The Who, Elton John and Lady Gaga will headline a diverse array of musicians at this year's New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, organizers said Tuesday.
The festival, launched modestly in 1970 in jazz's birthplace, has rapidly expanded in recent years to become a premier musical event with renowned acts in a laid-back, picnic setting.
The Who will play the festival on April 25 as part of what the legendary British rockers say will be their last tour, marking the band's 50th anniversary.
Other veteran performers at the April 24 to May 3 festival will include Elton John, Chicago, Steve Winwood, the 79-year-old Jerry Lee Lewis and the 68-year-old Jimmy Buffett.
Among the comparatively recent stars at the festival will be No Doubt, Pitbull, John Legend, Ed Sheeran and Wilco.
Lady Gaga will sing at the festival on April 26 with Tony Bennett, with whom she teamed up last year as a jazz duet.
Influential New Orleans-style jazz or funk performers will include legendary pianist and musical patriarch Ellis Marsalis, Allen Toussaint and his former house band The Meters, and the trumpeter and music scholar Irvin Mayfield.
The jazz festival will have a prominent international contingent including the Beninese singer Angelique Kidjo, Malian guitarist and singer Vieux Farka Toure and top names in Jamaican reggae Jimmy Cliff and Third World.
The Newport Jazz Festival, which was founded in 1954 and has stayed focused on highlighting the genre, also announced its lineup on Tuesday.
The July 31-August 2 festival in the coastal resort of Newport, Rhode Island, will feature the singer Cassandra Wilson in a celebration of Billie Holiday, who released a live album from the festival shortly before her death in 1959.
Other performers in Newport this year will include Chris Botti, the jazz trumpeter who has also worked on Italian-inspired classical music, as well as Dr. John and Jamie Cullum, who have both ventured widely into rock.
Dr. John, a New Orleans-born  jazz and funk musician, has performed with artists including Ringo Starr and Lou Reed. Cullum is known for his versions of work by rock and electronic acts ranging from Massive Attack to Joy Division.
Source: AFP