Newport Jazz Festival 2024: Jazz is alive, well, and thriving – Day 3 recap and photos

Jazz music as a popular art form has been declared dead more than once. But America’s original art form has endured, resurrected on several occasions, each time characterized by a slight change in direction. The core essence of the genre – improvisational music played collaboratively among a group of well-trained musicians – remains at the center.

If the crowds at the Newport Jazz Festival this weekend were any indication, jazz is alive and well, bursting with new energy, new stars, commercial success, and most importantly, new fan enthusiasm. (And even a little cowbell … see Cimafunk.)

This isn’t just hyperbole after a successful sell-out weekend in Newport. In fact, the most attended set at Sunday’s festival was from Laufey, the Grammy Award-winning Iceland native who attracted thousands of screaming young fans, mainly young women in their teens and twenties, making her seem like the jazz answer to Taylor Swift (really!).

And that was just the tip of the iceberg. High energy performances all weekend, several in front of a jazz mosh pit at Fort Adams Saturday, were the norm. Sunday’s sets including hip-hop from Noname, R & B from Alex Isley, Brazilian jazz from Amaro Freitas, a disco party with Nile Rogers & Chic, and Cuban funk from Cimafunk.

In terms of genre, this was the most diverse Newport Jazz Festival of the modern era, at least since the festival returned to Newport in the 1980s. Sunday also saw stellar performances from more established acts including Buster Williams, Meshell Ndegeocello, and Christian McBride’s Jam Jawn.

Jazz has always incorporated outside genres – think salsa, bossa nova, and fusion. These days, its hip-hop, R&B and funk for starters, and although not new to inclusion in jazz, these subgenres have become a major part of the contemporary jazz movement. In elevating them, the Newport Jazz Festival continues to lead the way as a major force in popular music.

Check out some photos of the day from WUN Lifestyle Editor Ken Abrams below.