Newport Jazz Festival Day 1 2009
the crowd at Newport
What an adventure this past weekend was. I decided at the last minute to catch the Newport Jazz Festival over the weekend, actually bought my ticket on Friday and that night I began my journey at 10pm. I drove as far as I could make it before I needed to pull off at a rest stop to get some sleep. My goal was to make it to the Melville Ponds Campground and then head over to Fort Adams State Park. When I called to get a reservation for camping I was informed it was first-come-first-serve. They had 10 or so camp sites left and I wanted one badly. The camp site was only a few miles from the festival grounds and it was cheap. I would have to pay for two nights because of the festival, but $50 was a lot cheaper than any hotel I was going to find.
After a few stops for cat naps I made it to the camp grounds and got my spot around noon. I wanted to catch Christian McBride Trio at 12:50 so that was the target time I was shooting for. I got a spot in the back of the camp grounds deep in the woods and it was great. After setting up my tent it was off to the bathhouse for a much needed hot shower. I wanted so badly to see Christian McBride, but I wanted a hot shower even more. After I was refreshed and more awake I was off to the festival through some crazy traffic in downtown Newport.
When I arrived the place was exactly as I remember from my previous two visits. Whats more is the place was packed with festival goers. This years production almost didn’t happen from what I heard. The old company, Festival Networks, bought the rights from George Wein a two years ago, the man who started it all in 1954. With the recent financial crisis they were caught in the middle and were not going to put on this years Folk or Jazz festivals. Fortunately George wouldn’t allow his baby to go to the way side so he stepped in and bought the rights back from Festival Networks. George, with his clought, was going to put on the festivals with or without a major sponsor. He was able to get an impressive lineup of acts for both festivals and more importantly was able to secure a license for Fort Adams, Festival Networks lost theirs. Short story is the Newport Folk and Jazz Festivals were going to take place this year with or without corporate sponsorship at their rightful home in Newport!
Joshua Redman Double Trio
I strolled down the vendor booths on my way to the lawn to secure my spot. I recognized many of the same vendors as in the past which was nice to see with several new ones thrown in for good measure. As I approached the lawn I started to realize how late I actually was. There was not much space for new arrivals so I had to sandwich myself into a pretty tight spot. The first place I broke camp for was behind a large tent and over the crest of the hill. From here I could only see the monitor and not the actual stage. But I didn’t really care. I had finally made it after a long trip and I was enjoying myself. The sun was shinning and the weather was cooperating very nicely. It couldn’t have been above 75 degrees and with the constant breeze it was absolutely perfect. So I broke out my chair and some food to enjoy the last few songs of Esperanza Spalding. Later I moved further to the right and closer to the stage for a much better view.
so close
There was a 30 minute set break so I took the time to walk around some more and mingled with others at the show. Again hitting the vendor booths, this time on the other side of the aisle and lazily made my way over to the Harbor stage to see what was going on over there. One thing that I love about this venue are all the boats that show up. Each year the harbor gets filled with all manor of boats with people enjoying the concert. You can’t hear much that far from the stage, but it is a great party atmosphere and a spectacle to behold.
As I walked back to my spot I noticed I was running late and Joshua Redman Double Trio was already on stage, damn! The closer I got to my seat I remembered you could take pictures right in front of the stage for a few minutes at the start of each performance, so I took a little detour. A quick sidebar about the Double Trio name, it confused me when I first saw it, I didn’t understand what it meant. When I walked to the stage and saw the full band know I understood. There was Joshua Redman on sax and then two drummers and two upright bassists. This type of arrangement I had never seen before and as crazy as it was, it worked out really well. Each member complimented their counter part and the band came together really well. Joshua near the end of the set said this was the first live performance of this band. We got treated to a new act before anyone else. This is why I love coming to Newport, you see bands and collaborations you wouldn’t see any where else.
Justin Faulkner from Branford Marsalis Quartet
After this energetic performance Branford Marsalis Quartet was up next. They have featured the same cast of characters for the last ten years, in the jazz world this is a rarity. Having said that, Jeff “Tain” Watts was busy with his own band so Justin Faulkner, an 18 year old high school senior, stepped in to replace him. When I was taking pictures he had such a look of intensity on his face, he was in the zone and feeling the groove. I was drawn in by him and hearing him with the rest of the band just made the performance. His playing was very avant-garde, not much rhythm, constantly changing the beat and using every aspect of the drum kit to produce a fire of sound, simply amazing. I can’t say enough good things about him or the performance of the band, it was some great stuff.
Closing out Saturday was Mos Def and the Watermelon Syndicate. This I thought was a strange addition to the festival but one I was certainly looking forward to. Mod Def is not know for his jazz performances but I liked the leap of faith that George Wein took by adding Mos Def to the bill. As I waited for them to take the stage I see the Syndicate walk out and was astonished. There was a full horn section, full string section, grand piano with a bassist and drummer thrown in for good measure. This was going to be exciting.
relaxing on the lawn
Unfortunately a large number of the audience missed his performance. I guess they were not to thrilled with a hip/hop artist closing out Saturday night. They took an early leave of absense and made a run for the restaurants. I for one was excited to hear what he was going to play with such a large band. When the set was finally finished I was impressed with their performance. You could see on Mos Def’s face he was nervous and was probably put off by the constant stream of people leaving while he was on stage, but he still did a decent job. The addition of strings and horns was a nice touch that fit better with the festival as a whole. He did his thing but looked and sounded very stiff. Even just walking around the stage he never loosened up. He never really got into the performance if you ask me. All things considered it was great and definatelly something different.
Mos Def
After Mos Def ended his set it was time to pack up and head to my camp site for a well deserved nights rest. The weather was going to be cool, perfect weather for sleeping outside. But first I wanted to stop by King Park to relax, do a little writing, and take some pictures of the setting sun across the harbor. The park is located right on the water and is the perfect spot to catch a sunset. The sun painted the sky purple, blue, and pink as it set over the bridge and harbor. The boats in the harbor lite up with perfect light as did the buildings along the water. It was very peaceful and allowed me to do a write up in my travel journal. In fact it was the perfect setting sun to get married under, which I witnessed a young couple do at the gazebo. I was hoping to get a couple more shots of the setting sun and a final shot of the harbor at night. I had this picture in my head of the sky being black with only the safely lights on the boats and the realive bright lights off the buildings reflecting across the water. There was a church steeple that would have made for a nice shot at night as well. But the masquittos were out in force making it to unconfortable to stay any longer.
So I settled for the shots I had and headed to the campground for a night of rest. I was way to tired anyhow so it worked out. I would need a good nights rest because on Sunday I was going to do some hiking before my 8 hour drive back home.
a beautiful setting sun over Newport harbor
