Jazz Beat: Newport Jazz Festival 60th anniversary

This year, the Newport Jazz Festival turns 60, and it’s celebrating with a tour of past festival all-stars that stops Saturday night at the Gem Theater. One artist of special interest to locals: singer Karrin Allyson, who spent the better part of the 1990s building her repertoire and swingingly expressive vocal style at the Phoenix and other KC clubs before moving to New York. Grammy-nominated CDs, international acclaim — and the Newport Jazz Fest — have followed. Other jazz luminaries sharing the Gem stage include clarinetist and saxophonist Anat Cohen, trumpeter Randy Brecker, guitarist Mark Whitfield, pianist Peter Martin, bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Clarence Penn.