Comment on On This Day In Newport History: July 17, 1954 – First Newport Jazz Festival Held by Black Music Sunday: A musical feast of festivals | topical.day

['Ryan Belmore', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Where Img', 'Height Auto Max-Width', 'Vertical-Align Bottom .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Vertical-Align Middle .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar Is .Alignleft .Alignright'] Comments for What's Up Newp 2025-07-17 09:00:00

Photo of 1954 Newport Jazz Festival via Newport Jazz FestivalThe first Newport Jazz Festival, known as the First Annual American Jazz Festival, was held on July 17th and July 18th, 1954 at the Newport Casino. The two day event featured academic panel discussions and live music performances from Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Lee Konitz, Eddie Condon and many more. An excerpt from How Newport Jazz Began by George Wein:“The first Newport Jazz Festival in 1954 set the formula for all major jazz festivals to follow. In 1954, Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, Gene Krupa, George Shearing, and Billie Holiday were popular jazz artists of the day. The whole town of Newport was talking about what had happened at the historic Newport Casino.”Read More On The History Of The Newport Jazz Festival