It was the perfect weekend. The sun was shining on the water like diamonds, the sky was gingham blue, and a breeze chased the sweat away on the backs and necks of people who gathered at Fort Adams State Park this weekend. It was the 2008 JVC Jazz Festival and its home was Newport.

Dinghies tied up in the harbor tapped each other politely while the music floated down to the people in them, most of them in bathing suits. On the sidelines, strawberry shortcake and falafel were slapped onto paper plates and wrapped in wax paper, and jewelers held up mirrors for women gathering in their booths to try on necklaces of fused glass and stained glass. Indian summer frocks danced on clothes lines. Someone near a tent puffed on a cigar, its smoke giving an edge to the idyllic scene. A drum was played by someone whose name no one knew for what seemed like an eternity.

Goes a quote by jazz great Bix Beiderbecke, “One thing I like about jazz, kid, is that I don't know what's going to happen next. Do you?" That pretty much captured the mood inside the Fort Adams venue this year. While festival goers had schedules to refer to, many of them had barely a clue about what they'd find at each stage.

Of course there were the known entities: Aretha Franklin wanted to take Newport higher when her voice peeled down to the water as the last act of Saturday. The soul legend was gracious and it was concert-goers' consensus that she looked great for her age. “C'mon, Newport!" shouted the voice that was as familiar to some as their own mother's.

Herbie Hancock hit the end of the second day with a program of material so rich that people seemed tethered to their places on the JVC Jazz Stage lawn, softly grooving, but focused on the genius of Hancock and his ensemble. It's no wonder his latest album, River: The Joni Letters, won album of the year at the 2008 Grammies.