The legendary Newport Jazz Festival returns to Rhode Island this year on August 4–6, and a third wave of artists has been added to the lineup today, including sets from The Roots, John Medeski, Esperanza Spalding, the Philadelphia Experiment featuring Questlove and more.

Questlove will be joining Uri Caine, who will also perform with his own trio, and Newport Jazz Artistic Director Christian McBride in the Philadelphia Experiment, while Spalding will be performing in a trio with Geri Allen and Terri Lyne. The festival will also be welcoming a cappella group Naturally 7, organist Joey DeFrancesco, a quartet led by Christian Sands and more. Medeski will be featured on the festival’s Storyville stage, named after festival found George Wein’s former Boston club. The stage, added two years ago, provides musicians the chance to offer up intimate solo performances. New Orleans pianist David Torkanowsky will also be playing the stage.

The newly added artists join a lineup already featuring Béla Fleck & The Flecktones, Snarky Puppy, Maceo Parker, Andra Day, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Rhiannon Giddens, Hudson featuring Jack DeJohnette, Medeski, John Scofield and Larry Grenadier and more. A fourth round of artist announcements is expected in the coming weeks.

On playing with Questlove in the Philadelphia Experiment, McBride says that “it will be like going to a high school reunion,” as the two graduated from Philadelphia’s High School for the Creative Arts together in 1989. The Roots’ Black Thought and DeFrancesco were also in that graduating class.

Speaking about the ever-changing face of jazz and thus the festival itself, Wein, 91, says, “We pay attention to young musicians, and if they have something to say in an artistic way, and we sense there is a jazz feeling in what they’re doing, they may possibly be presented on the Festival. We will always be looking for new faces, and this upcoming Festival is a prime example of that.”

“Staying fresh and catering to modern trends in jazz is to honor the Newport Jazz Festival,” McBride echoes, speaking of the festival’s rich history that stretches back to 1954. “Non-traditional jazz acts are another tradition of the festival. We should not mistake the history of this festival as ever being exclusively a particular type of jazz. As far back as the ’50s, Mahalia Jackson and Chuck Berry performed there. In the ’60s, James Brown, Sly & The Family Stone and Led Zeppelin performed there. In the ’70s, Roberta Flack and Curtis Mayfield played there. In recent times, Mos Def has performed there, Nels Cline and more”

Wein goes further, saying that he doesn’t see the strength and eclectic nature of the festival slowing down any time soon. “The future will take care of itself as long as there is a musician who wants to develop his or her own individual artistry in a jazz tradition.”

Newport Jazz Festival takes place at Newport, RI’s Fort Adams State Park on August 4–6. Tickets and more information on the festival can be found here.