Remembering George Wein
George Wein, who died peacefully at his New York apartment at the age of 95, was the founder of the modern music festival. His contributions to pop culture were enormous. I liked him very much. He was easy to talk to, always candid and frank in our talks, and he was wholly committed to the music he loved. Starting in the early 1950’s, he created the Newport Jazz Festival, and followed that with assorted other festivals: the Newport Folk Festival, the Kool Jazz Festival, the JVC Jazz Festival, the Grand Parade du Jazz (in Nice, France), the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, and more. [more]