Published: July 03, 2008 06:57 am         

Chevy Chase to host Newport Jazz Festival again

NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) — Live from Newport: it’s Chevy Chase.

Chase, the comic actor and original cast member of “Saturday Night Live” will host the Newport Jazz Festival for the second year in a row.

The JVC Jazz Festival-Newport runs Aug. 8-10 at the International Tennis Hall of Fame and Fort Adams State Park.

Chase, a jazz fan and pianist, will introduce the musicians performing on the festival’s main stage, including Aretha Franklin, Sonny Rollins and Herbie Hancock.

In college, Chase, 64, played drums in a jazz band with Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, who later became famous as Steely Dan. Before his star turn on the opening 1975 season of “Saturday Night Live,” a then unknown Chase frequented the Village Vanguard and other New York clubs where he became friendly with many jazz legends. Miles Davis even invited him to sit in one night in place of his drummer Tony Williams.