In 1958 fashion photographer Bert Stern set out to make a film about the annual Jazz festival in Newport Rhode Island. An attempt at a fictional film turned out to be an enduring classic music documentary and is widely regarded as the best Jazz film ever made and the inspiration for festival films. Stern beautifully captures the essence of the festival with images of people enjoying the summer and intently or casually watching and listening to the performances which include Thelonious Monk Anita O'Day Sonny Stitt Gerry Mulligan George Shearing Maybelle Smith George Shearing Dinah Washington Chico Hamilton Louis Armstrong Chuck Berry and gospel singer Mahalia Jackson..
