Nature + Jazz Combine in Newport
An improvised trip to the historic festival did not at all disappoint
Standing atop the cliffs at Newport looking over the Atlantic Ocean, just after sunrise, I hear music in the way the waves crash down against the water and roll into the shore. I hear the rhythmic call of the gulls coming in perfect intervals between that wild intermittent roar of the sea. As I watch the sun emerge strong and silently through the clouds, I am pulled in to the beat of this particular morning, this particular moment. I meditate on the power of nature.
My heart soared with song as I stood there, as it did so many times during my two days at the Newport Jazz Festival this past weekend. I was beckoned there by the beauty of the Rhode Island town, which I had dim memories of from a sailing trip decades back, and by the drummer Johnathan Blake, a musician and friend I adore. If I went to Newport, I realized, I could see his relaxed limbs hit those long sticks against the drums, snares and cymbals with their forceful power in three separate bands over the course of two days, and that alone was a huge draw. So too was being able to see my longtime friend Ravi Coltrane, whose sax riffs always feel to me like the continuation of a wee-hours conversation we didn’t finish.
It is a photo of Ravi from 2005 playing with legendary pianist McCoy Tyner who played with his father here that graces the Wikepedia page about the festival. There is a long history to this gathering and for this, its 70th year, it was a great lineup.
Bassist Dezron Douglas would be there in two bands, and harpist Brandee Younger would play, both of whom I’d met years back when they came with Ravi to the school where I ran my arts program in Bed-Stuy. Their careers have flourished, and they are amazing players I was excited to see again after a while. And then there was Anat Cohen…I’d heard of the Israeli clarinetist, whose trumpet-playing brother Avishai went to Berklee School of Music with a lot of musicians I know, but had never actually seen her. I’d been wowed by her bass player/guitarist, Tal Mashiach, at a gig he played at Bar LunAtico, one of my favorite clubs in Brooklyn, so was excited to see them play.
It is Newport socialite Elaine Lorillard, a pianist trained at the New England Conservatory of Music, who we have to thank for the festival, which she and her husband Louis funded in 1954 after hiring pianist George Wein to put it together. The two imagined taking the music they loved from New York City’s dark smoky clubs to the shores of Newport, which is exactly what they did. It is still going strong, featuring three stages amidst the rocky ruins of former military base Fort Adams.
Fittingly, Anat Cohen, asked by George Wein to play the festival for the first time in 2007, played a tribute to Wein during her set Saturday, a song she said she’d played at his funeral, a beautiful ballad that sounded to my ears like a deep and grateful message sent straight to him in heaven. Her “Quartetinho” comprised of Mashiach plus Vitor Goncalves on piano, accordion and Fender Rhodes and James Shipp on vibes, percussion and some electronics. Spectacular.
It was such a gorgeous moving set, on such a gorgeous afternoon that it felt like a great way to end. I felt like nothing could really top it, not Samira Joy, whose lovely voice I heard momentarily before heading out, and not even Elvis Costello who—no offense—I’d seen play acoustic back in college and had been pretty disappointed, so different did he sound than on the albums I adored.
I’d shown up the day before on the ferry from where I’d found a last-minute campsite at beautiful Fort Getty Park across the Narraganset Bay in Jamestown, greeted to the festival by Mr. Blake playing with guitarist Bill Frisell, a beautiful set on the Quad stage. I took no video, slightly stunned at first by taking in the whole scene for the first time.
I went next to the nearby Harbor stage to see Brandee play, hearing her heart-wrenching harp as I walked toward it through the underpass. She shared the stage with drummer Makaya McCraven and bass player Junius Paul, and brought on vibraphonist Joel Ross.
She played a number of tunes from her mentor, Alice Coltrane, including Er Ra.
Brandee also played some of her own beautiful compositions including one she introduced as “Gadabout,” defining the term for those who didn’t know it as “someone who seeks habitual pleasure.” Nice.
“It is a season for gadabouts,” she said, and I certainly related, having taken myself there, to Newport, to seek out the great pleasure of sitting in the grass to hear such beautiful music.
The day continued with Johnathan again, this time joining piano legend Kenny Barron’s trio, with Kiyoshi Kitagawa on bass. Mr. Barron’s gently-told stories of the trips that inspired his compositions were lovely, and added greatly to my appreciation of the music he played. They was so much joy in them, mixed with nostalgia and, sitting there, I imagined the feelings that he conjured would be the same ones I would have later for this trip.
Johnathan’s solo, as usual, made me giggle with pleasure and feel like a Gadabout indeed.
The sun set over Fort Adams as I headed back on the ferry to Jamestown and the mist made it so that you could barely see the Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge in the distance. By the time we’d gone a few minutes along, we could see nothing. It was impossible to capture on the phone camera the magical mysterious enshrouding of the ferry that slowed us to a near stop and then forced us to inch along slowly so as not to hit anything. Since nothing happened, it was an awesome experience, but there were some moments of quiet collective fear that caused a still silence on the roof deck there, adding to the strangeness.
The next morning, having slept poorly as I sometimes do on the ground, but having been lulled to rest at moments by the sound of crashing waves just beyond my tent, I woke up with the sun to do yoga on the beach, to grab coffee and an egg sandwich at a local deli at the port within sight of the gorgeous bridge (almost fully visible) and take a lovely swim at the bay.
I set out to the festival, having heated conversations about jazz and politics on the ferry over, and another debate in line about the merits of NYC v. Florida (my fellow NYers and I agreed there is no even close contendor to NYC in terms of jazz clubs.) So I was revved up when I finally made it in, late, to see Ravi at the main Fort stage playing The Legacy of Wayne Shorter with Danilo Perez on piano, John Patitucci on bass and Terri Lyne Carrington on drums. What I did catch was a wonderful homage to the late great pianist.
I ran over to the Harbor stage to see Johnathan’s Pentad group, with Immanuel Wilkins on sax, Dezron Douglas on bass, Joel Ross on vibraphone and David Virelles on piano. It is arguably one of my fave bands on the scene, and one whose albums I have been listening to on repeat since their release.
I grabbed a fish taco to tide me over, then came back to the Harbor stage to see Anat Cohen. It was, as I said, a spectacular show, one that left me feeling completely sated.
It can be hard to process the aftermath of even one show in a single day, let alone six over two days time. Astrologer Ji Hyang Padma had suggested that the August period beginning with the Leo New Moon that rose yesterday morning has a “sense of enjoyment, style, beauty and expansion.” She suggested treating this month like “an extended jazz session—be ready to improvise.”
I pondered this as I woke and broke camp, and headed over the bridge to take the Cliff Walk trail above the ocean in Newport. I could hear the music in nature then, feel its rhythms, improvised moment by moment by some grand design. Moved by the compositions of all the great musicians, which live inside of me, I took a deep meditative stroll and set an intention to seek out pleasure, and to share those moments in the hopes of inspiring others to do the same. My sound baths will be much improved by this beautiful weekend.
In Peace & Harmony & Pleasure,
Steph