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| (George Wein (r) on his 90th birthday w. Andy Hudson) |
As the Americans say…"Way to go" and to learn that my old friend and business partner had died in his
sleep at 95 was still a shock as he had an indestructible air about him.
I met him first whilst putting together the Jazz Festival in Middlesbrough, of which most say "Oh that one with Ella and Oscar in it". Paradoxically the only 2 acts on that enormous bill that were not George’s were Ella and Oscar, All the rest were from the "Newport" stable for that summer. As I have said before in this excellent publication, it was George that took me out of the North East to work with him on festivals elsewhere.
Some of my most magic
moments were in the company of George and a few that I outline here concerned
his great loves, apart from his late wife Joyce and music- they were WINE and
ART.
George had a wonderful
villa on the slopes outside Vence (S. of France) which I was generously invited
to stay in during the summer months. On one occasion he was entertaining his "wine
club friends" - Joyce was cooking - and the house wine for the dinner was Château Lafite 29. I did protest that I
would not impose on his gathering and would gladly go into a Vence Bistro to
eat….Mercifully he wouldn’t hear of it and so
I joined in with the club along
with the Ertegun Brothers (Nesuhi and Ahmet), Bobby Short and the famous French-American sculptor, Arman.
I’d like to feel that the quality of the wine would have led to inspirational
conversation, which it may have done the only lasting effect I recall was a
next morning headache.
On another occasion
George’s generosity stretched to taking me and the other guests at his house to
a private 10 course dinner at the Chanticleer Nice which is what these days
would be known as a Tasting Menu, the chef was Jacques Maximin, at the time one
of France’s leading chefs who also was the chef for state functions at the Élysée Palace. We each had the privilege of asking the chef a question and I
was able to get out of him the secret of how a delicious dessert was made which
changed flavour as you ate from left to right……… Not telling!
George and Joyce loved art,
sculpture and classical music, particularly opera. Once George told me that
Luciano Pavarotti was staying with them in Vence and George who was far from
shy started to play and sing Nessun Dorma.
Luciano stood up approached the piano and just said…."George – you need to
practice more."
They had a lovely house
in Connecticut where during residence George liked to have his original Renoir
(one of the ladies in red) to look at. When I stayed there we all had to go
back to New York, so George asked if I would help him. "Andy can you carefully
pick up
the painting from the wall and follow me? "So I trudged along with $20 million
worth of painting solidly gripped and followed him into a closet in the laundry
room. He instructed me to place the picture flat down on a cotton sheet and
then proceeded to tip a load of un-ironed washing onto it.
Looking quizzically at
him he said, "Pick that picture up from over there and put it over the
fireplace where you took the other from" I turned it to look at and it was a
not-too-good copy of the Renoir.
Georges’s advanced
security thinking was that the would-be art thief would unlikely to be an art
expert and would just be told to pick up the red painting over the fireplace.
Jackson Pollock (he of
the spotty early 20th century) was a painter much admired by Joyce
and George and they collected a number of them. I used to make George giggle by
often enquiring "How’s your load of old Pollocks". George was sufficiently
Anglophilic to understand the humour.
George’s first encounter with England came in 1944, where he was a private in the allied forces that invaded France on D-Day. He told me that, happily, he never fired a shot in anger, but did play the piano in the mess - adding that may have been why the Germans capitulated.
I have not here dwelled
upon the impresario and jazz/blues/soul and also folk music that he promoted so
effectively as that will be reported elsewhere abundantly. Here rather I focussed
on an interesting intelligent generous man who I was proud to call a friend. On
his last trip to Europe on the new Queen Mary flagship, he had a chauffeur
drive him up to Newcastle (via 2 Michelin Restaurants - hey! you need a stop off!)
just to have dinner with me, meet my new wife and have a chat. We often laughed
about people described by that old Jewish epithet of – when he came into a
room…it was like someone just left! George was the opposite of that, although
he was small in stature when he came into the room it was closer to an invasion
of warmth, humour and good feelings.
In the spirit of how they
lived, all of George’s artistic and valued treasures will revert to the George
and Joyce Wein Foundation which will be dedicated to music and education in
America
A fantastic heritage from
people of care and conscience.
RIP George
Andy
4 comments :
Andy, that was a wonderful tribute. It painted a beautiful portrait of a gentleman. It is my deepest regret that I was unable to meet him at Blaydon but your fond memories of George make me feel that I knew him and, like most of the jazz world, I will mourn his passing. Thanks Andy.
Agreed Lance. Very touching to read. What a remarkable man.
George Wein was a great promoter but he was also a fine jazz pianist. In 1973 I saw him play in Central Park NY leading a quintet that contained James Spaulding on alto sax and Roland Prince on guitar and he surprised me how modern he sounded. I also saw his all-star band at a Berlin Jazz festival which included Ruby Braff cornet, Larry Ridley bass, Don Lamond drums and the legendary Joe Venuti who brought the house down with his feature Sophisticated Lady. The last time I saw Mr Wein was during the Middlesborough Jazz Festival when I was having lunch at the Motel I was staying at. He walked in with three ladies and they sat at the next table to mine. I felt honored to be in the same room. He will be missed by all jazz fans and musicians. R I P.
Hi Andy, it's been a long time ......but I enjoyed your George Wein tribute .....thank you. Hope you are doing well. Ina
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