Tagged: Newport Jazz Festival

Airs Tuesday, March 19 at 9 p.m.  Like his countryman Pedrito Martinez, drummer Dafnis Prieto came over from Cuba around the turn of the century — promptly placing every rhythm section in New York City on notice. His next-level understanding of the clave, combined with his seeming willingness to try anything that grooves, led to his nomination as a MacArthur Fellow last year. That cast of mind powering a sextet with horns will prove volatile, as it did on his 2008 album Taking The Soul For A Walk. On stage, it's liable to cause bug-eyed amazement if onlookers aren't careful. His band features Peter Apfelbaum on saxophone, Felipe Lamoglia on saxophone, Ralph Alessi on trumpet, Manuel Valera on piano, and Yunior Terry on bass.

Airs Tuesday, March 12 at 9 p.m.  The name of the band refers to Ken Peplowski, a Swing-era specialist; Evan Christopher, a living historian of the New Orleans Creole clarinet; and Anat Cohen — what doesn't she do? They're not the only ones on stage, of course — they'll be backed by a band which knows the time-honored and broad-shouldered methods of swing. This reedy convocation on the state of the clarinet today was put together for Newport, and — on the birthday anniversary of Louis Armstrong — was filled with ad lib fireworks.

Airs Tuesday, February 19 at 9 p.m. The great drummer turns 70 during the week following the 2012 Newport Jazz Festival, but he's certainly not going quietly into retirement age. Lately, he's been leading a quintet which combines a brilliant saxophonist fluent in South Asian music (Rudresh Mahanthappa), an electric guitarist known for microtonal experiments (Dave Fiuczynski) and the combination of keyboards (George Colligan) and acoustic bass guitar (Jerome Harris).