Newport Jazz Festival Newport Jazz Festival The Newport Jazz Festival is a music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island. Elaine Lorillard established the festival in 1954, and she and husband Louis Lorillard financed it for many years. They hired George Wein to organize the first festival and bring jazz to Rhode Island. Most of the early festivals were broadcast on Voice of America radio, and many performances were recorded and released as albums. In 1972, the Newport Jazz Festival was moved to New York City. In 1981, it became a two-site festival when it was returned to Newport while continuing in
TD Edmonton International Jazz Festival kinds of performers. The traditional concert halls host big-name acts, while the smaller jazz clubs tend to host local and niche artists. The TD Edmonton International Jazz Festival began in 2005, when local musicians and business owners teamed up with the Jazz Society of the Yardbird Suite to produce the 60-event “Yardbird Jazz Festival,” which sought to promote Edmonton’s vibrant jazz scene, as well as to offer young people the chance to learn from experienced musicians in a workshop setting. This festival was planned in a hurry, after it was revealed that the long-running "Jazz City" festival would be shutting