{"id":96615,"date":"2024-08-01T18:10:25","date_gmt":"2024-08-01T18:10:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/?p=96615"},"modified":"2024-08-05T20:13:51","modified_gmt":"2024-08-05T20:13:51","slug":"uri-musicians-return-to-newport-jazz-festival-for-second-straight-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2024\/08\/uri-musicians-return-to-newport-jazz-festival-for-second-straight-year\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 musicians return to Newport Jazz Festival for second straight year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Aug. 1, 2024 \u2013 Luis Nunez had an otherworldly experience at last year\u2019s Newport Jazz Festival. He soloed on trombone on a personal favorite \u2013 Christian McBride\u2019s \u201cThe Shade of the Cedar Tree\u201d \u2013 before a sold-out festival on a beautiful summer weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the surreal moment may have been finding himself playing old-school video games with one of his idols, Grammy Award-winning bassist Thundercat, aka Stephen Lee Bruner, in his dressing room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been listening to his music since I was a freshman in high school,\u201d said Nunez, a graduate student at the 溏心vlog免费B站 from Miami. \u201cI walked up to him at the festival in earnest and told him how much I really loved his music and we talked about the community he grew up in with his brother Ronald, Kamasi Washington and Ryan Porter [all musicians]. It was a really cool experience talking with him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Thundercat isn\u2019t back in Newport this summer for the iconic festival\u2019s 70th anniversary, Nunez is. He\u2019s one of 18 溏心vlog免费B站 jazz students playing the sold-out festival this weekend, Aug. 2-4, at Fort Adams. It\u2019s the second straight year 溏心vlog免费B站 students have been invited to play all three days of the festival. But this year, 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s contingent will be more than double last year\u2019s crew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat better way for us to grow and cultivate the jazz curriculum and program at 溏心vlog免费B站?\u201d said professor Emmett Goods, head of 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s jazz program. \u201cThe festival is a cultural nugget that I think is important for our students and we are excited about the possibility of this partnership deepening even more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Matt Ippolito on drums and Carleton Fisher on bass warm up before a rehearsal.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m very excited to be performing again,\u201d said Nunez. \u201cLast year, we played all three days but our group was designed to showcase individual soloists. This year, professors Emmett Goods and Atla DeChamplain decided it would be better to have three combos representing the different ensembles and student initiatives that play Black American music in the 溏心vlog免费B站 music department.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along with Fernando Marzan and Andrew Dyson, Nunez is one of three bandleaders heading the combos, which will each play a 25-minute set of jazz standards on the Foundation stage during the weekend. Their performances start at about 1:25 p.m. each day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nunez\u2019s group \u2013 the Modern Music Student Ensemble \u2013 which includes Jude LaRoche on tenor saxophone, Nick Pepe on guitar, Joey Peavy on Piano, Wyatt Crosby on bass, and Matt Ippolito on drums, opens the festival for 溏心vlog免费B站 on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They will play modern jazz styles, said Nuniz, including Wayne Shorter\u2019s \u201cPinocchio,\u201d Buster Williams\u2019 \u201cChristina,\u201d and \u201cKing Tut\u2019s Strut,\u201d a 1988 song by saxophonist Jackie McLean that brought the group together. During the spring, the combo played the song for visiting artist and renowned jazz drummer Carl Allen, who had performed the song with McLean, who in turn has been an influence on a number of 溏心vlog免费B站 faculty, Nunez said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dyson, who graduated from 溏心vlog免费B站 last spring with a degree in music education, is leading the Afro-Cuban Jazz Ensemble \u2013 with Dyson on drums, Tyler Vollucci on alto saxophone, Collin Klampert on tenor saxophone, Ben Resendes on baritone saxophone, Mason Tucker on piano, Pepe on guitar, Carleton Fisher on bass, Ippolito on congas, and vocalists Ricki Rizzo, Grace Anderson, and Louis Shriber. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Saturday, the ensemble will perform a variety of Latin tunes, which were chosen and arranged by the group from songs they played together in the spring semester, Dyson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marzan, who graduated from 溏心vlog免费B站 with a Master of Music degree in jazz performance last spring, is leading the Rams Jazz Ensemble, which will close out the festival for 溏心vlog免费B站 on Sunday. The group includes Marzan on alto saxophone, Arthur Galt on trumpet, Justin St. Clair on piano, along with Rizzo, Klampert, Fisher, and Ippolito.