Newport Jazz Festival
Overview
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...
, USA. It was established in 1954 by socialite Elaine Lorillard
Elaine Lorillard
Elaine Guthrie Lorillard was an American socialite who was a founder of the Newport Jazz Festival. -Early years:...
, who, together with husband Louis Lorillard, financed the festival for many years. The couple hired jazz impresario George Wein
George Wein
George Wein is an American jazz promoter and producer who has been called "the most famous jazz impresario" and "the most important non-player... in jazz history"...
to organize the event to help them bring jazz to the resort town.
Most of the early festivals were broadcast on Voice Of America
Voice of America
Voice of America is the official external broadcast institution of the United States federal government. It is one of five civilian U.S. international broadcasters working under the umbrella of the Broadcasting Board of Governors . VOA provides a wide range of programming for broadcast on radio...
radio and many performances were recorded and have been issued by various record labels.
The Newport Jazz Festival moved to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in 1972 and became a two site festival in 1981 when it returned to Newport and also continued in New York.
