2025 Newport Jazz Festival Portrait Retrospective by Just Jazz Magazine Photographer Jim Brock.

The recently concluded granddaddy of jazz festivals, the Newport Jazz Festival, delivered a stunning array of classic performances, sonic styles, emerging voices, and big‑tent influences. But it wasn’t without controversy. Putting Artistic Director Christian McBride’s Philadelphia Experiment, with Questlove behind the kit, opposite John Scofield/Louis Cato/Marcus Miller simply wasn’t fair to any jazz fan with ears. Otherwise, it was three solid days of memorable sets and near‑perfect weather overlooking Narragansett Bay—from the master of four‑string elegance, Ron Carter’s Foursight Quartet early Friday, through Saturday’sRoy Haynes Centennial tribute with grandson Marcus Gilmore, Kenny Garrett, Danilo Pérez, and John Patitucci, to McBride’s return with his big band for the first time since their 2017 Newport debut on Sunday. Along the way, Raye was a knockout, Nubya Garcia and Dianne Reeves gave stirring back‑to‑back sets, harpist Edmar Castañeda stunned with his electrifying spirit and percussive approach, and Lakecia Benjamin was an unstoppable powerhouse.

As a photographer, there’s another side to Newport Jazz—the chance to sit with artists for portrait sessions within the 200‑year‑old stone walls of Fort Adams. These moments are brief but personal, often squeezed in after a set and before interviews, on very tight schedules. Yet Newport is a special place, and a good rapport with an artist shows in the results. This year, I was fortunate to spend time with Kenny Garrett, Nubya Garcia, Lakecia Benjamin, Terreon Gully, Hiromi, and Emmet Cohen. An honor, really—to engage, draw out, and hopefully capture a bit of what moves them to move us, all in just five minutes. While I’m still editing the thousands of performance shots, here are a few portraits that could only happen at Newport.

Check out these wonderful portraits by our Just Jazz Magazine Photographer Jim Brock.

Lakecia Benjamin