ABSTRACT
George Wein, born October 3, 1925, in Boston, Massachusetts, founded the Newport Jazz Festival in 1954 and is recognized as the jazz world's most famous impresario. His successful productions at Newport with both jazz and folk festivals led him to create the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and the Playboy Jazz Festival, among others. Wein eventually began playing jazz piano with local groups backing musicians like Pee Wee Russell, Max Kaminski and Edmond Hall, who would travel through Boston on the club circuit. After returning from his service during World War II, Wein was forced to reconsider the new bebop music of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie that had changed the direction of jazz during his absence. In 1954, Elaine and Louis Lorillard approached Wein to produce a jazz festival at Newport, Rhode Island. Wein recounts the successes and struggles that he's encountered over his sixty plus years in the music business.
