WBGO Blog

  • Newport Jazz Festival Highlights on JazzSet

    July 7, 2012. Posted by Becca Pulliam.

    Add new comment | Filed under: JazzSet, newport

    12 07 05 12 Anncmt

    Enjoy highlights from recent fests on JazzSet.. Sundays at 6pm, Wednesdays at 6:30pm.. and get ready for 2012 Newport Jazz Festival coverage, August 4-5 on WBGO and wbgo.org.

    © 2012 WBGO

  • Newport Eight: Finlayson and Coleman Play "Body and Soul"

    August 11, 2011. Posted by Tim Wilkins.

    Add new comment | Filed under: newport

    Here's one more in our series of "flash jam" performances from the 2011 Newport Jazz Festival: trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson and alto saxophonist Steve Coleman engage in an impromptu performance of "Body and Soul," somewhere in the ruins of Fort Adams, now a state park, where the Newport Jazz Festival is held every year. Enjoy!

    © 2011 WBGO

  • Newport Nine: Bring It On Home!

    August 7, 2011. Posted by Tim Wilkins.

    Add new comment | Filed under: newport

    Our tired Newport team pulled up stakes and headed home after two long days of beautiful music as the sun went down over the harbor. We, of course, had to stay until the very end, but like the fans who braved the blustery weather during the early afternoon, we were rewarded with some of the best music of the festival.

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    Clarinetist Anat Cohen leapt onto the Harbor Stage, next to WBGO's broadcast tent,, to help her brother, trumpeter Avishai Cohen, close out his set with a couple of boiling duets!

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    The John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble lead one of the most eclectic sets of the afternoon, with his envelope-pushing arrangements of songs by artists ranging from Ornette Coleman to Imogen Heap, that prove funk can shimmer.

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    He then found time to stop by and chat with our own Josh Jackson. Click below to listen to their conversation:

    We also persuaded a couple more musicians to follow us into the ruins of Fort Adams for a couple more impromptu "flash jams" - drummer Eric Harland with trumpeter Avishai Cohen, and saxophonist Miguel Zenon with composer/arranger Guillermo Klein.

    Video clips from these performances will hit the WBGO blog soon, too. Be patient and stay tuned!

    To close out the day, Trombone Shorty brought the main stage crowd of wet, weary jazz warriors to their feet with Orleans Avenue's tasty combinations of Pops, Hendrix, James Brown and Shorty's own version of why music from New Orleans speaks to the world today as potently as ever.

    Thanks to everyone at Newport, and all our friends from WGBH in Boston, WYPR in Baltimore, and NPR Music in DC for making it all possible!

    © 2011 WBGO