Newport Jazz Festival 2024 | First names announced for iconic festival including Andre 3000 & Elvis Costello

The annual Newport Jazz Festival celebrate its 70th year this year and has announced its first wave of artists performing at this year’s festival - including three headliners performing at the historic music event.

This year will see the event headlined by Outkast member Andre 3000, alongside Nile Rodgers and Chic and UK legend Elvis Costello at the Rhode Island event, to be held once again on the grounds of the Fort Adams State Park.

Other names revealed on social media when the announcement was made also include Laufey, Cory Wong, Dinner Party (featuring Terrace Martin, Glasper and Washington), Thievery Corporation, Samara Joy, Noname, PJ Morton, Galactic with Irma Thomas, Moonchild, Meshell Ndegocello, Sun Ra Arkestra and Christian McBride’s Jam Jawn.

More acts are scheduled to be announced in the forthcoming months, but the full line-up of acts can be seen through the event poster that was released on Newport Jazz Festival’s Instagram account.

What is the Newport Jazz Festival?

Founded in 1954 by socialite Elaine Lorillard and her husband Louis, with the help of jazz impresario George Wein, the festival takes place in Newport, Rhode Island, USA. It is widely recognized as the first annual jazz festival in the United States and has set a precedent for the countless jazz festivals that have followed worldwide.

Held annually at Fort Adams State Park and other venues around Newport, the festival has showcased a wide array of jazz performances ranging from traditional New Orleans jazz and swing to bebop, fusion, and avant-garde. Over the decades, it has featured legendary performances by some of the most iconic figures in jazz history, including Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, and John Coltrane, among many others. The 1956 appearance of Duke Ellington and his band, which resulted in the famous "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue" with a 27-chorus solo by tenor saxophonist Paul Gonsalves, is often cited as one of the most electrifying performances in the history of jazz.

When is the Newport Jazz Festival 2024?

The 2024 edition of the Newport Jazz Festival is set to take place from August 2 2024 to August 4 2024 at the Fort Adams State Park, 90 Fort Adams Drive, Newport, Rhode Island.

When and where can I get tickets for the Newport Jazz Festival 2024?

Tickets for this year’s Newport Jazz Festival go on sale on April 10 2024 at 1pm EST, and are available through the festival’s official website. Three-day general admission passes are set to cost you $265.74 (plus fees), while the three-day “jazz lounge” passes will set you back $1256.60 (plus fees). 

The “jazz lounge” passes however allow 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 will find: lounge seating, complimentary wifi, a private cash bar, TV monitors for a live view of the Fort Stage performances, air-conditioned restroom facilities, and panoramic views of Newport Harbor, Narragansett Bay & Fort Stage.