Jazz pianist, and founder of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, George T. Wein, died on Monday. He was 95 years old.
Jazz Fest organizers announced the passing in a tweet.
“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of George T. Wein, the founder of Jazz Fest and the brilliant mastermind of the modern music festival. He will live on in the festivals he created and in all of those that have blossomed in joyful light of his shining legacy,” the tweet said.
Wein created the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in 1970. He also co-founded the Newport Jazz Festival and the Newport Folk Festival.
According to the Associated Press, a family spokesperson says Wein died “peacefully in his sleep” Monday in his New York City apartment. A former jazz club owner and aspiring pianist, Wein launched the Newport Jazz Festival in 1954 with a lineup for the heavens: Billie Holiday and Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald and Lester Young. Wein led the festival for more than 50 years.
As WWLTV reports, Wein was tapped by New Orleans to produce a jazz festival in the city back in 1962 but Wein wrote in his 2004 autobiography that such a festival would be impossible with local segregation laws of the time. It was 1964 when he was asked again to produce the jazz festival, where he finally accepted and partnered with musician and producer Quint Davis.
