A day of sun, surf, and sound at Fort Adams State Park on Sunday, 6 August 2023.

Elder statesman Herbie Hancock closed the festival with a nod to the musical innovation that keeps the jazz tradition vibrant. Diana Krall and Samara Joy wow the crowds at the Fort and Quad Stages.

Our coverage will bounce between four stages: the headliner Fort Stage, the Quad Stage, the Harbor Stage, and the plucky Foundation Stage in the shadow of the Fort.

Bill Charlap Trio at the Harbor

The Bill Charlap Trio brought a touch of high fettle class to the Harbor Stage. It was jazz improv boiled down to its essentials with Bill Charlap on piano, Peter Washington on standup bass, and Kenny Washington (no relation) on percussion for a cool modernist take.

Cimafunk at the Quad

Cimafunk brought the world music vibes, which is shorthand for a genre mashup that spoke most directly to wanting to throw a party at coordinates roughly located somewhere in the Caribbean.

The stage lit up with the island rhythms of the Afro-Cuban artist who loosened things up after the Charles McPherson Quintet.

Similar to the world music impulse of Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, and Shahzad Ismaily, but taken in a very different direction, Cimafunk makes a bid for a global face of jazz over and above its American identity.

Pedrito Martinez at the Harbor

Sticking with the Caribbean flavor of a very rhythm-forward afternoon in Fort Adams, the six-person (or more?) ensemble rolling with Pedrito Martinez threw down a luxurious Latin sound. Is the frontman a smaller version of the great former Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martínez? Nah, that honor goes to Nelson de la Rosa Martínez.

Scary Goldings at the Fort

The Fort Stage crowd in the afternoon wanted a kind of music that wouldn’t make you swivel your head too fast. After all, this is the “all day” crowd who come in early to plant their flags, their blankets, their picnic baskets, their umbrellas, their coolers. What are they waiting for? The headliner, of course. But on the way to the Emerald City there are plenty of side adventures. The funky, laidback, atmospheric jam of Scary Goldings helps while the time away. Add in the featured guitar of John Scofield for a little extra juice.

The Stout Family Band at the Foundation

Let’s hear it for the Foundation Stage and the Stout Family Band. Forget about the schoolkid acts that dominated the lineups at this stage in the shadow of the Fort. The Stout Family Band was a tight pro ensemble that delivered a kind of soul-inflected funk in the key of James Brown. We needed this act on a bigger stage!

MoodSwing reunion at the Fort

Christian McBride was the man everywhere at once at the Newport Jazz Festival, including behind the bass for the MoodSwing reunion.

What’s MoodSwing? Not a band, it’s an album penned by Joshua Redman and recorded by the quartet of McBride, Redman (saxophone), Brian Blade (drums), and Brad Mehldau (piano). The 1994 album was the jumping off point for a bright set of jazz that blended classic and experimental strains into a feel good mix. Plenty of runway for solos to take off and land with applause breaks throughout.

Somi at the Harbor

Shout out to Somi who’s a little more “Boston & Beyond” than most artists at the festival. Though raised in Illinois, she’s getting her PhD at the Harvard University department of music. Swing by Hump Day News HQ for an interview between classes!

Somi – the moniker for Somi Kakoma – fielded a full complement of musicians at the Harbor Stage. Seven artists? Maybe more? Including two percussionists and a standup bassist to keep the rhythm-forward theme of Sunday afternoon cooking.

Atop the cascading notes of the ensemble, Somi delivered deep, smoky vocals that put you half a football field-deep in a midnight club even though it’s broad daylight. Extra points for the flautist laying down the jams.

Samara Joy at the Quad

Is there a better representative of the bridge built between the classic and contemporary in jazz than Samara Joy? The decorated artist, still a bright young talent, had the crowd at the Quad Stage eating out the palm of her hand. A perfect combination of musical chops and personality made the sometimes distracting ambience of a festival feel like an intimate affair. Joy follows in the proud tradition of Ella Fitzgerald, strong classical timbres and textures with a little footloose scat singing thrown in.

But did Lady Ella ever sing in Portuguese? (She did, actually!) The ensemble just got back from Brazil and Joy paid tribute to the beautiful Brazilian tongue with a few songs in their native language. Fantastic vocal runs streaked throughout the delivery, some on the most outrageous of upper registers. Visions of fantastical nights produced by a velvet voice.

Included in the set was a cover of a Betty Carter song “Don’t Let Him Go” that exploded with scat scratch fever on the titular tagline “Don’t let him go.”

Shout out to the Mingus cover. Extra points for giving love to her alma mater, SUNY Purchase. The university must be proud to call her one of their own.

Cautious Clay at the Harbor

A jack of all trades, or at least two: jazz and rock. But what’s a genre anyway?

Cautious Clay looked equally comfortable in both registers. And he should be – he played gigs like the primarily rock/pop festival In Between Days later in the summer. Though he pulled out the saxophone early in the set, who could miss the guitar-driven song structures that permeated the set?

One amusing aside: there was a brief delay at the start of the set when the emcee mis-introduced the act as ‘Cassius’ instead of ‘Cautious.’ Presumably the artist held out backstage until the correction was made? Probably a slip of the tongue more than a genuine lack of familiarity with the next performing artist.

The Soul Rebels at the Quad

The brass commandos of The Soul Rebels descended on the Quad Stage. And they weren’t alone. Rakim and Talib Kweli were scheduled to join the mix. Shout out to the tuba player.

With Joe Russo’s Almost Dead headlining, the first night was on course for a rocking conclusion. Throw in Branford Marsalis to make sure the closer remains in tight dialogue with the jazz tradition. The living legend saxophonist was a late add after Kamasi Washington fell off the slate. The rich just get richer, while Julius Rodriguez and Angel Bat Dawid open up new horizons.

No rest for headliner Jon Batiste. The Saturday night closer just sewed up a slot at the Newport Folk Festival earlier in the summer. Now he was back for the end of night jazz sendoff…

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