By Charles J. Gans
The Associated Press

If George Wein had been a better pianist, there might never have been a Newport Jazz Festival.

Fortunately, Wein realized his true calling as a concert impresario. His groundbreaking open-air festival, which created a new respect for jazz as it dragged the art form out of small, smoke-filled clubs, celebrates its 50th anniversary this summer from Aug. 11-15.

"I like to use the expression that 'jazz' is no longer a dirty word," Wein said.

In the unlikely setting of a Rhode Island resort known for high society airs and lavish Gilded Age mansions, Wein made jazz accessible to audiences in the thousands, creating a model that would be imitated worldwide. Today, Wein estimates there are more than a 1,000 jazz festivals around the world.

Turning to music

For Wein, a doctor's son who upset his middle-class Jewish family when he decided on a musical career, it was all about legitimizing the music he loved. Newport helped pave the way for the music's eventual inclusion at universities and cultural institutions.

"I was very much concerned with jazz being accepted as an art form ... because I knew that if jazz was respected ... it would help me earn the respect in my life that I wanted," said Wein, 78, seated behind a cluttered desk in his office in a Manhattan brownstone.

Successful festivals

Today, as CEO of Festival Productions Inc., Wein is producing more than 20 festivals this year, including the flagship JVC Jazz Festival in New York, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and a new JVC festival in Seoul, South Korea.

"George Wein has enabled Newport to survive with just hard work and not giving up," said 83-year-old pianist-composer Dave Brubeck, who has appeared at Newport more times than any other artist, starting in 1955.

Newport never would have happened if Wein hadn't been a risk-taker.

One wintry night in 1953 at Storyville, a Newport socialite, Elaine Lorillard, complained to Wein that the summer scene was "terribly boring" and thought some jazz might liven things up. After her husband, tobacco heir Louis Lorillard, provided a $20,000 line of credit, Wein seized the opportunity to create the first U.S. jazz festival.

On July 17-18, 1954, the First Annual American Jazz Festival drew 11,000 fans to the Newport Tennis Casino. The bandstand at center court was filled with jazz giants, including Oscar Peterson, Dizzy Gillespie and Billie Holiday.

"Newport was a highlight of my career," said 76-year-old saxophonist Lee Konitz, whose quartet performed on opening night. "It was really a big party ... people were letting their guards down and just enjoying being around each other."

As for the upcoming festival, Wein is determined to restore Newport to its past grandeur. More than 125 jazz musicians, including all those interviewed for this story, will be performing in August, but most have been asked not to bring their own groups so they can be mixed in unique all-star combos as in the past.