2022 -- H 7047

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2022

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H O U S E   R E S O L U T I O N

EXPRESSING DEEPEST CONDOLENCES TO THE WEIN FAMILY ON THE PASSING OF

GEORGE WEIN

     Introduced By: Representatives Shekarchi, Blazejewski, Carson, Abney, Filippi,
Kennedy, Ruggiero, Kislak, Cortvriend, and Fogarty

     Date Introduced: January 11, 2022

     Referred To: House read and passed

     WHEREAS, It is with deep sadness that this House has learned of the passing of Mr.

George Wein, one of the founders of the Newport Jazz and Folk Festivals and a significant figure

within the national and international music scenes for more than half a century; and

     WHEREAS, Mr. Wein was raised in Newton, Massachusetts, the son of a dentist and a

paper products heiress with "passable skills" at the piano. Like many youngsters, he loved music

and always remembered the impact attending a Benny Goodman concert had on his life. As a

teenager, he had been a musical prodigy who played jazz piano professionally in the Boston area;

and

     WHEREAS, Mr. Wein served our nation with honor during World War II as a member of

the United States Army. He was fortunate that Hitler had died and Germany surrendered just as

his unit was nearing the frontlines, and that Japan surrendered a few months later as his unit was

preparing for transfer to the Pacific for a possible invasion of Japan; and

     WHEREAS, After the war, Mr. Wein graduated from Boston University and shortly

thereafter, started the Storyville Jazz Club and record label in Boston. His company hosted

legendary musicians and performers like Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker and Billie Holiday. Mr.

Wein had the good fortune to play the piano for a set by Holiday when her regular pianist failed

to show up; and

     WHEREAS, In 1954, Mr. Wein helped create the Newport Jazz Festival, an annual event

that would become an iconic part of the American music scene and made him famous within the

music industry. The first event was launched under heavy rain with a star-studded line-up that

included Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, and Lester Young. Louis Armstrong

attended in 1955 and 1956, and history was made when Duke Ellington’s band played a set that

featured an incredible 27-chorus solo from saxophonist Paul Gonsalves; and

     WHEREAS, For more than fifty years, Mr. Wein was in the forefront of a festival that

included just about every jazz star along with many other well-known performers such as Frank

Sinatra, and later James Brown, Sly and the Family Stone and Led Zeppelin; and

     WHEREAS, Under the leadership of George Wein and Pete Seeger, the companion

Newport Folk Festival was created in 1959, at which Joan Baez and Bob Dylan first came into

prominence. Bob Dylan would make history at the Folk Festival in 1965, when he made the

controversial decision to play the Festival with an electric band; and

     WHEREAS, Mr. Wein had an enormous influence on the American musical scene

throughout his life. The success of his music festivals in Newport set the template for a wave of

musical festivals throughout the United States and around the globe, from Woodstock to the more

recent Lollapalooza. Noted music critic, Gene Santoro, observed in 2003 that without Mr. Wein,

"everything from Woodstock to Jazz at Lincoln Center might have happened differently – if it

happened at all"; and

     WHEREAS, Mr. Wein was also someone who vigorously opposed racism throughout his

entire life. As a teenager, in defiance of his parents, he invited African-American musicians into

his home, and in his 20s, he dated an African-American woman, Joyce Alexander, whom he

married in 1959, and who would remain his business partner and close advisor until her death in

2005. Throughout his life, he worked, socialized, and became friends with countless people, from

many different backgrounds and walks of life; and

     WHEREAS, Mr. Wein leaves a legacy of achievement within Newport and the music

industry that will live on forever in the annals of cultural history. He was an even better person

than entrepreneur, and will long be remembered by those who knew him as a wonderful friend

and a staunch advocate for equality; now, therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island hereby

expresses its deepest condolences to the Wein Family on the passing of Mr. George Wein; and be

it further

     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to the Wein Family.

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