# Newport is best experienced by stage-hopping

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2017/08/26/newport-best-experienced-stage-hopping/
- Published: 2017-08-26T13:53:18+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**There’s a very true cliché that jazz musicians, producers, promoters and other
industry folks like to deploy in case of emergency, when something that had been
carefully planned goes awry. It goes something like: Jazz musicians can improvise,
so this unexpected logistical hiccup is really just another opportunity for inspired
spontaneity. **

It came in handy at Newport on Saturday afternoon, when DJ Logic’s Project Logic
was stuck in traffic and running behind for their 2 p.m. set on the Quad Stage. 
The project’s keyboardist, James Hurt, was already on-site, and swooped in for the
save, playing an off-the-cuff mini-recital that he dedicated to the late Bernie 
Worrell and which also featured an interpretation of Prince’s “Crazy You.”

Worrell was a good touchstone for what Hurt unrolled: synth effects from outer space,
intimations of classical training, James Booker-isms—all woven into a suite-like
form that drew applause like a main event. DJ Logic’s Project Logic, a revolving
cast of vamp-savvy improvisers conducted by the turntablist, wasted little time,
making quick work of its setup and locking into a solid half-hour’s worth of grooves
and soulfully nonchalant frontline interplay. With a lineup featuring saxophonist
Jaleel Shaw, trumpeter Keyon Harrold, guitarist Vernon Reid, bassist MonoNeon and
drummer Marcus Gilmore, even the full hour of set time would have felt truncated.

Following Project Logic was what will surely prove to be the weekend’s most poignant
set, a tribute to the late Geri Allen. The influential pianist and celebrated educator,
who died in late June at age 60, was scheduled to play with her collaborative trio
ACS, featuring bassist Esperanza Spalding and drummer Terri Lyne Carrington. Paying
homage here were three of Allen’s many disciples, pianists Christian Sands, Vijay
Iyer and Jason Moran, each of whom played two songs.

In Iyer and Moran her impact was especially obvious. Iyer played her “Drummer’s 
Song,” from Allen’s book with her trio of drummer Paul Motian and bassist Charlie
Haden, and you couldn’t help but relate the tune’s geometry to the rhythmically 
inviting, action-packed approach to exploratory jazz Iyer used in his sextet earlier.
Allen’s effect on Moran was similarly evident, and his lyricism throughout her arrangement
of “Lucky to Be Me” pointed up the balance of confidence and romantic vulnerability
she applied to standards. More than anything, this lovely hourlong program underscored
Allen’s essential yet still overlooked place in the jazz-piano lineage: The totality
of her knowledge and ability—from the most blues-based, tradition-minded mastery,
to both the visceral and intellectual extremes of the avant-garde—was a downright
innovation.

Those sets stood out for me, but really Newport is best experienced by stage-hopping,
which can act as a crash course in the current state of the music. Bassist and festival
artistic director Christian McBride’s big band somehow managed to make funk in a
large-ensemble setting sound vicious rather than corny. Henry Threadgill’s Zooid
thrilled and bewildered yet again. (You could hear Threadgill’s units a thousand
times and the shock of the new will still be there.) Saxophonist Benny Golson’s 
debonair storytelling silenced the noisy festival air in front of the smaller Harbor
Stage. Drummer Antonio Sanchez & Migration took unison melodies into levels of heroism
and excitement reserved for prog-rock. Snarky Puppy was its usual studio-perfect
self, and songs like “Gemini” mixed consummate fusion musicianship with a serious
knack for instrumental-pop craft. (There are lines to be drawn from Snarky to Herb
Alpert and Martin Denny, and I mean that as a compliment).

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