When organizers of the Newport Jazz Festival said they wanted to showcase young talent, they weren’t kidding. The first band performing Saturday at the festival’s two-day run at Fort Adams State Park was the Rhode Island Music Educators Association Senior All-State Jazz Ensemble, a group of talented high schoolers whose set drew on-stage praise from festival founder George Wein.

That upbeat start reverberated throughout the day as the festival celebrated jazz in its many forms, from the prickly improvisations forged by the duo of drummer Jack DeJohnette and pianist Jason Moran to the grand themes composer Darcy James Argue created with his Secret Society jazz orchestra.