NEWPORT - In 1954, the Newport Jazz Festival married jazz with high society in two nights of shows at the Newport Casino.
On Thursday night at The Breakers, it was a renewal of vows of sorts, with a black-tie gala salute to the jazz festival's 50th anniversary. The night was a mix of a jazz jam session and a Bellevue ball.
“It's taken 50 years to get back to that," said Jack Casey of Newport.
The party was a potpourri of household names and local celebrities. Turn right and there was Bill Cosby or Dave Brubeck; turn around and it was Gov. Donald L. Carcieri or Preservation Society of Newport County executive director Trudy Coxe.
The night crossed political boundaries. Retired U.S. Sen. Claiborne Pell, D-R.I., was on hand with wife, Nuala. State Rep. Paul W. Crowley, D-R.I., who had a role in the planning, chatted with Wein and Carcieri, a Republican.
Jazz giants such as James Moody, McCoy Tyner and Ron Carter mingled with guests, sipped drinks and sampled hors d'oeuvres. Artist LeRoy Neiman, who's painted portraits of jazz players, wore a white scarf, his trademark long sweeping mustache drawing how-do-I-know-that-guy? glances.
The star of the night, however, turned out to be George Wein, who helped create the first jazz festival in 1954 and who said he has no plans to retire. Some festival staffers wondered this week if Wein would make it to Newport.
He underwent abdominal surgery last week in New York City, where he lives. The surgery was related to scar-tissue buildup from an old injury. Wein arrived in Newport with his wife, Joyce, as expected, and, less expectedly, his surgeon.
“I didn't know him until a week or so ago," Wein said. “But he knows me very well now."
When did the doctor OK him to travel? “When I offered him two tickets for the dinner," Wein said.
The tickets went for $500 apiece, with proceeds going to the Preservation Society. Coxe said the whole night, billed as a fund-raiser for her organization, was more a tribute to Wein and 50 years of Newport jazz (though one society woman asked aloud who Wein was and why so many people were welcoming him).
“This just shows how many loyal friends and supporters George has," Coxe said.
Carcieri said the jazz festival gave Newport worldwide recognition, even before the city carved out an identity as a prime tourist destination. “(Wife) Sue and I lived here in 1965, when I taught for a year at Rogers High School," the governor said. “Back then, it was the jazz festival and the America's Cup. The jazz festival is still a big event, and in terms of tourism, Newport just keeps making progress."
Saxophonist Moody and wife, Linda, said they were excited to be part of the evening. Moody, 79, has played at the Newport festival numerous times.
“I think most of the time it was with Diz (Dizzy Gillespie), a lot with Diz," Moody said. “It's always been a great place for musicians. We don't get to see each other all that often. It's a place where we can all get together."
Pianist Brubeck, 83, remained aglow 24 hours after an audience at Rogers High School gave his “Gates of Justice" concert a six-minute standing ovation. “That's the greatest night I've ever had with that piece, and I've been playing it for 30 years," Brubeck said. “It really was one of the great moments of my life, a dream come true."
Brubeck first played Newport in 1955 and holds the record for the most festival appearances. “It was the first of its kind, really," he said. “Now it's worldwide, with so many jazz festivals, and it all started here."
Cosby served as emcee and kept things moving during dinner, gently chiding some of the guests. Cosby said people who bought the cheaper seats sat on the wings, while those in the middle enjoyed tables purchased by large corporations.
And he tweaked Carcieri about the state's lobsters and mobsters reputation. “The governor could have you killed," Cosby told the crowd. “This is Rhode Island."
Later, Carcieri said, “Thanks, Bill. I've spent the last two years trying to get away from that reputation."
In a more serious tone, Cosby, a one-time jazz drummer, talked about how the festival changed things for musicians, how many great players performed mostly in clubs, often for inattentive audiences. “You had Miles Davis playing in some club in San Francisco, and (on record) you could hear some idiot talking throughout 'Stella By Starlight.'"
The night was also a mini-concert, with Brubeck performing ("Write this for your memoirs. Dave Brubeck is going to play dinner music," Cosby cracked), followed by young British singer/pianist Jamie Cullum.
The session ended with an all-star lineup of Carter on bass, Tyner on piano and drummer Roy Haynes, who goes back with Wein to the 1940s in Boston. Later, Moody joined the group, with Cedar Walton taking Tyner's spot on piano.
Cosby talked of how jazz festivals made the music more of an art form, how jazz players once “had to enter through the kitchen."
Wein, 78, reminisced about the night Elaine Lorillard came into his Boston jazz club, Storyville, in 1953, with an idea for a jazz festival in Newport and how she later brought her then-husband, the late Louis Lorillard, to meet Wein to set up the festival.
Elaine Lorillard, who is not on speaking terms with Wein, did not attend, but her daughter Didi was on hand.
Wein thanked his wife of 45 years (Cosby and other friends presented the Weins with a portrait of themselves painted by artist Oliver Johnson). And he thanked the Preservation Society and his friend Alfred Vanderbilt, whose family once owned the mansion, for allowing The Breakers to be the site of the 50th anniversary celebration.
Wein also singled out his longtime friend, Charlie Bourgeois, a behind-the-scenes jazz festival legend, who has served as publicist dating back to Storyville days. “We've got a lot of years ahead," Wein said. “I'm not going anywhere."
