The sold-out Saturday at this year’s Newport Jazz Festival, blessed with sunny skies and a high of 82, offered the postcard version of Newport that you keep in your mind’s eye: the gleaming Newport Harbor and East Passage of the Narragansett Bay; the miles of lawn chairs and mini-coolers dotting the grounds in front of the main stage; the eager student musicians hopping from set to set; the lobster rolls. The program was, per usual, an expertly wrought balance of outside and in, young and old, and crossover and hard-core. A few of our favorites included Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, waking up the main-stage crowd with “Real Enemies,” Argue’s meditation on the origins of conspiracy theories; the John Scofield/Joe Lovano Quartet, pound for pound one of the best working jazz bands of all time; Marc Ribot & the Young Philadelphians, matching Downtown skronk with what sounded like lush R&B production; Dave Liebman’s Expansions Group, tearing through Trane’s “India” to close; and newcomer Roxy Coss, a saxophonist who both burned and balladeered with grace and might.
Here are some photos by Marek Lazarski. For continuing Newport coverage, check back at JazzTimes.com.
