NEWPORT JAZZ FESTIVAL is the best ‘jazz’ festival in the United States, keeping true to its origins, history, and legends while simultaneously bringing forth new and emerging artists and styles. The 2026 event sustains the NJF run of excellence with its stacked stellar lineup. It’s an abundance of riches, as the festival packs more talent across four stages and three days than most fans will see in a whole year or more!
Each day has a legendary headliner closing out on the main Fort Stage: Vulpeck on Friday, Kamasi Washington and Chief Adjuah celebrating Miles, Coltrane and Rollins on Saturday, and Herbie Hancock on Sunday. That alone is worth the price of admission. In this preview, I’ll cover some of the highlights for each day.
The ‘undercards’ could easily be headliners at other festivals, and indeed, I’ve seen many of them fill large venues. On top of all that, the ’emerging’ artists always have astounding talent with a lot of surprises. I’ll cover the rest in an upcoming post.
Friday Highlights
VULFPECK will headline Friday night, and they’re sure to delight the sold-out crowd. From their inauspicious start at the University of Michigan right to the present, the group has mixed kitschy stage antics with bona fide jazz and funk chops. I’ve caught their highly entertaining sets a couple of times live, including Suwannee Hulaween (click for video). The band has progressed to megastar status as evidenced by their Live at Madison Square Garden video here. Rumor has it that Louis Cato may be filling in for Theo Katzman who’s currently on hiatus for his own tour
ANGINE DE POITRINE has exploded onto the scene within the last few months, and I expect their set, wherever it is, to be packed to the gills. The two anonymous musicians perform in absurd polka-dot costumes and oversized papier-mâché masks. They are renowned for blending math rock, progressive rock, and avant-garde performance art. Themusic is a hypnotic, highly technical blend of polyrhythms, odd time signatures, and microtonal scales created using custom double-neck instruments and live looping pedals. The result is an off-kilter, Middle Eastern-tinged sound that is sure to be wild live.
MOHINI DEY is an amazing bassist that I first got hip to during last year’s Willow set at Newport Jazz. That whole set created quite a buzz on the Quad stage, particularly with the younger crowd. Since them, I’ve been tracking her socials for both her music and fashion style. She’s played some amazing sets, even at NAMM with such other young talents like Jesse Molina on keys. Don’t sleep on this set – I’m sure it’s gonna be explosive finger funk!
Saturday Highlights
SONNY MILES ON A TRANE, FEATURING KAMASI WASHINGTON AND CHIEF ADJUAH was originally to celebrate 100 years of Miles and Coltrane but was changed to include Sonny Rollins due to his recent passing. This set is sure to be a festival and all-time highlight. Both of the featured artists are incredible on their own but pairing them in this restrospective set is brilliant. Chief will perform his own set on Friday which is another must see set. Kamasi’s sets always bring me to tears, and having most recently seen him at the Atlanta Jazz Festival in May, I’m sure this one will be equally powerful. In Atlanta, Kamasi did pay tribute to Trane and it was spectacular.
SNARKY PUPPY is my favorite jazz/world/fusion band among current artists. They’ll be coming in hot from their European tour where they’re performing their latest fantastic album, Somni, with the Metropole Orkest. Here’s a recent festival set they performed at their GroundUP Music Festival in Italy. For the Newport set, I’d expect a few cuts from that album mixed in with some of their most popular tunes from earlier albums for festival goers to get an all around appreciation of their musicianship and gorgeous compositions.
NATE SMITH is not only a fantastic drummer, but also this is his first year as musical director of NJF, so all of the greatness that is on the program is a direct link with him. It’s a big year for Nate as he took this over from Christian McBride and I’m expecting him to play a lot of material from his Grammy-award winning album (Best Alternative Jazz Album) Live-Action. He was also featured at this year’s Atlanta Jazz Festival and it was a great set!
Sunday Highlights
HERBIE HANCOCK is a bona fide living legend of jazz. From his early years with Miles Davis to his electronic era in the 2000s, he’s generated some of the most well-recognized jazz fusion hits, including Watermelon Man, Chameleon, and RockIt. In forming the Headhunters in 1973, he put out a more accessible, groove-oriented sound. The Head Hunters album featuring Chameleon became the first jazz album to go platinum and permanently reshaped the funk and jazz-fusion landscapes. In 1983, the techno-funk instrumental Rockit became another massive crossover hit. There’s so much ground to cover over the course of his career that this set is bound to have a ton of sweet surprises.
LAKE STREET DIVE is one of those old, “new” bands. It’s hard to believe that they’ve been around 20 years and their profile grew over 10 years ago, around the time of this Tiny Desk concert. They have an old school, throwback style with Rachel Price on lead vocals as a standout crooner. Bridget Kearney on upright bass is a badass, and I’ve seen her perform her own sets. Rounding out the quartet are Mike “McDuck” Olson (trumpet and guitar) and Mike Calabrese (drums). When I last saw them in Atlanta, the entire venue sang along with their biggest hits and I believe that will be the case in Newport as well.
FLEA AND THE HONORA BAND are set to deliver one of the most highly anticipated, boundary-pushing sets at NJF. Of course, Flea is globally known as the legendary bassist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Flea but returned to his childhood love of jazz trumpet with his critically acclaimed, chart-topping solo debut album, Honora. The performance promises a soulful, meditative, and avant-garde exploration featuring an elite powerhouse of contemporary jazz visionaries: saxophonist and producer Josh Johnson, guitarist Jeff Parker, upright bassist Anna Butterss, and virtuoso drummer Deantoni Parks. Amidst a historic weekend lineup, Flea’s brilliant evolution into a jazz bandleader stands out as a must-see, forward-looking set.