Andra Day, Mavis Staples, Wynton Marsalis Set for Newport Jazz

Andra Day, Mavis Staples, and Wynton Marsalis have been tapped to perform at the 2021 Newport Jazz festival, which will take place July 30th through August 1st at Fort Adams State Park in Newport, Rhode Island.

The lineup also features Khruangbin, Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue, Yola, Cory Wong, Makaya McCraven, Charles Lloyd, and Ledisi, who will perform a special set of Nina Simone songs. Newport Jazz’s Artist in Residence Robert Grasper is also set to perform on all three days of the festival: On day one, he and Terrace Martin will present their recent project Dinner Party, day two will feature his acoustic trio with DJ Jahi Sundance, and day three is billed as “A Black Radio Production” with special guests.

Christian McBride, who serves as the Newport Jazz Artistic Director, will also play a handful of sets. He’ll perform with his group the Christian McBride Situation on the first day, then lead the Jam Jawn on day three with John Scofield, Marco Benevento, and Joe Russo.

Three-day passes and single-day tickets for Newport Jazz will go on sale on June 3rd at 11 a.m. EST via the festival’s website. In a statement, Newport Jazz said it was too early to share any Covid-19 safety protocols in full detail as conditions are still changing, but the festival said it will share complete info closer to the show, and that attendees will likely need to show proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test.