By Paul Robicheau 

Newport Jazz sold out all three days in advance for the second year in a row, which made scheduling the primary acts across three stages prone to occasional mismatches between space and demand. But it’s still a golden ticket.

Raye at Newport Jazz 2025. Photo: Paul Robicheau

Jazz took a loud step in different directions at this past weekend’s Newport Jazz Festival, further challenging expected definitions under that umbrella. Bass boomed from the speakers at Fort Adams State Park’s main stage for hip-hop veterans De La Soul and the Roots as well as producer Flying Lotus, controlling knobs from his post atop a huge video wall of kaleidoscopic visuals that matched the whooshing beats.

Then there was the British invasion, as several artists brought their sound from across the pond. They included saxophonist Nubya Garcia (displaying her spiritual bent with floaty tenor swells), ’70s-rooted funk band Cymande, and soul/R&B singers Jorja Smith (bringing honeyed calm to hip-hop inflections on the main Fort stage) and the old-school soulful Samm Henshaw. Pop chameleon Jacob Collier closed the fest, bouncing from piano to guitar, bass, and percussion while singing and cheerleading like an ADD Disney prince in billowy orange and blue.

Janelle Monae at Newport Jazz 2025, Photo; Paul Robicheau

But the festival’s British breakout was singer Raye, who came across like Amy Winehouse fronting a jazz orchestra, with vulnerable charm. Glowing about Nina Simone and other legends who had trod the Newport stage, Raye had the chutzpah to tackle Dinah Washington’s “Cry Me a River” and James Brown’s “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World,” tapping a dulcet voice with trembling vibrato rather than overselling. She broke down after her “Ice Cream Man,” a song about sexual assault at the hands of a producer when she was 17, but declared “music is medicine.” Eager to return if asked, Raye stands to headline that main stage next time.

By contrast, Janelle Monae remained coolly in control as Saturday’s headliner with a streamlined version of her touring show since 2023, gliding through choreography with two dancers and brass players in her coed sextet. She emerged in prominent vulva pants for the poppy, suggestive “Pynk” and a black gaucho suit to mimic Michael Jackson’s moves (including moon walks) in “Make Me Feel” before saluting her grandmother, who survived segregation, and belting out “Cold War.”

Willow (daughter of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith) appeared shy on the surface but surprised with fearless vocal delivery while fronting hard-rocking female musicians on the mid-sized Quad stage. At times Willow evoked Kate Bush-like tones yet she turned to flat-out wailing in songs such as “UR a <Stranger>” (with judicious reverb) as if she had something to prove, the messy attack both a pro and a con.

Dianne Reeves at Newport Jazz 2025. Photo: Paul Robicheau

Dianne Reeves launched her career in the ’80s as a more commercial jazz singer during that quiet-storm era. Now 68, Reeves showed her knack for adaptation when she opened her Fort set with Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” by wrapping lyrics to music as if it were a new song, then showcasing her gift for scat and working with reggae rhythms. As bassist and festival artistic director Christian McBride said of Reeves, “Sometimes we take our living titans for granted.”

Though Newport Jazz lacked as many cameos as Newport Folk the weekend before, it displayed a few unexpected guests, as well as novel collaborations under McBride’s guidance. In a Fort set with his big band on Sunday, McBride brought out Providence-born Jeffrey Osborne, who not only did justice to his ’80s adult-contemporary soul but fired up “(Every Time I Turn Around) Back in Love Again” by his ’70s funk band L.T.D.

Black Thought of the Roots at Newport Jazz 2025. Photo: Paul Robicheau

McBride played electric bass in the Philadelphia Experiment at the Quad stage on Friday, laying hip-hop/jazz grooves with pianist Uri Caine, turntablist DJ Logic, and drummer Questlove, whose Roots headlined that evening, seamlessly mixing originals with covers (starting with a showband-styled “Jungle Boogie”), led by rapper Black Thought’s freestyle flow. Old-school hip-hop also shook the Fort stage mid-afternoon Sunday when De La Soul returned after levitating Newport Folk the previous year, pumping cross-fire lyricism with guests Talib Kweli and Pharoahe Monch, which may have alienated jazz purists.

