02 · GALLERY
Five frames.
Newport Jazz is older than every other festival on the international circuit. George Wein founded it in 1954. The festival moved into the granite ramparts of Fort Adams in 1981 and the venue has been the same since: a five-pointed star fort built in 1841 to defend Narragansett Bay, the festival stages set inside the ramparts and on the green outside. The Quad Stage (inside the actual fort walls) has the best acoustics, the most shade, and the hardest to find approach. Three days every August. Crowd ages 6 to 96.
The Quad Stage inside the fort walls is the magic. Best acoustics, best shade, hardest to find.
The original jazz festival, in a venue that is itself a national landmark.
Annual, three days first weekend of August. Fort Adams catches afternoon sun; the Quad Stage inside the fort walls is the acoustically richest. Friday is the easier-to-ticket day, Saturday and Sunday sell out months ahead.
Annual three-day festival, first weekend of August. Gates open 11:30 each day, music runs to 19:30. Fort Adams State Park itself is open year-round for daytime visits.
Drive from Boston (1h 30m south) or from New York City (3 hours north-east). From Newport, take the festival shuttle from the visitor centre on Memorial Boulevard. Limited parking at Fort Adams; carpool or shuttle.