Newport Jazz Festival Shares 2025 Initial Artist Lineup: Janelle Monáe, The Roots, Jacob Collier, esperanza spalding, De La Soul, Cymande and More
Newport Jazz Festival has unveiled the initial artist lineup for its 2025 presentation, set to return to Newport, R.I.’s Fort Adams State Park from August 1-3. This first dispatch for the standard-setting festival’s 71st annual staging spans a vast array of genres related to the event’s jazz core, curated in collaboration with Newport Jazz Artistic Director Christian McBride. Janelle Monáe, The Roots and Jacob Collier will lead this year’s festivities, topping a bill of 49 acclaimed acts with more still to be announced.
Beyond the titanic headliners, Newport Jazz Festival’s 2025 lineup will honor its roots in the uniquely American musical tradition with performances from jazz groups like The Yussef Dayes Experience, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Ron Carter Quartet, Hiromi’s Sonicwonder, Moses Yoofee Trio, Darius Jones Trio, Tyshawn Sorey Trio and an all-star big band assembled by McBride. Storied jazz soloists confirmed for the festival include esperanza spalding, RAYE, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Dianne Reeves, Kenny Garrett, Stanley Jordan and Lakecia Benjamin.
As always, this year’s festival will host a range of special collaborations and rare performances; this year’s most exciting exceptional stagings include a reunion of McBride, Questlove and Uri Caine for the 25th-anniversary revival of The Philadelphia Experiment, rare trio sets from Béla Fleck, Edmar Castañeda & Antonio Sanchez and Louis Cato, John Scofield & Marcus Miller, Terence Blanchard’s 20th anniversary performance of his Grammy-nominated 2005 album Flow and a centennial tribute to the legendary drummer Roy Haynes organized by Marcus Gilmore.
Some of the many outstanding jazz-adjacent performers on the bill include RAYE, Jorja Smith, WILLOW, Thee Sacred Souls, De La Soul, LA LOM, KNOWER, Samm Henshaw, and Cymande and Kokoroko, two generations of pioneering London-based jazz-funk-Afrobeat fusion ensembles.
Specially priced three-day passes for Newport Jazz Festival 2025 are on-sale now for 48 hours only. All other ticket types will go on sale on Thursday, April 17 at 1 p.m. ET via DICE. Learn more about this year’s festival at newportjazz.org, and read on for the full artist lineup.
Newport Jazz Festival 2025 Full Lineup:
Janelle Monáe
The Roots
Jacob Collier
RAYE
Jorja Smith
Esperanza Spalding
Willow
Thee Sacred Souls
De La Soul
The Yussef Dayes Experience
Rachael & Vilray
Cécile McLorin Salvant
Dianne Reeves
Christian McBride Big Band
Preservation Hall Jazz Band
Bela Fleck, Edmar Castañeda, Antonio Sanchez Trio
Louis Cato, John Scofield, & Marcus Miller
SOFI TUKKER (butter set)
The Philadelphia Experiment
LA LOM
KNOWER
Samm Henshaw
Terence Blanchard: Flow
Cymande
Hiromi’s Sonicwonder
Kenny Garrett
Stanley Jordan Solo
Ron Carter Quartet
CARRTOONS
Kokoroko
Kiefer
Moses Yoofee Trio
Emmet Cohen Trio
Lakecia Benjamin
Rich Ruth
Pérez Patitucci Calvaire Trio
Ekep Nkwelle
Maimouna Youssef
Etienne Charles & Creole Soul
BCUC
Marcus Gilmore Presents: A Centennial Tribute to Roy Haynes
Darius Jones Trio
Aaron Parks Little Big
Isaiah Sharkey
Tyshawn Sorey Trio
Bobby Sanabria & Sexteto Ibiano
Parlor Greens
New Jazz Underground
Tyreek McDole
