George Wein
Pioneer of the large-scale music gathering who launched the Newport Jazz and Folk Festivals
GEORGE WEIN, who has died aged 95, masterminded the idea of bringing specialist music to mass audiences and created the music festival phenomenon, paving the way for mass events such as Woodstock and Glastonbury.
A jazz pianist turned music producer, in 1954 he was running Storyville, his nightclub in Boston, when a jazz-loving acquaintance introduced him to a tobacco tycoon, Louis Lorillard, who lived in an exclusive resort at Newport, Rhode Island. Lorillard and his wife Elaine bemoaned the lack of excitement in Newport and encouraged Wein to promote a jazz event there.
The Lorillards provided $20,000 and offered the use of Newport Casino for two days at a nominal fee, and Wein and Louis Lorillard set up a non-profit corporation to run the event. Wein swiftly tried to educate himself about the technical requirements for shows on the field outside the casino.
More than 11,000 people defied appalling weather to attend the First American Jazz Festival, watching stars like Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Dizzy Gillespie. With Wein waiving his agreed $5,000 promoters fee, it made a profit of $142 and was deemed a huge success.
The event quickly grew, resulting in a series of successful live albums and a 1958 film, Jazz on a Summer’s Day, blazing an influential jazz trail, reviving the career of Duke Ellington and launching Miles Davis to international fame.
In 1959, Wein saw another opportunity and launched the Newport Folk Festival, which fed off the folk revival and helped to launch the careers of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan and Peter, Paul & Mary. Its most infamous show was in 1965 when the revered Dylan outraged purists by abandoning his acoustic guitar and – to a chorus of boos – went on stage with the electric Paul Butterfield Blues Band, effectively launching folk-rock.
Urban myths soon emerged, including an oft-repeated story that Wein had to restrain Pete Seeger from taking an axe to the electric cables. Wein said the great folk hero was indeed upset with Dylan but insisted that there was no axe; he was more distraught about the festival’s $15,000 loss that year.
Wein was a somewhat controversial figure, not least with local residents who complained bitterly at the annual invasion of unsavoury types into their tranquil paradise, forcing several venue changes through the years. The influx of so many black musicians also triggered bitter racial tensions.
The jazz community, too, had its reservations with the bass player and composer Charles Mingus and the drummer Max Roach staging a rival event in protest at the perceived commerciality of Wein’s booking policy, which included the likes of Chuck Berry, Ray Charles and Frank Sinatra.
Nothing, though, was as ill-advised as Wein’s attempt to incorporate rock bands like Led Zeppelin, the Allman Brothers and Sly & the Family Stone, causing riots and gatecrashers. The city council banned the festival for 10 years from Newport; it would be a decade before Wein returned.
The son of Eastern European Jewish immigrants, George Wein was born on October 3 1925 in Lynn, Massachusetts, and grew up in Newton, near Boston; his father was an ENT specialist. His mother was an amateur pianist, and George had lessons from the age of eight, and discovered jazz at high school.
During the Second World War he served with the US Army in Britain, Germany and France, but loathed the discipline and inherent racism, finding respite in playing piano at officers’ dances.
After the war he graduated in History from Boston University. He played jazz piano in bars and restaurants as a sideline, and after graduating was offered a job as musical director at Boston’s Savoy Club. It only lasted a few months but forced him to conclude that while he did not have the talent to become a top pianist he might have more luck as a producer.
Using $5,000 savings, he found premises at the Copley Square Hotel in Boston and in 1950 opened his club, Storyville – named in homage to the red light quarter of New Orleans that was reputed to be the birthplace of jazz – in direct competition with the Savoy.
A few weeks after the opening, one of Wein’s greatest heroes, Louis Armstrong, walked in unannounced, agreed to sing a few songs, and made the reputation of the club overnight. Within months Wein had recovered his investment and, in different venues, booked many jazz greats – Stan Getz, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie among them – while also launching the Storyville record label. “We had no floor show, no drug dealers or hookers, and I treated the musicians as artists,” he said.
Thrown out of Newport, Wein launched the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. The first event, in 1970 had an audience of 350, but within a few years this had grown to 80,000 and was held over several days.
He also promoted tours, produced events in Los Angeles, Chicago, Nice, Warsaw and Tokyo. He revived the Newport Jazz Festival in New York, then in 1981 was welcomed back to Newport, remaining as executive producer for many years.
On the 25th anniversary of his first festival he organised a celebration on the White House Lawn attended by President Carter, followed by a similar event on the 50th anniversary with President Clinton.
His wife Joyce, née Alexander, whom he married in 1959, died in 2005.
George Wein, born October 3 1925, died September 13 2021