2009 Newport RI Jazz Festival Update
Festival Celebrates 55 Years with New Sponsor & Musician Line-Up
Jul 16, 2009
Jazz festival promoter and organizer, George Wein, has secured a new sponsor for the 2009 jazz event in Newport, Rhode Island. Celebrating its 55-year anniversary, this year's Newport jazz festival is called George Wein's CareFusion Jazz Festival 55.
Newport Jazz Festival Location
This legendary jazz festival held annually on the second weekend in August, is set at Fort Adams State Park on Saturday and Sunday, but begins with a performance Friday night at the International Tennis Hall of Fame on Bellevue Avenue.
Fort Adams State Park, an historic site perched at the mouth of the Narragansett Bay overlooking the Atlantic Ocean; provides adequate room for three stages to offer simultaneous performances, without interference, all day long.
Newport Jazz Festival Musicians & Schedule 2009
Friday, August 7 at 8:00PM at the International Tennis Hall of Fame
- Chaka Khan and the George Duke Trio
On Saturday and Sunday, the following dizzying array of musicians allows jazz lovers to move from stage to stage to see and hear an array of musicians from jazz greats Tony Bennett, the Dave Brubeck Quartet, Branford Marsalis, and Joshua Redman to the avant-garde music of Vandermark 5 and Rudresh Mahanthappa's Indo-Pak Coalition.
Saturday, August 8 beginning at 11:30AM at Fort Adams State Park – not in performance order*
- Mos Def & The Watermelon Syndicate
- Branford Marsalis Quartet
- Joshua Redman Double Trio
- Esperanza Spalding
- Cedar Walton All-Stars with Lew Tabackin & Curtis Fuller
- Hiromi's SonicBloom
- Vandermark 5
- Jane Monheit
- Christian McBride
- Vijay Iyer Trio
- Miguel Zenón Quartet
- North Carolina Central Big Band
- Branford Marsalis-Joey Calderazzo Duo
- Claudia Acuña
Sunday, August 9 beginning at 11:30 AM at Fort Adams State Park – not in performance order*
- Tony Bennett
- Dave Brubeck Quartet
- Roy Haynes Fountain of Youth Band
- Michel Camilo
- Joe Lovano UsFive
- The Bad Plus with Wendy Lewis
- James Carter Organ Trio
- Conversations with Christian McBride
- Steven Bernstein's Millennial Territory Orchestra
- Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band
- Rudresh Mahanthappa's Indo-Pak Coalition
- Rashied Ali-Charles Gayle-William Parker's "By Any Means"
- Alfredo Rodriguez
- The Rodriguez Brothers
- Roy Guzman Quintet
*The schedule of performances is overlapping and on three different stages.
Newport Jazz Festival Tickets, Parking & Food
Jazz Festival tickets are:
- $69/day for general admission
- $85/day includes a reserved seat at the main stage
Note: Online ticketing can be confusing as there are general admission tickets, reserved seat tickets, child tickets and parking tickets listed for individual days and multiple days – be sure to be clear about what you're getting before clicking on the purchase.
Parking at Fort Adams is $15/day ($12 if purchased in advance). Parking at Fort Adams is well managed with adequate staff directing traffic. There are shuttle buses to transport folks from the parking area to the festival entrance. There are also water shuttles available from Newport marina to Fort Adams State Park for $5.
Food vendors and craft booths are set up on the festival site in the park. Alcoholic beverages are not permitted. Low lawn chairs and one small cooler are permitted to be brought in to the festival – coolers will be opened and examined at the gate.
More About Newport RI
Newport, a charming coastal New England town, was once the summer playground for the rich and famous of the "Gilded Age". The wealthy industrialists in the early 1900's would travel up the New England coast from New York City to spend weeks at their summer homes along Bellevue Avenue where their backyards overlooked the Atlantic Ocean.
Now a major tourist destination, Newport, Rhode Island continues its 55-year tradition of hosting this legendary jazz festival with George Wein still at the helm.
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