CARNEGIE HALL PRESENTS
George Wein and Friends

Zankel Hall
Thursday, April 2nd, 2009 at 8:30 PM

Howard Alden, Guitar
Regina Carter, Violin
Evan Christopher, Clarinet
Jimmy Cobb, Drums
Anat Cohen, Clarinet and Tenor Saxophone
Dick Hyman, Piano
Jay Leonhart, Bass
Ken Peplowski, Clarinet
Bucky Pizzarelli, Guitar
Larry Ridley, Bass
Randy Sandke, Trumpet
Lew Tabackin, Tenor Saxophone
Warren Vaché, Trumpet
George Wein, Piano
Jackie Williams, Drums

“The jazz of Ellington, Basie, Lunceford, Goodman, Holiday, and so many others of their era brought my wife Joyce and me together. This concert, dedicated to Joyce, reflects the music of that golden age of jazz and is performed by musicians who knew and loved Joyce.”
—George Wein

This concert and Just Jazz: The Joyce Wein Series are sponsored by the Joyce and George Wein Foundation in memory of Joyce Wein.

Program Notes:

Bob Golden on
GEORGE AND JOYCE WEIN

For the past six decades, George Wein has led three distinct, impressive and intertwined lives: as incontestably the “World’s Greatest Jazz Impresario,” as an internationally respected jazz pianist and bandleader, and, from 1959, as the life and business partner of Joyce Wein (1928–2005), who mirrored her husband as among the most inspirational and treasured personalities the jazz community has ever known.

One of the great love stories and collaborations in jazz history began in the early 1950s in Boston where George—a popular jazz pianist who was also the owner of Storyville, a local jazz club—was initially intrigued, soon smitten, and then entirely enamored with a shy, sophisticated, and magnetic young black lady named Joyce Alexander.

A part-time jazz columnist for the Simmons College newspaper and full-time biochemist at the nearby Massachusetts General Hospital, Joyce’s favorite after-work relaxation was going to the Storyville club and listening to the musicians George booked and performed with. It was a classic “start of a beautiful friendship,” and, as George remembers, “It was our love for jazz and musicians that first brought us together even before we realized we loved each other as passionately.”

By 1959, George had famously founded the Newport Jazz Festival and the subsequent production empire of major international music festivals that still endures as both a worldwide cultural force and hugely successful business operation. That same year George married his beloved Joyce who then abandoned a burgeoning career in biochemistry to become her husband’s business partner and artistic advisor.

At the time, theirs was a rare interracial marriage and George remembers, “We could have been put in jail in 25 states when we got married, but in Boston we never had a problem.” He has also since stated that Joyce “was my most important critic—she was involved in everything I did.” Another friend of the couple’s, jazz piano icon Dave Brubeck, recalled, “She was a brilliant human being who was cultured in every way and was always trying to figure out how to help other people.”

Described as a woman of tremendous intelligence and dignity, Joyce was a renowned art collector, resplendent hostess, and an indefatigable champion of artists. The single driving force behind the Newport Folk Festival, which was a primary instigator of the 1960s national folk music revival, Joyce was additionally a founder of the New York Coalition of 100 Black Women—the prototype of many such organizations that are now found throughout the United States. An also famed philanthropist, she established the Joyce and George Wein Professorship in African American Studies at Boston University, and the Alexander Family Endowed Scholarship Fund at Simmons College, her alma mater. (After her death, her husband created the Joyce Wein Scholarship Fund at Boston’s renowned Berklee College of Music.)

Perhaps Joyce’s greatest joy was, along with George, to discover, nurture, and promote the hundreds of unknown and neglected jazz musicians who, with the Wein’s encouragement and support, would become major stars. Through the years, the primary vehicle for this advocacy was George’s working jazz ensemble, the Newport All-Stars, which performed at every Newport Jazz Festival since its beginning, and became a headline attraction at festivals and nightclubs throughout the world.

On many recordings and appearances, the All-Stars constantly combined jazz legends alongside upcoming stars. Most fittingly, the George Wein and Friends edition that culminates the 2009 Just Jazz: The Joyce Wein Series at Carnegie Hall features a singularly stellar assemblage to celebrate the memory, indelible contributions, and matchless legacy of an incomparable friend, muse, and uplifting spirit to everyone who knew her.

“Joyce epitomized the true meaning of friendship and what it meant to be a lady. She personified how beautiful America can be.”—George Wein, 2009


—Bob Golden is a music industry veteran who is currently Vice President of Marketing at Carlin America, a major multinational music publishing corporation.


George Wein
TO JOYCE WITH LOVE

A few months after Joyce passed away, I did an evening of singing and playing at Michael Feinstein’s club. Bucky and Jay, along with Kenny Washington, accompanied me in what was undoubtedly one of the most emotional public performances of my life. It was an evening that will never be repeated.