Yes, fans of more traditional jazz could have felt shortchanged at this year’s Newport Jazz, though Friday began on a promising note with the quartet of acoustic bassist Ron Carter (at 88, the most recorded jazz bassist in history) and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. The Fort stage also kicked off Saturday morning with a Centennial Tribute to Roy Haynes presented by his grandson and fellow drummer Marcus Gilmore. He was deftly assisted by Haynes alumni in pianist Danilo Perez and acoustic bassist John Patitucci (who also closed the small Harbor stage that day in a trio with drummer Obed Calvaire) and sax veteran Kenny Garrett, who likewise lit up the Harbor on Friday with his own superb band, rocking his head to lift his alto sax high like he did with Miles Davis. And Sunday’s Fort stage began with a younger alto saxophonist, Lakecia Benjamin, paying her own tribute to Haynes (who died last fall at 99) along with John Coltrane by scorching “My Favorite Things,” which they famously recorded at Newport in 1963.

Guitar fans got their charge from Isaiah Sharkey, Stanley Jordan (solo, with the tapping technique that gained early fame), and John Scofield appeared in a casual jazz-funk trio with electric bass maestro Marcus Miller and Louis Cato — best known as a guitarist for Late Show host Stephen Colbert’s house band — on drums. Further blurring the lines of jazz, Rich Ruth (Nashville’s Michael Ruth) laced electric guitar from skeletal brushing to fast-picked distortion over a minimalist ambient palette broadened by vibes, sax, violin, bass, and drums.

BEATrio of Bela Fleck, Antonio Sanchez, and Edgar Castañeda at Newport Jazz 2025. Photo: Paul Robicheau

But the fest’s most unique showcase for strings came Saturday from the BEATrio of banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck, Colombian harpist Edgar Castaneda (who handled rhythmic bass lines as well as delicate upper melodies), and longtime Pat Metheny drummer Antonio Sanchez, who astounded with his skills and speed between two snares during a solo. It had looked like English drummer/producer Yussef Dayes had locked up drumming honors on the same Quad stage the previous day, spinning polyrhythms that echoed hip-hop, electric fusion, and Afro-beat styles on a sprawling kit that centered his Experience.

Cecile McLorin Salvant at Newport Jazz 2025. Photo: Paul Robicheau

Styles varied around the festival’s three stages, from the playful swing jazz of Lake Street Dive’s Rachael Price and project partner Vilray to trumpeter Terence Blanchard’s Flow, a seeming misnomer given his group’s measured, soundtrack-like affinity (each instrument favoring an electronically treated tone) and taut rhythms.

Poll-winning vocalist Cecile McLorin Salvant proved her technical precision and expressive range beyond jazz in stretching from art song to show tunes, opening with “Don’t Rain on My Parade” from Barbra Streisand’s ’60s musical Funny Girl, taking the word “parade” to a stratospheric final high note. Fellow Grammy-winning singer/bassist Esperanza Spalding followed Salvant on Sunday’s Quad stage by likely confounding listeners as well. After a delayed start, Spalding began on piano before picking up her bass and dipping into her 2019 oddity 12 little Spells, musing about our body parts in her lithe, darting voice while two women engaged in acrobatic, abstract dance.

Indeed, not everything hit the mark, including the indie-electronic duo Knower. Its breakbeat-shot funk with a live band was scattershot from the start at the Quad as vocalist Genevieve Artadi (bouncing around in headphones with red lace over her eyes) sounded thin in the mix.

But other artists made more overtly crowd-pleasing moves. Retro-soul group Thee Sacred Souls closed Friday’s Quad stage with front man Josh Lane roaming the aisles of the tent with his Marvin Gaye-sweet voice in “Will I See You Again?” and later espousing freedom for Palestinians among peoples in conflict. Fusion pianist Hiromi unleashed her typical high-flying fingers at the keys in frenetic opener “XYZ” (not to be confused with rock trio Rush’s famed instrumental) as her band Sonicwonder’s funkier rhythm section added the rich, rippling trumpet of Adam O’Farrill.

Hiromi at Newport Jazz 2025. Photo: Paul Robicheau

In fact, Hiromi’s closing Sunday set at the small Harbor space drew an overflowing crowd that limited who could really catch her, a frustration similarly faced with pop group Lucius at Newport Folk. Like its more popular counterpart, Newport Jazz sold out all three days in advance for the second year in a row, making the scheduling of primary acts on three stages prone to occasional misfires in space and demand. For all the festivals’ stylistic shuffles and logistics, it’s still a golden ticket.

Paul Robicheau served more than 20 years as contributing editor for music at the Improper Bostonian in addition to writing and photography for the Boston Globe, Rolling Stone, and many other publications. He was also the founding arts editor of Boston Metro.