Jazz favorites join annual Newport festival this weekend
Thousands of jazz enthusiasts are expected to stake out spots and lounge under the sun at the annual Hyatt Regency Newport Beach Jazz Festival this weekend.
The three-day outdoor music celebration will bring family, friends and mainstream jazz artists together so fans may be close to their favorite musicians.
The festival will kick off at 6 p.m. Friday in the intimate 1,000-seat Back Bay Amphitheatre with saxophonist Michael Lington along with special guest and pop vocalist Taylor Dayne.
The festivities will continue Saturday and Sunday at 11:30 a.m. on the Hyatt’s Back Bay golf course and festival grounds where attendees will be presented with two stages of music, a food court and vendors.
Saturday will feature four-time Grammy nominee and multiplatinum-selling saxophonist Boney James, R&B band DW3, jazz band BWB, Patrick Lamb and Jeffrey Osborne, who earned five gold and platinum albums with Top 40 hits including “Love Power,” performed with Dionne Warwick.
The festival will wrap up Sunday with performances by Mindi Abair and the Boneshakers, Larry Graham & Graham Central Station, Patti Austin, Patrick Bradley, Con Brio and Jazz Attack, a band that includes Richard Elliot, Euge Groove and Peter White.
Friday and Saturday evenings will feature an after-hours party with DJ Jonathan Phillips of radio station 94.7 The Wave in the Hyatt’s Pacific Room, and Sunday will conclude with an acoustic set by Ray Jordan in the hotel bar.
On Sunday afternoon, two-time Grammy nominated saxophonist Abair will take the stage with the Boneshakers, featuring vocalist Sweetpea Atkinson and guitarist and songwriter Randy Jacobs, to perform a mix of Abair’s material and classics by the funk and soul band.
“It feels like home,” Abair said of her return to perform in Newport Beach. She’s lost count on how many times she’s played at the festival over the years. “I travel all over the world with my band and it’s nice to play for family and friends. It’s a different magic. I look out into the audience and I recognize faces back when I first started.”
Abair, who threw a launch party for her 2014 “Wild Heart” album on opening night last year at the festival, earned a nomination for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album at this year’s Grammy Awards. The record debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz chart.
During the album’s development, Abair joined “Summer Horns,” assembled by fellow saxophonist Dave Koz. She and Koz collaborated with Richard Elliot and Gerald Albright to create a record that celebrated the late ‘60s and early ‘70s sounds of Chicago, Earth, Wind & Fire and Sly & the Family Stone. The four were nominated for a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Instrumental Album.
Abair has toured with Aerosmith, and has joined Paul Shaffer and the CBS Orchestra on the “Late Show with David Letterman.”
She appeared as saxophonist in the “American Idol” band and performed alongside Season 11 winner Phillip Phillips.
Her two seasons on “American Idol” led her to joining Aerosmith as their first saxophonist since 1973 for the band’s 2012 Global Warming Tour. When tenor saxophonist Clarence Clemons died, Abair toured with Max Weinberg and performed a night at Beacon Theatre with Bruce Springsteen.
“I was onstage with these guys and I was full of this mojo and I had to bring that energy into my career,” Abair said, calling from Capitol Records after mixing a record. “It was a chance for me to open up to this new world.”
When she isn’t writing, recording or touring, she serves as president of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
Abair, whose solo work includes 10 No. 1 radio hits and close to half a million albums sold, said that she has a few favorite moments of past shows at the festival.
There was the time she begged her guitarist to introduce her to Don Was, who produced Bonnie Raitt’s “Nick of Time” album. Since their meeting, Was has been instrumental in Abair’s career by hiring her for “American Idol” and Aerosmith’s summer tour.
And being a self-described “huge” fan of Bill Withers, Abair said she was honored to meet him at the festival one year.
“Getting to know him has been amazing,” she said.
The saxophonist said she plans to stay after her performance Sunday to listen to following shows, featuring Grammy Award-winning singer Patti Austin, Con Brio, Jazz Attack and Larry Graham & Graham Central Station.
“It’s a gift to play music onstage and we’re ready and rocking to go,” Abair said.
If You Go
What: Hyatt Regency Newport Beach Jazz Festival
When: 6 p.m. Friday and 10:30 a.m. Saturday and Sunday with performances from 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Where: Hyatt Regency Newport Beach, 1107 Jamboree Road
Cost: Tickets start at $60 for a single-day pass
Information: (949) 360-7800 or festivals.hyattconcerts.com