Tonight’s program, To Joyce with Love, is more of a celebration, reflecting the respect and admiration so many musicians had for Joyce Alexander Wein. Many jazz legends were her friends—Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Willie “The Lion” Smith were just three masters who were part of Joyce’s circle of admirers. She knew them all—Art Tatum, Dizzy, Ella, Erroll Garner, Art Blakey (whom she taught how to float at our pool in Vence), and too many to mention here.

All of the musicians in tonight’s program knew Joyce, with the exception of Anat Cohen (and I know that they would have admired each other). Regina Carter and Evan Christopher got to know Joyce when we played at Hans Zurbrügg’s Innere Enge Hotel in Bern. Howard, Randy, Warren, Lew, and Dick all enjoyed Joyce’s hospitality and cuisine. Jimmy Cobb and Jackie Williams, Bucky, Jay, and Ken all knew her and what she meant to me. Each of these musicians were proud to have been asked to be a part of this evening. They have each chosen musical numbers that give an insight into the depth of their feelings.

I’m grateful to Dick Hyman for sharing the piano seat with me this evening. It’s a privilege to even be close to the keyboard with such a master. In addition to my playing, I will do a few vocals. One of the songs will be “Music Maestro, Please”; it is difficult for me to sing this one. Somehow or other these Tin Pan Alley words written back in the 1930s seem as though they had been composed for me and my love for Joyce. The song expresses how much I need her, but at the same time asks of the maestro to please keep the music playing. Maybe I’m the maestro. As long as I have friends like the musicians who are appearing this evening, the music will never stop.

—George Wein

Howard Alden, Guitar
Born in Newport Beach, California, Howard Alden began playing guitar at age 10, inspired by recordings of Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, and Benny Goodman, as well as by guitarists Barney Kessel, Charlie Christian, and Django Reinhardt. Before moving to New York in 1982, he worked in Los Angeles in traditional, mainstream, and modern jazz groups. On the East Coast, he performed and recorded with such artists as Ruby Braff, Joe Williams, Woody Herman, Benny Carter, Kenny Davern, George Wein & the Newport All-Stars, Clark Terry, Dizzy Gillespie, Scott Hamilton, and Ken Peplowski. A Concord Jazz recording artist since the late ‘80s, Mr. Alden consistently shows an astonishing virtuosity and originality as a leader, co-leader, and versatile sideman. He can be heard on the soundtrack to the 1999 Woody Allen movie Sweet and Lowdown, for which he coached Sean Penn for his Academy Award–nominated role as a legendary jazz guitarist.

Regina Carter, Violin
Regina Carter combines outstanding technical proficiency with compositional and improvisational gifts to create a fresh, aggressive approach to the violin and to her music. In her hands, the instrument reveals its melodic side and its potential for percussive expression. She coaxes her instrument to accomplish musical feats that listeners thought were impossible to do with the violin. Born in Detroit, her first musical influence was Motown R&B. She began studying classical violin, however, and headed toward a career as a soloist in a major orchestra. Then she heard Jean Luc Ponty. Her ear, mind, and heart turned to jazz; today she stands among the leading jazz disciples of violin.

Evan Christopher, Clarinet
Evan Christopher is a refreshingly bright new light on the national and international jazz scene. He combines virtuosity, immaculate taste, and the youthful resources of energy and enthusiasm with a deep commitment to capturing the full range of musical possibilities. Born in Long Beach, California, he began his musical training on the clarinet at the age of 11. After working, touring, and recording with various bands and artists in his home state, he moved to New Orleans. He rapidly made a name for himself, appearing with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Al Hirt, the Nightcrawlers, Galactic, and the renowned Jim Cullum Jazz Band. Mr. Christopher’s CD, Clarinet Road Vol.1—The Road to New Orleans, is the first in a series of releases designed to explore the development of repertoire for the jazz clarinet.

Jimmy Cobb, Drums
Born in Washington, DC, legendary drummer Jimmy Cobb graced the rhythm sections of Earl Bostic, Dinah Washington, Pearl Bailey, Clark Terry, Dizzy Gillespie, and Cannonball Adderley before becoming a mainstay in Miles Davis’s bands from 1957–1963. He then went on to perform with Wynton Kelly, Sarah Vaughan for nine years, Ron Carter, Sonny Stitt, Nancy Wilson, Dave Holland, George Wein, and others. Mr. Cobb keeps busy with his band, Cobb's Mob, and performs throughout the US, as well as on the international circuit in Europe, Asia, and Africa. When he’s not performing and recording, he shares his expertise with students in master classes around the world.

