Our Tribute to the Newport Jazz Festival
The year was 1954. Elaine and Louis Lorillard hired pianist George Wein to create a “family-friendly seaside jazz event.” Reacting to their disdain of the dreary world of jazz clubs, they sought to bring our music to the open air!
The Lorillard’s had the money and the love of jazz, and George had the guile and ingenuity to pull it off. His brilliant stroke was the decision to advertise the musicians almost equally, as a group, creating what is now known as “festival style billing.”
The location was the Newport Casino tennis stadium. First billed as the American Jazz Festival, the event featured Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Gerry Mulligan, Milt Jackson, Errol Garner and more!
In 1955, the event moved to a larger park and assumed its current moniker, “Newport Jazz Festival.” George would go on to create similar festivals all over the world and rightfully be known as the founder/creator of the music festival.
In reviewing this story, I am struck by the overlaps in my own life. The jazz festival part is obvious, but I wound up going to college in Rhode Island, loving both jazz and tennis, and, most importantly, being tutored in the art of music events by George.
I have shared this before, but George performed on The Jazz Cruise, our first program, and loved the concept of jazz on a ship. He was free with his comments and suggestions and I was willing to listen to them all. We had different views on some issues, mainly because a festival guest’s commitment and expectations are different from a cruise guest.
In our case, a guest is “living, dining and being” with us for an entire week. If something is not to their liking, they do not have the opportunity to get in their car and leave. We must make it work for everyone.
There is a similar dichotomy with respect to the compensation and arrangements for the musicians. George ruled the festivals with an iron hand and a rather tight fist. Our plan is different, probably for the same reasons for our commitment to our guests. A festival musician arrives, performs departs. A cruise musician spends 7 days/7 nights/21 meals with us.
As I said earlier, George loved the cruise and tried to work out a way for us to incorporate a cruise with the Newport Jazz Festival. The idea was for the cruise ship to provide much needed “rooms” for festival guests. We would add either a pre- or post-festival element to make the cruise more appealing.
Did we succeed in doing so? No. The governing bodies of Narragansett Bay nixed the idea of a cruise ship hanging around for 7 days. They were not concerned about what was going to happen in or on the ship. It was a case of what would come “out” of the ship every day.
If anyone needs a better explanation, please email me! I am leaving the rest of the festival story to Lee Mergner, including his take on the amazing job that Christian McBride, our host of Christian McBride’s World at Sea, does as the Music Director of the Newport Jazz Festival.
No one does jazz better than Christian McBride.
Michael Lazaroff
Executive Director
Signature Cruise Experiences
michael@scecruises.com
Xmas in August Cruise Prices for Christian McBride’s World at Sea

Jazz Fans from all over are raving about Christian McBride’s World at Sea! 9X GRAMMY® Winner Christian McBride is bringing together many of his world renowned ensembles with a virtual treasure trove of top vocalists.
Can any event vocalist lineup top Ledisi, Samara Joy, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Melissa Walker, José James and Angélique Kidjo? Making this cruise available to the entire jazz world was part of Christian’s mission from the start. Given the support of the cruise, he has decided to continue the Christmas in July Offers through Labor Day. Use Promo Code: XMAS.
Christian has also expanded the staterooms available for the offer beyond the original selections. As Christian would say, “check this out!”
Lee Mergner at the Newport Jazz Festival
The Top Ten Things
I Love About the Newport Jazz Festival
I’ve been going to the Newport Jazz Festival for almost three two decades now – initially as a fan, then later on behalf of JazzTimes as a marketing partner and for the last ten years as a temp employee in media relations. That’s why Michael asked me to write about this year’s three-day event which happened the past weekend. He also knew that I could share how our cruise programs have much in common with this storied festival. I decided to put my reflections into the form of a Top Ten list, ala ‘80s era David Letterman.
10. The Setting
The festival is held on the grounds of Fort Adams, built in 1841 at the mouth of the Newport Harbor and the Narragansett Bay. The grounds offers grand views and a natural setting, while the long circular stone fort enables the festival to use three large stages that can present live performances whose sound doesn’t bleed. The Fort Stage is the largest venue and the most iconic as it looks out onto the Bay that, beyond the field of thousands of listeners, hosts probably another few hundred fans in boats of all sizes, meaning they didn’t pay for tickets but they paid in full for their ride. During day-ending sets by artists like The Roots, Janelle Monae and Jacob Collier you could see those loaded freeloaders getting down. Inside the fort is the Quad Stage, which has a large tent and expansive grounds that allows for listening in seats or dancing on the grass. Going through a tunnel, you then come upon the Harbor Stage, which ended up hosting many jazz artists associated with SCE, including Emmet Cohen, Etienne Charles and Tyreek McDole.
9. The Weather
For just about anyone sweating through a 100-degree summer, finding the cooler and less humid climate of the renowned seaside town was a welcome respite. Thunderstorms do come and go, but this year’s festival featured dry and glorious weather in the ’70s and low ’80s, along with cool breezes. For our part, we’re so grateful that our concerts during the cruises are held indoors, except for the occasional pool party, so that we don’t depend on good weather for crowd comfort.
8. The Food
Every jazz festival has the usual choices from their food vendors – BBQ, pokey bowls, pizza, burgers, fries, cheesesteaks, ice cream, et al. But I don’t know of any that have the famous Matunuck Oyster Bar on-site offering lobster rolls and freshly shucked oysters. When in New England…
7. The Merch
In addition to all the food vendors ringing the grounds, there are also a host of arts & crafts folks, which has been a long tradition at the festival. Then there’s the jazz merch, with the festival selling all sorts of t-shirts, sweatshirts, hats and other apparel. Walking around the grounds, you see fans sporting shirts from festivals of yore, just like on our cruises, where you’re sure to spot a T-shirt from the inaugural sailing of either The Jazz Cruise or The Smooth Jazz Cruise.
6. The Diversity
I’m talking here not just about the music, which featured a wide cross-section of jazz and “jazz-adjacent” genres, but also about the audience, which included a diverse cross-section of age, gender and race. You were as likely to see seniors as kids in baby carriages, sometimes with the former pushing the latter. As anyone who goes to a lot of jazz concerts can tell you, that is an unusual but welcome sight.
5. The Community
This aspect is yet another commonality with our cruise programs. Throughout the three days, there was a real sense of community amongst the attendees, who treat the festival as an opportunity to reconnect and share the experience with family and friends. The same goes for the artists, who come to each other’s performances to listen and applaud. I saw the popular pianist Hiromi, who was headlining the last day at the Harbor stage, come out from her dressing room trailer to sit side-stage and watch Emmet Cohen play with his trio featuring Yasushi Nakamura and Joe Farnsworth. As Emmet came off the stage, she was the first person to congratulate and hug him (there would be others). Emmet in turn raced over to the Quad stage to see Nakamura play with his friends Cécile McLorin Salvant, Sullivan Fortner and Kyle Poole. The same day that Questlove headlined with The Roots, he played on a secondary stage with the Philadelphia Experiment with his lifelong friend Christian McBride. It’s the sense of close camaraderie that we see from the artists on our cruises year after year.