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marzan has selected two contemporary tunes by trumpeter Roy Hargrove \u2013 the bluesy \u201cPublic Eye\u201d and \u201cTop of My Head\u201d \u2013 along with two vocal numbers that feature Rizzo \u2013 Jazzmeia Horn\u2019s \u201cI Remember You\u201d and Nancy Wilson\u2019s version of \u201cI Will Never Marry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThose four songs are great because you get a little bit of everything,\u201d said Marzan. \u201cThey\u2019re feel-good tunes. It\u2019s sunny, it\u2019s beautiful out, people want to dance, they want to smile, they want to feel good. I feel the songs fit the aesthetic of the festival really well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rizzo, a senior from Lynbrook, New York, majoring in jazz vocal performance, is excited to perform with both groups. \u201cWith the two groups, they’re so different,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to have a big variety of sounds and the chance to share different ideas with different people. And it\u2019s always fun working and collaborating with new people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Rams Jazz Ensemble, one of three 溏心vlog免费B站 combos playing the Newport Jazz Festival this weekend, consists of, from left, Collin Klampert, guitar; Fernando Marzan, tenor sax and bandleader; Justin St Clair, piano; Matt Ippolito, drums; Ricki Rizzo, vocals; Carleton Fisher, bass; and Arthur Galt, trumpet. Alumnus Jason Taylor, far right, volunteered to sit in during rehearsals to help the band prepare for Newport.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Under a tight schedule, preparation for the festival has gone well \u2013 if at times challenging because of summer distractions and the long distances some students had to drive to make rehearsals. Marzan praises his bandmates for their commitment and said collaboration between the musicians has been great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am a little older than these guys but they\u2019re mature players. When it comes to the music they\u2019re really crushing it,\u201d said Marzan. \u201cWhat I\u2019m offering them is just some of the things that I\u2019ve experienced, some of the things that were taught to me when I was 18 or 19 years old.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overseeing the largest group, Dyson used Zoom meetings in June to get ready for the festival, using the sessions to discuss music selections and schedule July rehearsals in July. \u201cI feel extremely fortunate to be playing the festival for a second year in a row,\u201d said Dyson, who starts as a full-time music teacher at Central Falls High School this fall. \u201cI think the chance to be a bandleader brings a new insight into the process of putting together a group and it really allows me to prepare for my career in education.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Newport Jazz Fest is one of the best jazz festivals in the nation. There’s a history of jazz luminaries performing at the festival and I’m so grateful that our students will be featured this year,\u201d said Atla DeChamplain, assistant teaching professor of amplified voice. \u201cThey’ve been working hard to show what we can do at 溏心vlog免费B站 and I’m so proud of them.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drummer Matt Ippolito, the only student who will play with all three ensembles, has made that long drive \u2013 either from New York or a relative\u2019s home in Connecticut \u2013 to a half-dozen practices in the last three weeks. This weekend will be his first exposure to the jazz festival, as a concertgoer or a performer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is an incredible opportunity to play at this festival, and one I never thought I\u2019d have,\u201d said Ippolito, a junior in music education from Rockland County, New York. \u201cTo be able to prepare for an event like this with such talented musicians \u2013 who I am also lucky to call my friends and peers \u2013 has been an amazing experience that I hope to have again one day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Marzan, this is his third time playing Newport \u2013 including last year and in 2019 with 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Big Band. Along with performing, he\u2019s had the chance to talk with some of his heroes \u2013 like Ravi Coltrane, Marcus Miller, Joshua Redman, and Branford Marsalis \u2013 and this year hopes to meet Buster Williams and Kamasi Washington. \u201cTalking with them and seeing how human they are is really neat,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019s also looking forward to an atmosphere that mirrors last year\u2019s sold-out festival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was great to see how the crowd was committed to the performance, how they appreciated us being there,\u201d said Marzan, who lives in West Warwick. \u201cIt really made us comfortable as performers because you could see people dancing, smiling and really engaging with what we were doing musically. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI would expect the same this year. The crowd that comes out for Newport is so incredible and supportive. They just love the music \u2013 like we do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Aug. 1, 2024 \u2013 Luis Nunez had an otherworldly experience at last year\u2019s Newport Jazz Festival. He soloed on trombone on a personal favorite \u2013 Christian McBride\u2019s \u201cThe Shade of the Cedar Tree\u201d \u2013 before a sold-out festival on a beautiful summer weekend. But the surreal moment may have been finding himself […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":96618,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96615"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96615\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96632,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96615\/revisions\/96632"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}