George Wein

The Neville Brothers carried on the tradition of closing out the big stage at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. The Funky Meters, regulars at the fest since 1989, were back, too. And festival creator George Wein played with an all-star cast at the Preservation Hall and Friends 50th Anniversary Celebration. That was Sunday's big nod to tradition. The closing day lineup also included Bonnie Raitt, the Foo Fighters and the Rebirth Brass Band as part of the more than 60 groups performing on 11 stages.

The Neville Brothers carried on the tradition of closing out the big stage at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. The Funky Meters, regulars at the fest since 1989, were back, too. And festival creator George Wein played with an all-star cast at the Preservation Hall and Friends 50th Anniversary Celebration. That was Sunday's big nod to tradition. The closing day lineup also included Bonnie Raitt, the Foo Fighters and the Rebirth Brass Band as part of the more than 60 groups performing on 11 stages.

NEWPORT, R.I. - One of the great moments in Newport jazz festival history went down this weekend, and it happened away from the main stage. Pianist Hiromi Uehara had been enthralling the crowd at the midsize stage with her wild brand of fusion when she asked her sidemen to step away for a moment so she could dedicate a solo piece to jazz impresario George Wein, who created the festival in 1954 and stepped in again this year to save it. Hiromi (she...

NEWPORT, R.I. — The eclectic mix of styles that is the hallmark of the Newport Jazz Festival could not have been displayed better than it was midafternoon yesterday. As trumpeter Wynton Marsalis took his quintet through an hour of buttoned-down, straight-ahead jazz on the main stage, saxophonist Ken Vandermark’s thrash-jazz outfit Powerhouse Sound unfurled its fury on one of the two side stages. Talk about stark differences: Legendary class act Dave Brubeck even sat in with Marsalis for a few tunes, his swiftly ascending chords defying his 89-year-old hands on a romp through “Take the...

NEWPORT, R.I. — The eclectic mix of styles that is the hallmark of the Newport Jazz Festival could not have been displayed better than it was midafternoon yesterday. As trumpeter Wynton Marsalis took his quintet through an hour of buttoned-down, straight-ahead jazz on the main stage, saxophonist Ken Vandermark’s thrash-jazz outfit Powerhouse Sound unfurled its fury on one of the two side stages. Talk about stark differences: Legendary class act Dave Brubeck even sat in with Marsalis for a few tunes, his swiftly ascending chords defying his 89-year-old hands on a romp through “Take the...

CAMDEN, N.J. -- Friends and family members said farewell yesterday to bassist Jimmy Woode II, paying tribute to his decades-long career that included stints with jazz greats Duke Ellington and Charlie Parker. Mr. Woode died last Saturday of a heart attack in his Lindenwold home. He was 78. His funeral was held at the 10th Street Baptist Church A native of Philadelphia, Mr. Woode in his early years was house bassist at George Wein's Storyville club in Boston. Mr. Woode honed his skills performing with jazz masters including Ellington, Parker, Sarah Vaughan, Miles Davis,...

Kat Edmonson came out of nowhere in 2009 and released one of that year's best albums, "Take to the Sky," a delicious collection of rearranged standards and pop songs turned into jazz. Most remarkable was that the little-known Texan with the stunningly sweet voice had never had any training. The buzz over that album and her performance at the 2009 Tanglewood Jazz Festival led to a coveted slot at George Wein's New York Jazz Festival. And when Edmonson began raising money to record her sophomore album, she attracted some major attention.

Like a day of music at the Newport Jazz Festival, "Syncopated Rhythms," the exhibition of African-American art collected by jazz impresario and festival founder George Wein and his late wife, Joyce, is soulful, vibrant, and heartfelt. The collection is a joy. Grounded in the personal -- the Weins' passion for music, and their love for each other -- it embraces such larger themes as tensions between modernism's push toward abstraction and a cultural imperative for storytelling. It offers up a broad yet succinct overview of 20th-century African-American art, and it reminds...

Friday night, at Symphony Hall, the BeanTown Jazz Festival opened with an all-star offering that came within at least shouting distance of its advance billing as "concert of the century. " Titled "A Celebration of Jazz and Joyce," the concert's personnel was lovingly assembled by jazz impresario George Wein, the proceeds benefiting the Berklee scholarship fund named in honor of his late wife, Joyce Alexander Wein. The show opened with rousing quintet versions of Thelonious Monk's "I Mean You" and Tadd Dameron's "Hot House.

Hugh Hefner couldn't think of a better way to celebrate Playboy magazine's 25th anniversary than by throwing a big bash at the Hollywood Bowl featuring his favorite performers who knew how to swing while keeping their clothes on. To produce the event, he turned to jazz impresario George Wein, who had created the first outdoor jazz festival in Newport, R.I., in 1954, the same year Hefner launched his culture-changing men's lifestyle magazine....

NEWPORT, R.I. - One of the great moments in Newport jazz festival history went down this weekend, and it happened away from the main stage. Pianist Hiromi Uehara had been enthralling the crowd at the midsize stage with her wild brand of fusion when she asked her sidemen to step away for a moment so she could dedicate a solo piece to jazz impresario George Wein, who created the festival in 1954 and stepped in again this year to save it. Hiromi (she...

The Preservation Hall Jazz Band on Sunday marked its 50th anniversary with a jam session at New Orleans' Jazz Fest featuring a number of old friends. On Sunday, the band closed the festival's Gentilly Stage with friends including Allen Toussaint, Trombone Shorty, the Rebirth Brass Band and Jazz Fest founder George Wein. In a rare performance, the 86-year-old Wein introduced the band then played piano on their opening number — "Basin Street Blues. " He got a rousing ovation after the song ended and he left the stage.