Seventy-eight-year-old pianist, vocalist and jazz impresario Wein is one of the key figures responsible for polishing jazz's image, as he charted new directions and gained respect for the music by creating such vibrant venues as the Newport Jazz Festival. While doing so, Wein, who is white, also confronted and helped change the face of racist America. Wein and Chinen present the story of a 50-year career with smooth transitions, mellow flow and continuity. From his Boston beginnings as a teenage professional pianist and his WWII experiences, Wein segues into his postwar nightly gigs and college graduation. In 1950, he opened a Boston jazz club, Storyville, and soon launched a record label. But why jazz amid Newport's bygone Gilded Age architecture? It began with wealthy Elaine Lorillard's 1953 comment to Wein, "Oh, it's terribly boring in the summer. There's just nothing to do." Wein recalls, "I didn't even know what a jazz festival would consist of.... I had no rule book to go by." He juxtaposes his memories of early Newport triumphs, conflicts, disasters and riots with source material. These recollections bring the central core of the book to a crescendo, along with backward glances at other festivals, including New Orleans's JazzFest, where the "long-lost career" of Professor Longhair, a forgotten founding father of Big Easy R&B, skyrocketed after Wein brought him back from total obscurity in 1971. Wein's experiences with musicians, from Miles to Mingus, make this an important, valuable addition to the jazz history shelf. It's a fact-filled, melodic memoir, swinging with emotion and energy. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description

George Wein, who pioneered the idea of bringing jazz to people beyond the club circuit, looks back on his long career and unforgettably describes his relationships --sometimes smooth, sometimes tempestuous--with the great figures he's known: Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Thelonious Monk, and Miles Davis, among many, many others.Beginning in 1950 with the opening of his legendary Boston club Storyville, Wein presented jazz in a setting that respected both the musicians and the audience while still earning a profit. Since its founding in 1954, the Newport Jazz Festival has always reflected Wein's vision and grit. Wein opened up a whole new venue to musicians, attracting music immortals as well as aspiring young artists to his outdoor stage. Over the years, Newport became synonymous with jazz festivals in the United States, and it has become the model for similar events worldwide.Through his work, George Wein has expanded the audience for jazz more than anyone else living today, and has received France's Legion d'Honneur and numerous other awards. Myself Among Others illuminates the personalities, legends and performances of jazz's greatest era.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Best Jazz Book Ever, Mar 14 2004

By	Albert Reingewirtz "Albert Reingewirtz" (Carlsbad, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I just finished reading "Myself Among Others" by George Wein. This is the best book on Jazz I ever read. Politics, craziness, love, trust, friendship, race relations... are all inside by a major insider.
I even learned things I did not want to know about my idols. That is a must read book for anyone who has any warm corner in his heart for the "classical music of America."

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5.0 out of 5 stars From the "cat houses" of Storyville, to Newport society,, Sep 20 2003

By	Stuart Hoffman "jazzman" (cheery hill, nj) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

George Wein's wonderful memoir, "Myself Among Others", might just as well have been titled, "Payback Time". Although he chided Alberta Hunter for using the expression, as she mounted the stage, after many years in obscurity, followed by renewed stardom in the eighties, I can't help feeling that George is muttering that phrase to himself, as he rollcalls those sometime irresponsible, sometime neurotic, sometime drug addicted children the world knows as "jazz artists".
George knows the territory very well. As a teenage fan, very competent pianist and singer , jazz night club entreprenuer, and promoter of the "daddy" of the outdoor music festivals, "The Newport Jazz Festival", and oh yes, lecturer at Harvard, in his custom designed jazz course, dare anyone tell George anything about jazz, and the wonderful lunatics that people the jazz world?
Here is what it's like to do business with artists worshipped the world over, like Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Benny Goodman, Dizzy Gillespie, Woody Herman, Stan Kenton, Chet Baker, Count Basie, Stan Getz, Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus. Space precludes naming them all. In addition to dealing with these "darlings", were the torrential rains at outdoor perfomances, political opposition from irrate townspeople, and the piece de resistance of booking concerts, other promoters dissapearing with George's money.
Maybe the presence of a natural built in Prozac machine kept George sane through this craziness, but I have another theory. His passion for the music. When you are hearing a Louis Armstrong, or a Charlie Parker and you truly "get it", there is something that goes beyond mere entertainment, or an expert improvisor. I can't even find adequate words to describe it, but when these men improvise on a popular song, it becomes like a classic solution to a philosophic, or mathematical theorum. It's hard to state the "problem" to be solved, but the true jazz fan knows that Louis, and Bird, and the other masters, came up with incredibly beautiful solutions night after night, year after year.
If you love jazz, and the artists, this book is a must.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Jazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, Jul 17 2003

By	Jerrold Rosenberg (Providence, RI) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Without question, the best book on Jazz I have read. Mr. Wein's story by itself is fantastic. His life is interesting and his writing excellent. Additionally, he dicusses numerous musicians and offers personal observations which bring them to life. He recommends Lp's, CD's, songs and sets. What more could you ask for?

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5.0 out of 5 stars A Jazzy Trip Down Memory Lane
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Published on May 21 2003 by V. Bishop

5.0 out of 5 stars Must read
A "must read" for anyone interested in jazz, music, nostalgia, or a great real life story. It's worth buying just for the photos. Read more

Published on May 20 2003 by Penny Reads