Hendrik Hertzberg at the 1963 Newport Jazz Festival

While he was in college, New Yorker political commentator Hendrik Hertzberg reported on the 1963 Newport Jazz Festival for the Harvard Crimson.  (The review was co-authored by someone identified only as R.K.I.).  Read the entire review here.

Among the performances Hertzberg heard were Thelonious Monk with Pee Wee Russell (download the full set here):

...and the Martial Solal trio (listen on Grooveshark here).  He also heard the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Cannonball Adderley, Nina Simone, and Sonny Rollins with Coleman Hawkins.  But evidently he left after Jimmy Smith's set on the final night and consequently didn't catch the John Coltrane Quartet, who closed out the weekend:

The Newport festival line-up that year was:


The Newport Jazz Festival House Band

Thelonious Monk
Nina Simone
The Cannonball Adderly Sextet
Stan Kenton and His Orchestra

The Angelo DiPippo Trio
The McCoy Tyner Trio
The Howard McGhee Four
Miss Ada Lee
The Joe Daley Trio
The Paul Winter Sextet
The Maynard Ferguson Orchestra 
Ken Rupp 
Lambert, Hendricks and Bavan 
The Dizzy Gillespie Quintet 
The Gerry Mulligan Quartet 
Joe Williams 
The Newport Jazz Festival All Stars
The Ramsey Lewis Trio
Miss Nancy Wilson
The Sonny Rollins Quartet
Duke Ellington and The Orchestra 
The Westwood High School Dance Band
The Martial Solal Trio
The Herbie Mann Sextet
Miss Dakota Staton
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
The Jimmy Smith Trio
The John Coltrane Quartet