New York, November -- Wolfgang's Vault, longtime home of the rarest archive of live music recordings for free streaming and for download, has announced the addition of the Newport Jazz collection and posted Count Basie and His Orchestra, the first release among them.

Beginning with the swinging big band performance of Count Basie and His Orchestra at Newport Jazz 1959, Wolfgang's Vault teases the release of nearly 30 total 1959 performances scheduled to be released next week.

The Newport Jazz archive of vintage tapes, acquired from Festival Networks had to be restored laboriously and carefully to a usable format before they could be digitized and remastered. The work was carried out over the span of a year by the Grammy Award winning sound engineers at New York's Magic Shop working in close association with Wolfgang's Vault's music team.

The result is extraordinary quality recordings of the historic performances from Newport '59 which have helped shaped the history of Jazz, and influenced countless performers and musicians and students of jazz who followed.

Wolfgang's Vault CEO Bill Sagan says the company invests its resources and efforts so that this important music can be available to today's and future students and fans of Jazz culture.

Beginning this Newport Jazz experience with the Count Basie and His Orchestra performance seemed an easy choice for Wolfgang's Vault; it's an extraordinary show curated for historical context with the expertise of Bill Milkowski. His performance summary begins:

“One of the most important figures to come out of the Swing Era, Count Basie presided with regal authority for 50 years over a dynamic big band that defined the art of group swing. Their appearance at the 1959 Newport Jazz Festival, coming two years after an acclaimed live album (1957's Count Basie at Newport on Verve), was a typically swinging affair marked by a steamrolling momentum and highly polished execution by the brassy juggernaut."

Hear this concert via free streaming on Wolfgangsvault.com and on the Wolfgang's Vault free iPhone app, or download it now for your own collection. Your own comments are a welcome addition to this and all Wolfgang's Vault concerts.