As we get deeper and deeper into the process of digitally transferring and cataloging these achival tapes of the Newport Jazz Festival from 1954-1976, certain patterns begin to emerge. The sound of the crowds assembled at George Wein’s annual clambake have by now become familiar along with the heavily accented Bostonese of the impresario himself as he makes announcements between acts from the main stage. By now we have become accostumed to the familiar Wein formula of something old (“I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate” by trumpeters Muggsy Spanier and Wingy Manone and a contingent of cats from New Orleans), some new (provocative sets from jazz revolutionaries like Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, Paul Bley, Steve Lacy, Albert Ayler, Sun Ra), something borrowed (tributes to Charlie Parker, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Duke Ellington) and something blue (rousing sets from the Muddy Waters band, Jimmy Rushing, B.B. King, Big Maybelle, Joe Turner).
We’ve heard various sets of music by Dave Brubeck, Lee Konitz, Chet Baker, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Gerry Mulligan, Dizzy Gillespie and Oscar Peterson spanning three decades, and we’ve heard rare one-off performances by the likes of Dinah Washington, Clifford Brown, Nina Simone, Clifford Brown, Billie Holiday and Willie “The Lion” Smith.
After entering into this treasure trove of archival tapes from the Newport Jazz Festival near the beginning (1955, the second year of Wein’s great experiment on the banks of Narrragansett Bay in Rhode Island), we jumped a decade to the so-called “golden years” of the festival. By this time, the naysayers had been driven away and the Newport city council sufficiently placated so that George’s festival was firmly established as an institution and THE place to go in July (the 1958 documentary film “Jazz on a Summer’s Day” had something to do with popularizing the event beyond its initial fan base in New England).
So here we all now, dealing with ‘64 and ‘65…one year more amazing than the next. By 1964, the same year the Beatles hit Stateside, the bossa nova craze was in full swing, so Stan Getz’s appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival with Astrud “The Girl From Ipanema” Gilberto seemed timely. (Their Verve album, Getz/Gilberto, had been released the previous year and quickly ascended the pop music charts). That same year saw riveting performances by the George Russell Sextet featuring tenor saxophonist John Gilmore (on loan from Sun Ra’s Arkestra), trumpeter Thad Jones, bassist Steve Swallow, drummer Albert “Tootie” Heath and vocalist Sheila Jordan. Other memorable sets from ‘64 were turned in by gospel singer and guitar slinger Sister Rosetta Tharpe, iconic pianist-composer Thelonious Monk, drummer Max Roach with his wife Abbey Lincoln performing a politically-charged and controversial “The Freedom Suite,” a gala tribute to Bird and a captivating performance by a new star on the jazz firmament, Hammond B-3 organist Jimmy Smith.
Stay tuned for 1965. To quote Sinatra: “It was a very good year.”
