Bert Stern, when trying to retrieve his archives from Spain, offered the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, a division of the New York Public Library, all the footage of the film, along with the outtakes, in return for their paying the outstanding $50,000 storage bill and shipping them back to New York.
In Hilton Als' 2008 New Yorker review of the documentary Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer (2007), Als reports that Anita O'Day was high on heroin during her performance at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival, and she was unaware that her performance was filmed until later. O'Day spoke frankly about her struggles with heroin addiction in her 1981 autobiography.
Features one of the rare film appearances of two of the greatest jazz artists of all times: New Orleans-born trumpeter Louis Armstrong and Texas-born trombonist Jack Teagarden. When Armstrong formed his six-piece All Stars in 1946, Jack, who was white, was asked to join. The obvious affection these two great performers felt for each other's singing, clowning, and playing is particularly evident in their classic performance of "Old Rocking Chair." After Armstrong was invited to return his home town after many years away, he insisted Teagarden join him on the stage. The city refused to let a white man and a Negro play together. Armstrong eventually returned to his native New Orleans and performed at the very first New Orleans Jazz Festival - coincidentally, along with Mahalia Jackson, his co-star in this film.
The film in 1999 was selected by the US Library of Congress for preservation at the United States National Film Registry being described as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
In 1958, Bert Stern was inspired by a friend to take some pictures of the Newport Jazz Festival. Following a turn of events, Stern decided to produce a full-length motion picture.