Newport Beach jazzes its way into June

  • 2023-05-26
A hugely popular event is coming up in Newport Beach.

The Newport Beach Jazz Festival has been running continuously since 1966, though it was online in 2020 and offered at a reduced capacity in 2021. Now it is back in person, bringing rising stars, composers, and legends of jazz to the city.

This year’s line-up is star-studded, with Kem headlining the first day, and Boney James the second. Kem has battled his way up from poverty, homelessness, and addiction to become an internationally recognized R&B singer and songwriter. He has two Gold and one Platinum album to his credit, as well as three Grammy nominations. Five of his singles have hit the top spot.

Boney James was playing clarinet at eight, switching to the sax when he was ten. He cites Grover Washington, Jr., Quincy Jones, and Earth, Wind & Fire as major influences. He has sold over three million records and has four Gold albums. He has been nominated for four Grammys, nominated for a Soul Train Music Award twice and won once, and nominated twice for the NAACP Image Award.

Other artists scheduled to perform include Marcus Anderson, Ragan Whiteside, Funkono Mix, and Julian Vaughn. Organizers of events like this can use poster printing to create striking advertising for them.

The festival is June 2, 3, and 4, at the Hyatt Regency Newport Beach. Access to the hotel will not be available to festivalgoers; they should instead enter the venue from Back Bay Drive.