George Wein, Music Festival Pioneer, Dies At 95
A founder of the Newport Folk Festival, the Newport Jazz Festival and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival — and perhaps the most important jazz impresario of all time — died Monday.
Music impresario George Wein, who spawned the modern music festival when he helped launch the Newport Jazz and Newport Folk Festivals, has died at the age of 95.
According to a statement from his family, Wein died peacefully in his sleep early Monday morning.
Wein co-founded the Newport Jazz Festival in 1954 and the Newport Folk Festival in 1959. Newport was the first and largest event of its kind in the U.S.,
