Ray Anderson, Bucky Pizzarelli & Howard Alden added at Newport

RAY ANDERSON’S “BONACIOUS” BAND AND BUCKY PIZZARELLI & HOWARD ALDEN
JUST ADDED TO JVC JAZZ FESTIVAL-NEWPORT LINEUP

Festival Artistic Director Dan Melnick has just added trombonist Ray Anderson's “Bonacious” Band and guitarists Bucky Pizzarelli & Howard Alden to this year's JVC Jazz Festival-Newport lineup. (Ray and Buck are pictured above)

This year's jazz festival takes place Friday through Sunday, August 10, 11 and 12 and features a wide open landscape of jazz, blues, rhythm & blues, funk, Latin jazz and world music as offered by 30 unique and diverse ensembles. Some of the dynamic musical personalities headlining this year include Dianne Reeves on Friday evening at the Newport Casino, Branford Marsalis, Marcus Miller, Zap Mama and Dave Brubeck on Saturday at Fort Adams and B.B. King, Al Green, Paquito D'Rivera and Etta James on Sunday's program, also at Fort Adams.

JUST ADDED to this wide-ranging roster is trombonist Ray Anderson who will kick off the proceedings on the intimate Waterside Stage on Saturday, August 11 with an illustrious and "Bonacious" band featuring Wycliffe Gordon on trombone; Lonnie Plaxico on bass; Dion Parson on drums and James Weidman on piano.

The mark of a great artist has always been to go beyond technical excellence and impart a personal vision - a sense of style and self-expression that is indelibly his own. Among modern jazz musicians, no one rises to that standard more than trombonist Ray Anderson, whose sublime mastery of the tricks of his trade is equaled by the bountiful spirit he pours into his one-of-a-kind sound.

Described by critic Gary Giddins as “one of the most compellingly original trombonists,” Anderson is by turns a supremely lyrical player and bold texturalist, a warmly natural-sounding soloist and footloose innovator. Broadening the trombone's sonic scope with his extended techniques, brilliantly unconventional use of the plunger mute and demonstrative vocal-like tones, he played a major role in reawakening interest in the instrument in the '80s.

Added also on Sunday, August 12 is eighty-one-year-old legend Bucky Pizzarelli who will team up with younger guitar icon Howard Alden for a tour-de-force duo set of swing guitar mid-day on the Pavilion Stage.

In 2003, these two stunning seven-string jazz guitarists recorded a CD on Concord Records entitled In A Mellow Tone. David McCarty of Acoustic Guitar Central wrote, "Playing seven-string amplified archtops, Alden and Pizzarelli (key participants on the Django-inspired soundtrack to Woody Allen's movie Sweet and Lowdown) partner up for a swinging 65-minute duet romp that exploits their instruments' potential for harmonic richness. At times these jazz guitar titans sound almost like a string quartet, as bass licks on their lowest strings support the soloist. One highlight is the way wily veteran Pizzarelli storms through the introductory chordal passage of "Cherokee," perfectly setting up Alden's lightning solo. With tunes ranging from rare classics like Bix Beiderbecke's "In the Dark" to Fats Waller's familiar "Jitterbug Waltz," In a Mellow Tone is a landmark achievement in modern jazz guitar."

The full festival program is as follows:

The popular Friday night program [August 10] at the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s Newport Casino will feature Newport ‘57: The Legacy of Ella, Billie and Basie with the internationally renown jazz singer Dianne Reeves and her band and The Count Basie Orchestra with Special Guest Nnenna Freelon. That program will begin at 8:00 pm; the Casino is the location of the very first Newport Jazz Festival where the champagne and martinis are again sure to flow.
The festival moves seaside to gorgeous Fort Adams State Park for two full days [11:30 am - 7:00 pm] and this year’s festival features something for everyone--a glorious mix of straight ahead, traditional and contemporary jazz, rhythm & blues, blues, funk, Latin jazz and Brazilian jazz.

On Saturday, August 11, the program on the JVC Jazz Stage will feature: Branford Marsalis Quartet, Marcus Miller Band, Dave Brubeck Quartet, Zap Mama, Bruce Hornsby with Jack DeJohnette & Christian McBride and Joshua Redman Trio. The Pavilion Stage is where jazz fans will hear Chico Hamilton & Euphoria, The Brubeck Brothers Quartet, Monk Legacy Septet: A 90th Birthday Celebration with Ben Riley, Don Sickler, Bruce Williams, Wayne Escoffery, Jay Brandford, Freddie Bryant & Kiyoshi Kitagawa, Gunther Schuller conducts the Mingus Orchestra, and Kenny Werner Quintet with Chris Potter, Randy Brecker, Scott Colley & Antonio Sanchez. The smaller, but critic-pleasing Waterside Stage will have several treats: Ray Anderson’s Bonacious Band, Roswell Rudd Quartet with Lafayette Harris, Brad Jones & Sunny Kim, pianist Abdullah Ibrahim performing solo and Anat Cohen Quartet.

Sunday’s program on August 12 will add a good deal of blues and rhythm & blues to the day’s musical plate. The JVC Jazz Stage will be highlighted by B.B. King, Etta James & The Roots Band, Al Green, Paquito D’Rivera’s Panamericana Ensemble, Newport ’57 Revisited: The Legacy of Dizzy Gillespie, Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band featuring Slide Hampton, Roberta Gambarini, James Moody, Jimmy Heath, Roy Hargrove, Claudio Roditi, Antonio Hart, Mark Gross, Frank Basile, Frank Greene, Greg Gisbert, Steve Davis, Jason Jackson, Jay Ashby, Doug Purviance, Roy Assaf, John Lee & Dennis Mackrel.

If that doesn’t knock everyone’s socks off, there is also Sunday’s Pavilion Stage with Luciana Souza - The New Bossa Nova, Ron Carter, Russell Malone & Mulgrew Miller, Bucky Pizzarelli & Howard Alden, Jon Faddis’ Teranga and The Music Of Rahsaan Roland Kirk featuring Steve Turre with Vincent Herring, Billy Harper, Dion Parson and others.

Also on Sunday, August 12, the Waterside Stage will showcase Ben Allison Quartet with Jeff Ballard, Steve Cardenas & Ron Horton, Portrait of Bill Evans featuring Eliane Elias, Marc Johnson & Billy Hart, Brazilian Nights: The Music of Getz & Jobim featuring Harry Allen with Trio da Paz: Romero Lubambo, Nilson Matta & Duduka da Fonseca and Donald Harrison Quintet featuring Christian Scott with Esperanza Spalding, John Lampkin & Victor Gould.

Tickets & Information:

Friday, August 10, 8 pm: Dianne Reeves & her band, Count Basie Orchestra Featuring Special Guest Nnenna Freelon at The International Tennis Hall of Fame at The Newport Casino, 194 Bellevue Avenue. All seats reserved: $85.00, $65.00, $50.00 and $30.00.

Saturday August 11 and Sunday, August 12 at Fort Adams State Park (11:30 am – 7:00 pm): General admission: $65.00 in advance, $70.00 on festival weekend, if available. Children under 12, $5.00 at all times; under 2, free. On site festival parking, $6.00 per vehicle. Reserved seating, JVC Jazz Stage: $75.00.

TICKETS are on sale now via Ticketweb at http://www.Ticketweb.com/, by phone at 866-468-7619 and at the Newport Festival office located at 770 Aquidneck Avenue in Middletown, Rhode Island; cash, checks and major credit cards are accepted. Call 401-847-3700 for more information and office hours. Tickets are also available at the Newport County Convention & Visitors Bureau located at 23 America's Cup Avenue in Newport.