last year\u2019s event<\/a>. Yet, the opportunity to be a scheduled act at the very festival that jazz legends such as Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie and Dave Brubeck once performed is nonetheless thrilling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cLast year was my first year even attending the festival, let alone performing in it. It\u2019s almost surreal being on stage there,\u201d said O\u2019Connor, a senior from Milford, Massachusetts, majoring in vocal jazz performance. \u201cI\u2019m excited to experience it again and have a lot of fun. You have people come from all over the world to not only perform in it, but also to watch it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat I\u2019m looking forward to most is feeling that raw energy,\u201d said Ippolito, a senior from Nanuet, New York, majoring in music education. \u201cThere\u2019s so many people, so many artists and cool things happening all weekend long, plus the history of it. It will be great to feel all that again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Performing at the Newport Jazz Festival still holds special meaning for Klampert, a senior pursuing a bachelor\u2019s degree in jazz guitar performance. Klampert grew up and still resides in Middletown, Rhode Island\u2014a stone\u2019s throw from Newport\u2014and began going to the jazz festival a decade ago. He knows full well how much the vibe and energy shifts on Aquidneck Island when the festival draws near.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHaving the privilege to come back and play in my hometown at, arguably, the most important festival we put on as a community is huge,\u201d Klampert said. \u201cTaking the stage in front of that audience is very important to me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While gracing the audiences with their sound, there\u2019s also that chance the students could meet performing artists at the festival. Case in point, Resendes\u2014a senior from West Warwick, Rhode Island, double-majoring in music education and jazz performance\u2014met jazz saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin at a previous festival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe is super inspiring to me,\u201d Resendes said. \u201cShe\u2019s one of my favorite current alto saxophonists. You also get to see the Rhode Island Music Education Association all-state jazz ensemble perform, so you\u2019re seeing the next generation of musicians and what they\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group\u2019s 25-minute festival setlist was arranged to fit with the combo\u2019s front line being a horn and a vocalist. They will perform \u201cYes or No,\u201d a 1965 piece by saxophonist Wayne Shorter; \u201cThree O\u2019Clock in the Morning,\u201d a 1920s waltz composed by Juli\u00e1n Robledo and made famous by tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon; the jazz standard \u201cJeannine,\u201d composed by pianist Duke Pearson in 1961; and \u201cUgetsu,\u201d a 1969 work by pianist Cedar Walton\u2014and the name meaning \u201cfantasy\u201d in Japanese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe setlist we have for this year\u2019s festival is going to be really fun,\u201d said Fisher, a senior from Lincoln, Rhode Island, majoring in jazz performance. \u201cI\u2019m also looking forward to seeing my friends from the school year along with all of the incredible talent that will be there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The students credit Goods\u2019 teachings at URI in helping them flourish on stage, the jazz festival notwithstanding. O\u2019Connor says Goods constantly encourages students to listen to music to help shape their craft. The more music O\u2019Connor listens to, the more she absorbs into her own music, she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fisher also says that Goods pushes students to step outside of their respective comfort zones, at times, as musicians. Klampert says Goods puts strong emphasis on community, where musicians can not only become leaders on stage, but also have music reach the masses. Teaching music to others is an important element that Goods stresses in the classroom, Ippolito says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Resendes says the University\u2019s jazz program turned them from being a simple \u201cband kid\u201d into a true musician. \u201cHe\u2019s had a tremendous impact on me and my fellow jazz students,\u201d Resendes said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 July 28, 2026 \u2013 The rare opportunity to perform in front of a sold-out audience at one of the world\u2019s iconic music festivals will once again be a reality for a quintet of University of Rhode Island jazz students. The combo of Liz O\u2019Connor (vocals), Collin Klampert (guitar), Carleton Fisher (bass), Matt […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":109992,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1907,12],"class_list":["post-109991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives","tag-academic-excellence","tag-college-of-arts-and-sciences"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109991"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109991\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":109993,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109991\/revisions\/109993"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}