On Thursday night at The Breakers, it was a renewal of vows of sorts, with a black-tie gala salute to the jazz festival's 50th anniversary. The night was a mix of a jazz jam session and a Bellevue ball.
“It's taken 50 years to get back to that," said Jack Casey of Newport.
The party was a potpourri of household names and local celebrities. Turn right and there was Bill Cosby or Dave Brubeck; turn around and it was Gov. Donald L. Carcieri or Preservation Society of Newport County executive director Trudy Coxe.
The night crossed political boundaries. Retired U.S. Sen. Claiborne Pell, D-R.I., was on hand with wife, Nuala. State Rep. Paul W. Crowley, D-R.I., who had a role in the planning, chatted with Wein and Carcieri, a Republican.
Jazz giants such as James Moody, McCoy Tyner and Ron Carter mingled with guests, sipped drinks and sampled hors d'oeuvres. Artist LeRoy Neiman, who's painted portraits of jazz players, wore a white scarf, his trademark long sweeping mustache drawing how-do-I-know-that-guy? glances.
The star of the night, however, turned out to be George Wein, who helped create the first jazz festival in 1954 and who said he has no plans to retire. Some festival staffers wondered this week if Wein would make it to Newport.
He underwent abdominal surgery last week in New York City, where he lives. The surgery was related to scar-tissue buildup from an old injury. Wein arrived in Newport with his wife, Joyce, as expected, and, less expectedly, his surgeon.
“I didn't know him until a week or so ago," Wein said. “But he knows me very well now."
When did the doctor OK him to travel? “When I offered him two tickets for the dinner," Wein said.
The tickets went for $500 apiece, with proceeds going to the Preservation Society. Coxe said the whole night, billed as a fund-raiser for her organization, was more a tribute to Wein and 50 years of Newport jazz (though one society woman asked aloud who Wein was and why so many people were welcoming him).
“This just shows how many loyal friends and supporters George has," Coxe said.
Carcieri said the jazz festival gave Newport worldwide recognition, even before the city carved out an identity as a prime tourist destination. “(Wife) Sue and I lived here in 1965, when I taught for a year at Rogers High School," the governor said. “Back then, it was the jazz festival and the America's Cup. The jazz festival is still a big event, and in terms of tourism, Newport just keeps making progress."
Saxophonist Moody and wife, Linda, said they were excited to be part of the evening. Moody, 79, has played at the Newport festival numerous times.
“I think most of the time it was with Diz (Dizzy Gillespie), a lot with Diz," Moody said. “It's always been a great place for musicians. We don't get to see each other all that often. It's a place where we can all get together."
Pianist Brubeck, 83, remained aglow 24 hours after an audience at Rogers High School gave his “Gates of Justice" concert a six-minute standing ovation. “That's the greatest night I've ever had with that piece, and I've been playing it for 30 years," Brubeck said. “It really was one of the great moments of my life, a dream come true."
Brubeck first played Newport in 1955 and holds the record for the most festival appearances. “It was the first of its kind, really," he said. “Now it's worldwide, with so many jazz festivals, and it all started here."
Cosby served as emcee and kept things moving during dinner, gently chiding some of the guests. Cosby said people who bought the cheaper seats sat on the wings, while those in the middle enjoyed tables purchased by large corporations.
And he tweaked Carcieri about the state's lobsters and mobsters reputation. “The governor could have you killed," Cosby told the crowd. “This is Rhode Island."
Later, Carcieri said, “Thanks, Bill. I've spent the last two years trying to get away from that reputation."
In a more serious tone, Cosby, a one-time jazz drummer, talked about how the festival changed things for musicians, how many great players performed mostly in clubs, often for inattentive audiences. “You had Miles Davis playing in some club in San Francisco, and (on record) you could hear some idiot talking throughout 'Stella By Starlight.'"
The night was also a mini-concert, with Brubeck performing ("Write this for your memoirs. Dave Brubeck is going to play dinner music," Cosby cracked), followed by young British singer/pianist Jamie Cullum.
The session ended with an all-star lineup of Carter on bass, Tyner on piano and drummer Roy Haynes, who goes back with Wein to the 1940s in Boston. Later, Moody joined the group, with Cedar Walton taking Tyner's spot on piano.
Cosby talked of how jazz festivals made the music more of an art form, how jazz players once “had to enter through the kitchen."
Wein, 78, reminisced about the night Elaine Lorillard came into his Boston jazz club, Storyville, in 1953, with an idea for a jazz festival in Newport and how she later brought her then-husband, the late Louis Lorillard, to meet Wein to set up the festival.
Elaine Lorillard, who is not on speaking terms with Wein, did not attend, but her daughter Didi was on hand.
Wein thanked his wife of 45 years (Cosby and other friends presented the Weins with a portrait of themselves painted by artist Oliver Johnson). And he thanked the Preservation Society and his friend Alfred Vanderbilt, whose family once owned the mansion, for allowing The Breakers to be the site of the 50th anniversary celebration.
Wein also singled out his longtime friend, Charlie Bourgeois, a behind-the-scenes jazz festival legend, who has served as publicist dating back to Storyville days. “We've got a lot of years ahead," Wein said. “I'm not going anywhere."
For more information contact All About Jazz.
