News: Newport Jazz Festival Announces 2026 Lineup

Yesterday, Newport Jazz Festival organizers announced that the 72nd edition of the storied event will take place July 31, 2026 – August 2, 2026 at Rhode Island’s Fort Adams State Park.

Produced by the Newport Festivals Foundation in collaboration with newly appointed Newport Jazz Artistic Director Nate Smith, the 2026 edition will continue to host once in a lifetime performances that only Newport’s unique alchemy of intimacy and artistic community can bring. Smith, a virtuosic drummer producer and bandleader takes over the role from Christian McBride, who served in the position for a decade and festival founder George Wein before him. Smith ushers in a new era following three consecutive years of festival sell outs.

Fans and artists alike return every year to Fort Adams Park to experience Newport Jazz Festival’s long running tradition of diversity, discovery and artistic virtuosity. 2026’s edition features a slate of boundary-pushing, genre-defying, multi-hyphenate, award-winning artists including Jon Batiste, Thundercat, Gary Clark, Jr., and Robert Glasper alongside collaborators Bilal and Ari Lennox. Breakout stars Leon Thomas, Sienna Spiro and Mei Semones will take the Newport stage, while global artists like Little Simz, Arlo Parks and Celeste continue to redefine contemporary sound. And of course, the festival will feature appearances from jazz’s greatest talents including Herbie Hancock, Charles Lloyd Sky Quartet featuring Jason Moran, Larry Grenadier and Kweku Sumbry, John Scofield & Dave Holland, and Terri Lynne Carringon + Social Science.

Vulpeck, Lake Street Dive, Snarky Puppy and Cory Wong with Joshua Redman will all bring crowd-moving energy while visionary artists like Anoushka Shankar, Chief Adjuah, Lalah Hathaway and Chris Dave & MonoNeon will showcase the breadth of modern sounds and artistry.

There’ll be a special anniversary performance, Celebrating 100 Years of Miles and Coltrane featuring Kamasi Washington and Chief Adjuah will honor and celebrate Miles Davis and John Coltrane, two toweringly legendary Newport Jazz alumni for the centennial anniversaries of their births.

Flea and the Honora Band, Atomic Habitz featuring Marcus King, Charlie Hunter & Ella Feingold, The Bad Plus, and this year’s rising sensations Angine de Poitrine, who are about to embark on their Stateside debut tour round out the bill. And the festival’s Artistic Director Nate Smith will also take the stage, continuing Newport Jazz Festival’s tradition of artist-led collaboration and innovation. As always, the full lineup is below.

Newport Jazz Festival’s 72nd edition will see the festival offering a limited Jazz Lounge Festival admission ticket. The Jazz Lounge Ticket will allow you access to a separate festival entrance, a premium parking space (one space per ticket order), and exclusive access to the Jazz Lounge, a tented lounge on the North Lawn/Fort Stage, where you’ll find: lounge seating, complimentary wi-fi, a private cash bar, TV monitors for a live view of the Fort Stage performances and air conditioned restrooms. The lounge will also feature panoramic views of Newport Harbor, Narragansett Bay and the Fort Stage.

The Jazz Lounge Festival Ticket offering is in addition to 3-Day and Single day general admission tickets and discounted student tickets. Specially priced 3-Day passes went on sale yesterday at 1:00PM ET and are available for 48 hours. All other ticket types will go on sale April 23, 2026 at 1:00PM ET through Dice.FM.

Full pricing listed below. A limited number of specially priced 3-Day Tickets are available for purchase on a first come first serve basis. Student tickets are only for students aged 10-25. Current College students are required to present a student photo ID. Middle and High School students are not required to show ID. All students must enter through the student gate only. Children 9 and under are free except for Jazz Lounge Tickets. Only 2 children allowed per ticketed adult. All children 10 and over will need a full priced admission ticket.  

Ticket Pricing

**All Prices Listed include all fees

LIMITED THREE DAY (Limited Discount) $278.10

THREE DAY WEEKEND TICKET (GA) $314.15

LIMITED THREE DAY STUDENT TICKET $189.52

THREE DAY JAZZ LOUNGE TICKET $1,514.10

SINGLE DAY TICKET $117.422

SINGLE DAY TICKET STUDENT $63.86

THREE DAY PARKING $90.64

SINGLE DAY PARKING $33.99

Newport Jazz Festival encourages fans not to purchase tickets you see on the secondary market, or from any individual or corporate resellers claiming to have tickets. Those speculative listings may not be real tickets that the seller actually owns. Only purchase from official Newport Jazz sources during the official on sale or waitlist. All Newport Jazz tickets are mobile digitally from our ticketing partner DICE.

For complete information visit https://newportjazz.org/

Newport Jazz Festival 2026 Full Line-Up

• Herbie Hancock
• Celebrating 100 Years of Coltrane & Miles feat. Kamasi Washington & Chief Adjuah
• Vulfpeck
• Jonathan Batiste Trios
• Thundercat
• Gary Clark Jr.
• Lake Street Dive
• Robert Glasper feat. Bilal & Ari Lennox
• Leon Thomas
• Sienna Spiro
• Little Simz
• Cory Wong with Joshua Redman
• Flea and the Honora Band
• Angine de Poitrine
• Snarky Puppy
• Nate Smith
• Arlo Parks
• Atomic Habitz feat. Marcus King, Chris Dave & MonoNeon
• Celeste
• Charles Lloyd Sky Quartet feat. Jason Moran, Larry Grenadier & Kweku Sumbry
• John Scofield & Dave Holland
• Anoushka Shankar
• Chief Adjuah
• Lalah Hathaway
• The Bad Plus Farewell Tour
• Bernard Purdie & Friends
• Butcher Brown
• The Dip
• Gotts Street Park
• Dana and Alden
• Terri Lyne Carrington + Social Science
• Charlie Hunter & Ella Feingold
• Billy Hart Quartet
• Mei Semones
• Maya Delilah
• SML
• Mohini Dey
• Linda May Han Oh Trio with Ambrose Akinmusire & Tyshawn Sorey
• Marquis Hill
• Braxton Cook
• GENA
• Olive Jones
• Michael Mayo
• Tia Fuller feat. Shamie Fuller Royston – “Fuller Sound”
• Nduduzo Makhathini
• Sullivan Fortner Trio
• Brandon Woody’s Upendo
• Fonville x Fribush
• Chicago Underground Duo
• Concurrence

__

The Joy of Violent Movement is a completely independent and completely D.I.Y. media outlet. Over the course of this site’s 15+ year history, I’ve used my fiercely independent stance to cover music with an eclectic and global perspective that a lot of other publications just don’t have — and will likely never have. 

To that end, I could use your support to continue to keep bringing you my unique global perspective on music. There are a number of ways that you can support this work. 

I’ve been told that some people would prefer to make a one-time donation because it’s easy and less of an obligation. So, if you’re able to make a one-time donation, there’s a donation box below.

If you can give more regularly, please feel free to check out my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheJoyofViolentMovement. 

Anything you can give is very much appreciated. It can and does make a real difference, y’all. 

I know that a lot of folks are struggling to make ends meet in an uncertain and tumultuous economic climate. So there are other, non-financial ways in which you can support this work. 

You can follow me on the following social platforms:

X/Twitter: @yankee32879 and @joyofviolent 

Instagram: @william_ruben_helms

Threads: @william_ruben_helms

Bluesky: @williamrubenhelms.bsky.social

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheJoyofViolentMovement

As always, if there are posts that you dig, share them with your friends. The more eyeballs on my work, the better.