George Wein

The pioneering music impresario, who created the Newport Jazz Festival in 1954 and the Newport Folk Festival in 1959, died Sept. 13. Originally broadcast in 2003.

Veteran producer, pianist, singer, club owner George Wein. He's the founder of the Newport Jazz Festival, the Newport Folk Festival, and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. In the early 1950s he founded the jazz clubs Storyville and Mahogany Hall in Boston where jazz giants Art Tatum, Sidney Bechet, Charlie Parker, Stan Getz and Miles Davis played. In 1954 he launched the Newport Jazz Festival where he presented Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Dave Brubeck and others.

Concert promoter George Wein credits his enduring festival for the successful career of several prominent jazz musicians, as well as the continued vitality of the genre.