States, all in the greater Providence area.

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*Artists Subject to change

*The 2011 Newport Folk Festival® and Newport Jazz Festival® are productions of Newport Festivals Foundation, Inc., a pending 501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation, under license from Festival Productions, Inc. and George Wein; all rights reserved.

Please click HERE to download a printable schedule.