4. The Signs
Jazz fans who have attended JazzFest in New Orleans, the Saratoga Jazz Festival, the Montclair Jazz Festival or any number of jazz and music festivals across the country will surely recognize the ubiquitous signage that’s everywhere. Written in bold colors with a distinct hand-drawn font, the signs of Nan Parati comprise a special treat for festival-goers. For JazzFest, the largest of the bunch, she makes about 3,000 of them. For Newport, that number is closer to 1,000, but still impressive. She also applies her clever wit to the messaging, so that folks are always taking pictures of the signs. Below is an example of one she made for me in order to quietly let the accredited photographers know to leave the photo pit, and another for my wife Irene who runs the media hospitality tent. I’m keeping both for annoying house guests.


3. The Production
Just like with our cruises, Newport Jazz takes advantage of going back-to-back, in its case following the famous Newport Folk Festival held on the previous weekend, enabling them to use the same backline of sound equipment. In addition, they have retained the same A-list of production people who have done it for many years, ensuring a glitch-less production that runs on time. Good sound and punctuality truly matter to serious jazz and music fans.
2. The Discoveries
Of course, the music itself matters, and it’s a given that Newport Jazz always endeavors to present some of the most popular and acclaimed artists on the jazz scene, this year including musicians very familiar to our guests such as Dianne Reeves, Ron Carter, Marcus Miller, Terence Blanchard and esperanza spalding. But as we have learned in programming our jazz cruises, audiences also relish discovering new and emerging artists. For my part, I enjoyed seeing a full set by vocalist Ekep Nkwelle, who combines incredible vocal chops with a deep respect for the jazz tradition. Tyreek McDole, who has sailed with us as a member of the Jazz House All-Stars, is another singer who made an auspicious Newport debut. The powerful organ trio Parlor Greens knocked out the crowd, me included, with a funky and electric set, on Sunday morning no less. Those are just three examples of seeing musicians who represent the bright future of jazz. The festival further acknowledged the importance of introducing new artists by presenting a Friday night concert in town called Jazz Futures, featuring Christian along with numerous up-and-coming talents.
1. The Host
Speaking of the artistic director, throughout this year’s Newport Jazz Festival, Christian’s charismatic presence loomed large. He seemed to be everywhere – introducing sets, participating in workshops, doing press interviews, talking with both fans and artists and of course, performing on both acoustic and electric bass. In addition to the funky set by the Philadelphia Experiment, Christian presented a dynamic set by his big band, along with special guests Cécile McLorin Salvant and Jeffrey Osborne, two of the many vocalists appearing on his upcoming album, Without Further Ado, Vol. 1, coming out on August 29. But it’s in his role as the host of the festival that Christian really shines, setting a ton of warmth and inclusiveness all day, every day. He should host a cruise. Yes, indeed.

– Lee Mergner