Anat Cohen, Clarinet and Tenor Saxophone
An established bandleader and prolific composer, idiomatically conversant with modern and traditional jazz, classical music, Brazilian choro, Argentine tango, and an expansive timeline of Afro-Cuban styles, Anat Cohen has established herself as one of the primary voices of her generation on both the tenor saxophone and clarinet since arriving in New York in 1999. Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, she grew up with musical siblings; her older brother, Yuval, is himself a saxophonist of note, and her younger brother, Avishai, is one of New York’s busiest trumpeters. She began clarinet studies at age 12 and played jazz on clarinet for the first time in the Jaffa Conservatory’s Dixieland band. At 16, she joined the school’s big band and learned to play the tenor saxophone. A year after she was discharged from her mandatory Israeli military service in 1995, she headed to Boston to study at Berklee College of Music. In September 2008, Ms. Cohen released Notes from the Village, her fourth album as a leader.

Dick Hyman, Piano
Throughout a busy musical career that got underway in the early 1950s, Dick Hyman has excelled as pianist, organist, arranger, music director, and composer. His versatility in all of these areas has resulted in film scores, orchestral compositions, concert appearances, and well over 100 albums. While developing a masterful facility for improvisation in his own piano style, Mr. Hyman has also researched and recorded the piano music of Scott Joplin, Jelly Roll Morton, James P. Johnson, Zez Confrey, Eubie Blake, and Fats Waller. Other solo recordings include the music of Irving Berlin, Harold Arlen, Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, and Duke Ellington. Mr. Hyman has served as composer-arranger-conductor-pianist for a dozen Woody Allen films, including Zelig, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Hannah and Her Sisters, and Mighty Aphrodite. His music has also been heard in The Mask, Billy Bathgate, Two Weeks Notice, and other films. "Dick Hyman's Century of Jazz Piano," an encyclopedic CD-ROM, highlights the diverse styles of 60 of the most influential pianists.

Jay Leonhart, Bass
Jay Leonhart, born in Baltimore, Maryland, describes himself as “a musician who likes to play bass, write, and sing his own songs.” Working in jazz and popular music, he has performed with diverse artists that include Judy Garland, Carly Simon, Bucky Pizzarelli, Frank Sinatra, and Sting. Mr. Leonhart is noted for his clever songwriting, and his compositions have been recorded by Blossom Dearie, Lee Konitz, and Gary Burton, among others. As a leading studio musician in New York City, he has no fear of genre-bending, and has been tapped by a variety of artists from James Taylor to Ozzy Osbourne to Queen Latifah. Between 1975 and 1995, he was named The Most Valuable Bassist in the recording industry three times by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. He has now recorded more than a dozen solo albums and has a one-man show called “The Bass Lesson” about his life in the music business.

Ken Peplowski, Clarinet
Ken Peplowski grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, playing in a Polish polka band where he learned about improvising and thinking fast on his feet. In 1980, he moved to New York and was soon playing everything from Dixieland to avant-garde jazz. Four years later, Benny Goodman came out of retirement and put together a new band, hiring Mr. Peplowski on tenor saxophone. He has collaborated with Mel Tormé, Leon Redbone, Charlie Byrd, Peggy Lee, George Shearing, Madonna, Hank Jones, James Moody, Cedar Walton, and Woody Allen, among others. Evidence that Mr. Peplowski has carved out a niche for himself came through the words of Mel Tormé, who said Mr. Peplowski is one of a “few clarinetists to fill the void that Goodman left.” Today Mr. Peplowski has recorded more than 20 albums as a leader, performs around the world, and leads workshops for students of all ages.

Bucky Pizzarelli, Guitar

Larry Ridley, Bass
Larry Ridley, born and reared in Indianapolis, Indianapolis, began performing professionally in the 1950s while still in high school. He performed with hometown musicians Freddie Hubbard and James Spaulding before relocating to New York, where he recorded some of the most important records of the 1960s with Hubbard, Roy Haynes, Horace Silver, Hank Mobley, Lee Morgan, Jackie McLean, and Dexter Gordon. He later became Thelonious Monk’s regular bassist, and also performed with James Moody and Duke Ellington, as well as other leading musicians. Dr. Ridley was the chief architect of the Rutgers University undergraduate and graduate jazz performance degree programs, and was on the faculty from 1971–1999 when he became Professor Emeritus. He continues to teach and promote jazz education in addition to performing around the world with the Jazz Legacy Ensemble, a group he has led since 1985.

