NEWPORT, R.I. — Fort Adams was established on July 4, 1799, to defend this seafaring city. Now a state park and historic landmark, for the past several decades the fort has served as a stronghold of another kind — for jazz music.
On Sunday, the performers booked to play the final day of this year’s Newport Jazz Festival paid tribute to the giants of the form. Samara Joy, one of the breakout jazz acts of recent years, made the Hoagy Carmichael standard “Stardust” her own and introduced Charles Mingus’s “Reincarnation of a Lovebird” as a tribute to Charlie Parker. Larry Goldings, the Boston-born organist who plays with the funky instrumental group Scary Goldings, said he saw Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie at Newport as a kid.
Diana Krall shouted out the late, legendary bassist Ray Brown, who discovered her. And Herbie Hancock, who closed the weekend in style, was, well, Herbie Hancock.
But the day’s performances also showcased just how far jazz has evolved from the lush ballads and hard bop of the 1950s, when George Wein first launched the Newport Jazz Festival, often credited as the inspiration for all American music festivals. There were congas and samplers, a couple of world-class rappers (Rakim and Talib Kweli, guesting with the New Orleans brass band the Soul Rebels), and an all-star jazz band that played nothing but their own modern compositions.
On the Quad Stage, located within the confines of the fortress walls, the Cuban bandleader known as Cimafunk led his exuberant group through a fun set of horn-heavy dance music that had one woman, wearing a Cuban flag as a shawl, whirling like a cyclone.
On the more intimate Harbor Stage, the multi-instrumentalist who calls himself Cautious Clay sampled some of the atmospheric beats and melodies that have drawn the attention of a certain singer named Taylor Swift. And over on the main stage that overlooks Narragansett Bay and the many boats of Newport Harbor, Hancock and his wildly inventive group showered the vast crowd with electronic effects, embracing a digital future for the music.
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Under the relentless sun, the state park was a sea of beach chairs and hats — bucket hats, slouch hats, straw fedoras, stingy brims. A pith helmet. A little umbrella fashioned as headgear.
Joy is aptly named. Conversational and giggly, she drew a huge, appreciative throng to the Quad Stage. Singing the bossa nova classic “Chega de Saudade” in both Portuguese and English, she brought the song to a crescendo with a flurry of glass-shattering notes, coaxing herself along with hand gestures, as if she were juggling.
Introducing the Mingus song, she explained, “It’s a doozy, so sit back.” After her set, she made her way to the merchandise table, where she spent well over an hour signing copies of her recent album “Linger Awhile” for a long line of admirers.
Charles McPherson, the 84-year-old bebop survivor who played on that Mingus song way back in 1960, basked in the warm glow of the audience after his early afternoon set. “You’ve been absolutely beautiful,” he beamed.
A few minutes later, Christian McBride — the jazz bassist who doubles as one of the music’s busiest ambassadors (he’s been the festival’s artistic director since 2016) — introduced the Bill Charlap Trio on the Harbor Stage as “one of the greatest trios this music has ever known — and I don’t say that lightly.”
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Accompanied by bassist Peter Washington and drummer Kenny Washington, the feather-fingered Charlap probed the depths of the Great American Songbook, with an emphasis on Duke Ellington. The knowledgeable crowd yipped in recognition each time he dropped a hint of Gershwin or some other classic melodist.
The presence of John Scofield, the accomplished guitarist, with Scary Goldings drew the jam-band faction to the fore. The group worked out on their own originals, including “Professor Vicarious” (a nickname that Miles apparently bestowed on the young Scofield) and the amusingly titled “Tacobell’s Canon,” which suggested a recently unearthed Booker T and the MG’s outtake.
The strong tone of saxophonist Joshua Redman led the “MoodSwing Reunion” of McBride, pianist Brad Mehldau, and drummer Brian Blade. All leaders in their own right, they reunited recently after first convening for a Redman album in 1993. This year’s festival marked the 30th anniversary of their first gig together, also at Newport, Redman said.
Actually, they’d played in Philadelphia the day before, he joked, “but that doesn’t count.” It was a good-natured dig at McBride, who is from Philly.
Both of the Newport festivals (jazz and folk) are renowned for showcasing music’s living legends. On Sunday, Hancock fit the bill — “the King, the High Exalted Ruler,” as McBride exclaimed by way of introduction.
The pianist led his four-piece band on “Footprints,” the jazz classic written by Hancock’s “best friend,” Wayne Shorter, who died in March. He toyed with a vocoder, altering his voice as he improvised a lyric about the Earth’s “one family” and the coming of artificial intelligence.
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But he also afforded each of his accompanists a generous amount of space, led by the accomplished trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard. Guitarist Lionel Loueke and bassist James Genus, both monster players, each took solos by looping their own playing and then improvising on top.
“It sounds like he’s playing every instrument that’s ever been invented,” Hancock gushed about Loueke, who uses finger-tapping techniques and processes his voice through effects. The in-demand, Berklee-educated drummer Justin Tyson, a ferocious player who often uses a crash cymbal in place of snare hits, might be “a little bit too young to play in this band,” joked Hancock, who is a limber 83. On second thought, he said with a laugh, “I started with Miles when I was 23. He’s 24.”
After the fusion excursion of “Actual Proof,” Hancock wrapped the evening in crowd-pleasing fashion, with his iconic keytar strapped over his shoulder for the heavy, playful funk of his all-timer “Chameleon.” As the crowd filed out, one woman asked an elated young man if it was his first time at the festival.
It was, he said, but he’ll be back: “It’s the beginning of a long and beautiful friendship.”
James Sullivan can be reached at jamesgsullivan@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @sullivanjames.