NEWPORT, RI, April 5, 2013 – At the request of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM), Newport Festivals Foundation, Inc.® commissioned a study designed to measure the economic impact of the 2012 Newport Folk and Jazz Festivals on the State of Rhode Island.  

NEWPORT, RI – The Newport Jazz Festival® has been one of the greatest showcases for jazz pianists in the past six decades, including Duke Ellington, Erroll Garner, John Lewis, Mary Lou Williams, Dave Brubeck and more. This year’s cross-section of keyboard titans is no exception.  Bringing their piano magic to Newport are Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Eddie Palmieri, Bill Charlap, Michel Camilo, Robert Glasper, Hiromi and Jon Batiste. 

Produced by George Wein and the Newport Festivals Foundation, Inc., whose mission is to maintain the iconic Festival in perpetuity while presenting the ever-evolving cultural expression of jazz, the 2013 Newport Jazz Festival presented by Natixis Global Asset Management, takes place August 2 – 4 at the International Tennis Hall of Fame at Newport Casino and Fort Adams State Park. 

From his days as a sideman with Miles Davis, his legendary Blue Note albums and his pioneering jazz-fusion Headhunters band, to his genre-defying tributes to George Gershwin and Joni Mitchell, Herbie Hancock – the composer of “Maiden Voyage,” “Dolphin Dance” and “Speak Like a Child” – has literally played every kind of music in the five decades he’s been on the scene. Buoyed by a forthcoming CD and his long-awaited memoirs to be published next year, Hancock comes to the festival to celebrate Wayne Shorter’s 80th birthday on Saturday, August 3. Performs as a special guest with his former Miles Davis band mate, look for Hancock and Shorter to repeat the mindful magic they created on their first duo recording, 1 + 1, released in 1997.