Randy Sandke, Trumpet
Randy Sandke is one of the top swing-oriented trumpet players in jazz. With more than 20 albums as a leader, he also has performed with Michael Brecker, Benny Goodman, Kenny Barron, Bill Charlap, Mel Tormé, Jon Hendricks, Rosemary Clooney, Cab Calloway, Art Garfunkel, Dr. John, Sting, Elton John, Billy Joel, Bette Midler, James Taylor, Chaka Khan, George Wein & the Newport All-Stars, and Joe Williams. Mr. Sandke can be heard on the soundtracks of The Cotton Club, Brighton Beach Memories, American Splendor, and five Woody Allen movies. As a composer, he has received two grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, and has had pieces performed at Carnegie Hall, the 92nd St.Y, the Greenwich House, and Lincoln Center. His book, Harmony for a New Millennium, details a method of exploring non-tonal harmony in the contexts of composition and improvisation.

Lew Tabackin, Tenor Saxophone
Lew Tabackin is an artist of astonishing vision. His electrifying flute-playing is at once virtuosic, primordial, cross-cultural, and passionate. His distinctive tenor sax style includes the use of wide intervals, abrupt changes of mood and tempo, and purposeful fervor, all in the service of showing the full range of possibilities of his instrument—melodically, rhythmically, and dynamically. His interest in music began in his birthplace, Philadelphia, where he first studied flute and then tenor saxophone in high school. After a stint in the US Army, Mr. Tabackin moved to New Jersey and then on to New York, where he played with Tal Farlow and Don Friedman, and later in big bands led by Cab Calloway, Maynard Ferguson, Joe Henderson, Thad Jones and Mel Lewis, Clark Terry, and others. In 1968, he met Toshiko Akiyoshi; they married and moved to Los Angeles, where they formed the Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra. In addition to the Newport All-Stars, Mr. Tabackin has been associated with several great bands, including the New York Jazz Giants and the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band.

Warren Vaché, Trumpet
Warren Vaché Jr. is sometimes narrowly classified as a swing musician, but the cornetist readily defies this or any other label. Growing up in New Jersey, he listened to and absorbed all styles of music, including trumpet heroes Louis Armstrong, Roy Eldridge, Bobby Hackett, Fats Navarro, Tom Harrell, and Ruby Braff. Shunning imitation, he is able to evoke some of the best from these and other models, creating an individual cornet voice that stresses purity of tone. In 1975, George Wein and the New York Jazz Repertory Company staged a tribute to legendary cornetist Bix Beiderbecke, which featured Mr. Vaché playing the honoree’s parts. The musical friendship continues to flourish, and Mr. Vaché is a frequent performer and producer of concerts on Mr. Wein’s festivals and performances. In addition to leading his own bands, Mr. Vaché performed with Benny Goodman, Vic Dickenson, Rosemary Clooney, and was at the core of the prestigious Concord Super Band.

George Wein, Piano
Jazz impresario and pianist George Wein is considered to be as much of a legend as his festivals. Born in Boston, he became a jazz pianist in his youth, and while studying at Boston University led a group that played professionally around the area. In 1950, he opened a jazz club and later a record label, both called Storyville. Through his company, Festival Productions, he has spearheaded hundreds of music events annually since 1954 when he produced the first Newport Jazz Festival—an event that started the festival era. Mr. Wein pioneered the concept of sponsor association with music events, beginning with the Schlitz Salute to Jazz and the Kool Jazz Festival; he later produced events for JVC, Mellon Bank, Verizon, Essence, Ben & Jerry’s, and others. At 83, Mr. Wein has as much creative fuel as he did when he started the Newport festival. His band, the Newport Jazz Festival All-Stars, has featured many of the most important names in jazz and has performed around the world.

Mr. Wein has been honored by heads of state, educational institutions, and leading publications. Honors and awards have been bestowed upon him by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Studio Museum of Harlem, presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, the Government of France, the New York Urban League, and the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame, among others. Mr. Wein is a lifetime Honorary Trustee of Carnegie Hall. His autobiography, Myself Among Others: A Life in Music, was recognized by the Jazz Journalists Association as 2004’s Best Book About Jazz. Mr. Wein also has a long history of involvement with philanthropy and the arts, including the establishment of the Joyce and George Wein Chair of African American Studies at Boston University, the Alexander Family Endowed Scholarship Fund at Simmons College, and the Joyce Alexander Wein Prize at the Studio Museum of Harlem.

Jackie Williams, Drums
New York drummer Jackie Williams has worked with numerous jazz greats, including Earl Hines, Illinois Jacquet, Junior Mance, Buddy Tate, Buck Clayton, Jay McShann, Doc Cheatham, Alberta Hunter, Milt Hinton, Barry Harris, Erroll Garner, Zoot Sims, Stéphane Grappelli, Teddy Wilson, and is a regular in the Howard Alden Trio. Often described by Bobby Hackett as “my favorite drummer,” Mr. Williams has appeared at major jazz festivals throughout the world, including Nice, Montreux, and the North Sea, and is a regular performer at numerous New York clubs.