George Wein, the 94 year old creator and founder of Newport Jazz Festival - one of the oldest and longest running music festivals in the world has announced a full slate of programming for what would have been 2020's Newport Jazz Festival weekend. "I'd hoped to meet my many friends and fans at the Fort on August 6, 7thand 8th," said Wein. 'but since we can't be together, Newport Jazz is bringing the music to you with a number of ways to join." To tee things up, Jazz Night In America will kick off a three part series on the festival, culminating on August 7th, and 8th and featuring show host and festival artistic director Christian McBride. All weekend long, Newport Jazz Revival Radio will be broadcasting from 65 years of archived sets via WBGO. A very special virtual gala event will take place on Saturday, August 8th at 7PM ET with festival founder George Wein, McBride, Wynton Marsalis, and Diana Krall. Closing out the weekend will be a short film celebrating the festival and the foundation's work - Jazz Together will debut at 7PM on August 9th via Facebook live and Youtube. Schedules and more details are below Find additional information visit newportjazz.org/revival.
Newport Jazz Festival Radio Special
Starting Friday, July 24, and running for the three weekends, join Jazz Night in America host Christian McBride for a special radio edition of the Newport Jazz Festival, with historic archival sets from Newport's rich 65 year history. McBride, who also serves as the Artistic Director of the festival, has hand-picked a dream festival lineup for the three-part program. "There's a goldmine here - a plethora of riches," says McBride.
Part 1:
Fri. July 24, 11PM / Sat. July 25, 6PM
Part 2:
Fri. July 31, 11PM / Sat. August 1, 6PM
Part 3:
Fri. August 7, 11PM / Sat. August 8, 6PM
August 8 and August 9
We're teaming up with WBGO for two days of archived sets from the extensive Newport Jazz archives. Tune your dial to 88.3FM or visit wbgo.org from 6PM - 10PM ET on Saturday August 8 and 12PM - 4PM ET on Sunday August 9 to listen to a great mix of old and new Live From Newport Jazz sets hosted by our Artistic Director, Christian McBride.
August 8 at 7PM ET
This year's annual Gala for Newport Festivals Foundation donors is going virtual. Since we can't be together in Newport, we're offering our supporters an exclusive, virtual experience featuring George Wein, Christian McBride, Wynton Marsalis, Diana Krall, and special guests.
Sunday August 9 at 7PM ET
Join us for a short film celebrating the Festival and the work Newport Festivals Foundation is doing to support artists and music education programs all across the country. It will premiere at 7PM EST on Sunday August 9th via Newport Jazz's Facebook and YouTube. Fans are encouraged to follow Newport Jazz on Facebook and pre-subscribe to Newport's YouTube so as not to miss this one chance to see the film.
NEWPORT JAZZ REVIVAL 2020 is Newport Jazz's way of celebrating all of the work we've done together, bringing music to our communities any way we can. "Newport Jazz has one of the richest and most incredible musical histories in the world," says McBride. "In this moment, we are gifted with the time to reflect - to look back on all that it has given us, and an opportunity to come together as a community to support this incredible institution."
The impact of this year's cancellation has been felt deeply throughout the community as Newport Festivals Foundation, a non-profit 501(c)3, relies on the money it makes each year at the festivals in order to carry out its work.Thanks to the support of our Newport Folk and Jazz fans, the foundation has been able to support music programs in our own backyard of Newport and all across America, including its robust Jazz Assembly education program. In addition to its year round work, the foundation also created the Newport Festivals Musician Relief Fund to help mitigate financial hardship for musicians with over six figures in donations to date. We encourage fans to consider making a tax-deductible donation (newportfestivals.org/donate). Help us continue the festivals, support year-round music education initiatives, and provide grants to artists in need. Please consider making a donation to support the continued work of Newport Festivals Foundation.
Created by George Wein in 1954 and 1959 respectively, The Newport Jazz and Folk Festivals are some of the longest running music festivals in history. Newport Jazz has been home to legendary performances by Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, John Coltrane, and Herbie Hancock while Newport Folk has had its stages graced by its co-founder Pete Seeger, Johnny Cash and of course Bob Dylan. Widely considered two of the most treasured cultural institutions in American history, they are known for their once-in-a-lifetime collaborations and more for what's not announced than what is.
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