"Jazz music celebrates life – human life.  The range of it.  The absurdity of it. The ignorance of it. The greatness of it. The intelligence of it."
 – Wynton Marsalis

The Lewiston Jazz Festival is dedicated first and foremost to exposing as many people as possible to a truly indigenous American art form: jazz. That is why the Festival is free.

In pursuing that goal, the Festival is committed to offering the highest quality jazz now being performed, by anyone, anywhere, and does so by bringing in headliners of international stature and renown. Simultaneously, the Festival seeks to support the growth and development of jazz locally by offering a platform and large-scale exposure to the finest jazz musicians now working in our region. The Festival also provides a scholarship every year to a talented young musician who wishes to study music at the college or university level.