George Wein: Last News

Joe Leydon Film CriticLet’s not mince words: “Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story” is a high-stepping, hand-waving, spirit-lifting gas. Co-directors Frank Marshall and Ryan Suffern, with the invaluable assistance of editor Martin Singer, have fashioned an infectiously exuberant overview of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, the Big Easy’s unique and enormous celebration of its music, cuisine and multiculturalism, by combining their own footage of performances and interviews at the 50th iteration of the star-studded annual event — the last before COVID-19 forced cancelation of the 2000 and 2001 editions — and archival footage dating back to the festival’s earliest days.Those days might have begun earlier, fest co-founder George Wein reveals during an interview conducted before his 2021 passing, if he had accepted a 1962 invitation by locals to establish the New Orleans equivalent of his Newport Jazz Festival.

Chris Willman Music WriterGeorge Wein, who set the standard for what outdoor music gatherings would become with his leadership of the Newport Folk and Jazz Festivals from the 1950s into the 21st century, died Monday at his home in New York City. He was 95.Wein produced the first Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island in 1954 and founded its folk sister in 1959.