Tuesday, February 23, 2010

In early 2009, Wolfgang's Vault aquired the Newport Jazz Festival archives

Jazz pianist, former Boston club owner and visionary impresario, George Wein created the Newport Jazz Festival in 1954 and presided over that annual summer bash in Rhode Island until 1971, at which point he moved the whole operation to New York City for another extended run. Beginning in the early years with such iconic artists as Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, Coleman Hawkins and Woody Herman and featuring such perennial visitors as Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Stan Kenton, Erroll Garner, Stan Getz, Oscar Peterson and Dave Brubeck, a veritable Who's Who in Jazz has appeared at the festival since its inception.

In early 2009, Wolfgang's Vault aquired the Newport Jazz Festival archives - a treasure trove of over 1,200 concerts ranging from straight ahead to avant garde, from big band, hard bop and blues to Dixieland and fusion. Those historic tapes, which have been painstakingly restored, digitally transferred and remastered for superior sound quality, can now be heard (for the first time in 50 years in some cases) on the Concert Vault.

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