Thinking of George Wein, patriarch of the Newport Jazz Festival, one can’t help but stand in awe at the man’s heroic accomplishments since the festival’s inception and his unwavering commitment to preserving and promulgating this music. Few people on earth would have the perseverence and fortitude to mount a jazz festival, against all odds, right in the very heart of high society, amidst the storied mansions and distinguished residents of the exclusive resort enclave known as Newport. But George did it. And few would have the patience to deal with such monumental egos as Miles Davis or Buddy Rich, such idiosyncratic personalities as Thelonious Monk or Cecil Taylor, or humbly cater to such jazz royalty as Duke Ellington or Count Basie. But George did it, year in and year out.
There aren’t many left like him, and he’s still going strong at age 83. Just back from a recent tour with his George Wein All-Stars (yes, on top of everything else, the man can really play the piano and swing authentically like the seasoned straight ahead veteran that he is), the venerable impresario will be heading up the 55th edition of the Newport Festival (Aug. 7-9) at Fort Adams Park on scenic Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island.
That festival was George’s baby and has been part of the fabric of his life for so long. And so it is with the utmost respect for the man and reverence for what he established that we here at Wolfgang’s Vault undergo this awesome task of gathering and identifying this treasure trove of tapes and ultimately — after an exhaustive and comprehensive digital transfer process — uploading the music onto our website (www.wolfgangsvault.com) to make available to jazz fans everywhere.
We’re moving fast here in the Vault. We’ve already zoomed through all three nights of 1955 (the second year of the festival highlighted by Miles Davis’ celebrated comeback performance with an all-start sextet, rousing sets by the Count Basie Orchestra and Woody Herman’s Third Herd as well as elegant and swinging performances by the Dave Brubeck Quartet and the Modern Jazz Quartet). We’ve also transferred the reel-to-reel tapes on Louis Armstrong’s 70th birthday gala from 1970 and are now dealing with 1964, the year Stan Getz paid a visit to the Newport Festival with his quartet featuring a young vibist named Gary Burton and a wonderful vocal discovery from Brazil named Astrud Gilberto. The revelations and thrills are never-ending on this job. Wonder what new discoveries we’ll make tomorrow?
