Recent years have me picking a day to attend this storied festival. First year organizer, the drummer Nate Smith, has taken the reins from the tireless bass phenom Christian McBride and like any good rhythm section, hasn’t skipped a beat. The emphasis on contrasting the old guard with new directions was on full display for this year’s Friday lineup. A Thursday deluge made the concert field a little spongey with a whiff of wet hay but did not deter the audience or performers.
Chicago Underground Duo: While this name could describe any pair from the Windy City’s current fertile scenes, I was happy to learn that it is Rob Mazurek on trumpet and electronics with drum wunderkind Chad Taylor. I’m familiar with Rob’s work with his Exploding Star Orchestra, kind of a trumpet fueled Henry Threadgill affair. Taylor is an in-demand session drummer. The music had blasts of trumpet alternating with the electronics backed by the constant motion drumming. Good start of the day on the main stage.
Angine de Poitrine: One of the reasons to pick the Friday was to get a glimpse of viral sensation ADP. An anonymous duo from Quebec, they consist of Khn de Poitrine on custom double neck guitar-bass and cohort Klek de Poitrine on drums. Khn is dressed in white with black polka dots, masked with long blonde hair, a long tubular “nose” and a large upside down triangular hat. Klek’s garb is black with white polka dots. His (her, their?) mask looks like the “none shall pass” knight from Monty Python’s Holy Grail affixed with a swinging phallic proboscis. They emerge from a polka dot curtain at the back of the stage just as a tsunami of hipsters rushes the stage. The mystique and viral nature of their popularity has them instantly selling out venues in Europe and both coasts of the US. The music is loud, frenetic, and microtonal. Khn’s double fret boards are tricked out to allow notes between notes, microtonal. Klek is in constant motion giving a crazy view of the swinging dongschnozz. They don’t sing, but had some alien robotic chatter between songs. Khn can totally shred, making full use of a wide array of effects pedals in addition to the custom guitar. The music leaned in a decidedly prog direction invoking a communal crowd bounce that I haven’t witnessed since the punk or early grunge days. It was fun to watch the crowd, some ran for cover, some were resigned to the square peg ethos of the jazz evolution all while the rabid hipsters were hoping that Khn and Klek could liberate them from the current dumpster fire state of affairs, if only for an hour on a Friday, at Newport. My descriptions seem inadequate, so please google this duo for an accurate representation of their otherworldliness.
Anoushka Shankar: Skipped the end of ADP to make it to the fort stage for renaissance woman Anoushka Shankar. Daughter of master sitarist Ravi and half sister to smooth crooner Norah Jones, to say Anoushka grew up around musical greatness is an understatement. Ravi was vital to George Harrison’s Concert for Bangladesh, arguably the first assemblage to use rock music as a vehicle for societal change. Anoushka grew up in London and assumed her father’s place as in-demand sitarist. Absorbing the traditional music and fusing it with modern electronic beats she forged a new path. Film scores, under the radar dance and techno appearances ensued. Her playing was all over the recent Gorillaz release, The Mountain. Her Newport set was a nice mixture of old and new. Happy to see the sitar up close.
Charles Lloyd and the Sky Quartet: The veteran sax and flute master is joined by pianist Jason Moran, Larry Grenadier bass, and Kweku Sumbry on drums. Lloyd has had a long an industrious career. At 88 years young, he is one of the last connections to the likes of Chico Hamilton, Gabor Szabo, and Cannonball Adderly. His 1966 crossover hit Forest Flower drew praise from the rock world and landed him on stages with Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, and The Grateful Dead. Tax troubles forced him to Europe where he cemented his greatness with an amazing string of releases on Manfred Eicher’s ECM label. His set was beautiful as he toggled from sax to flute. This man does not appear to be 88, his social media postings are lessons in positivity, he seems to be living his best life.
Leon Thomas: Soul rocker Leon Thomas has his hands in many things. Production, collaboration with many current pop stars. On this day, his birthday, he decided to shred on guitar. Nice set on the fort stage. We ducked out before the final sets for the day which made us miss a dusk rain squall. Once again a wide and varied day of music, thanks to new organizer Nate Smith.
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