ARTEMIS

Hailing from America, Canada, France, Israel, Chile and Japan: ARTEMIS is an international all-star group featuring seven of the top performers on the jazz scene today: vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant, pianist and musical director Renee Rosnes, trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, clarinetist Anat Cohen, tenor saxophonist Melissa Aldana, bassist Noriko Ueda and drummer Allison Miller. Forget about gender! This is a significant and serious band that plays and sings with passion, power and sensitivity. They will bring their collective artistry to the world, throughout 2020, with unforgettable performances of high-wire interplay and pure joy.

Newport Jazz Festival 2018: 14 Best Things We Saw

One of Sunday’s clear highlights was a set by the super-group Artemis, a collective whose seven members — pianist Renee Rosnes, vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant, saxophonist Melissa Aldana, clarinetist Anat Cohen, trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, bassist Noriko Ueda and drummer Allison Miller — can all regularly be heard leading their own bands. Their set played like an expertly crafted mixtape, moving from a knotty version of Thelonious Monk’s “Brilliant Corners” to a surprisingly dramatic arrangement of the Beatles’ “Fool on the Hill.” The set peaked when Rosnes and Salvant dueted on Stevie Wonder’s yearning Songs in the Key of Life plea “If It’s Magic.” As on her earlier rendition of Billie Holiday’s “Fine and Mellow,” Salvant’s delivery was deceptively understated yet disarmingly poignant; as the video screens showed Salvant in silhouette, with boats going by on the water, the whole lawn seemed to bask in her wisdom and warmth.

Artemis Soar Following Newport Deluge By Bill Milkowski

Two all-female ensembles scored high marks with festivalgoers on Sunday. At the Fort Stage it was Artemis, the all-star sextet named for the Greek goddess of wilderness and the hunt. With a powerhouse frontline of trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, tenor saxophonist Melissa Aldana and clarinetist Cohen, and a solid rhythm section of pianist Renee Rosnes, bassist Noriko Ueda and drummer Allison Miller, they turned in a swinging rendition of Monk’s “Brilliant Corners” and delivered a twist on the Beatles’ “Fool On The Hill.” Celebrated singer Cécile McLorin Salvant won over the crowd with her mesmerizing take on Billie Holiday’s “Fine And Mellow,” and elicited audible sighs at the start of her intimate duet with Rosnes on Stevie Wonder’s poignant ballad, “If It’s Magic.”

8 Best Moments at Newport Jazz Festival 2018

8/8/2018 by Natalie Weiner Artemis, “If It’s Magic” (1976)

The seven-piece, all-woman super-group performed songs from the Beatles to Wayne Shorter— but it was their duo take on the Stevie Wonder classic, which itself has jazz ties thanks to original harpist Dorothy Ashby, that proved irresistible. Cecile McLorin Salvant, accompanied by Renee Rosnes, performed the song simply and beautifully, creating a perfect pairing with the inimitable Fort Adams park vista.