Billed as the first American jazz festival, the Newport Jazz Festival is one of the most famous celebrations of jazz music every year. It began in 1954, and was the locale of popular live recordings that went on to become hit albums. Some artists who have records from this festival include Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, Nina Simone, Dave Brubeck, Ray Charles, Muddy Waters, Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday.
Since American jazz found mass popularity during the mid-20th century, countries around the world have established jazz festivals of their own. Musicians gather in Spain, Italy, Turkey, Bermuda, France, Jamaica and Canada. Since 2004, the record for the largest international jazz festival in the world has been held by the Montreal International Jazz Festival in Quebec. Thousands of artists from all over the globe gather at this festival, and 2.5 million jazz lovers attend to watch them perform.
A distinct and popular sub-genre of jazz is smooth jazz, which is regarded for its relaxing tempos and less abrasive compositions. American festivals celebrate smooth jazz at the Seabreeze Festival and Smooth Jazz Valentines Cruise in Florida, the Huntington Beach Smooth Jazz Series and KIFM's Smooth Jazz Brunch in California and the Smooth Jazz Sunday Brunch in Arizona. Smooth jazz festivals are also held in Italy, Africa, Canada, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and France.
A few jazz festivals are free, the largest of which is held in Atlanta every Memorial Day weekend. Another successful jazz fest that has always been free is the Chicago Jazz Festival, which takes place every Labor Day weekend. These festivals still attract thousands of attendees due to top name performers like Betty Carter, Ornette Coleman and Jimmy Dawkins. Many amateur musicians tend to play free jazz fests as well.