{"id":1449,"date":"2020-08-03T23:42:02","date_gmt":"2020-08-04T04:42:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/?p=1449"},"modified":"2021-07-08T22:38:06","modified_gmt":"2021-07-09T03:38:06","slug":"newport-jazz-part-vii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/newport-jazz-part-vii\/","title":{"rendered":"A History of the Newport Jazz Festival \u2013 Chapter VII: Memory of a Giant, 1970-1971"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In some ways, the near riotous circumstances at Festival Field in July of 1969 was a precursor of an event which would occur the following month on farmland in Bethel, New York. Woodstock featured a few artists who were in Newport the month prior – Sly and the Family Stone, Ten Years After, and Blood, Sweat & Tears. Event organizers also invited the Jeff Beck Group, but it had disbanded right before the event. As were Led Zeppelin, The Mothers of Invention, and Jethro Tull though each declined. The temporary movement of over 300,000 to a small agricultural community shocked local governmental leaders and produced numerous restrictions on concerts intended to maintain order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These changes did not mean the end of Festival Production Inc.\u2019s planning of concerts and festivals. With the overall success of the Newport Festivals, the company had continued to expand its footprint. The preceding years brought the Hampton (Virginia) Jazz Festival, Rutgers Jazz Festival, and Ohio Valley Jazz Festival. In 1970, this expanded to encompass the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1962, Olaf Lambert, manager of the city\u2019s Royal Orleans Hotel, called Wein to request that he produce a festival in the Big Easy. Although the producer had never visited the city to that point, he expressed his interest. Upon further reflection, he decided that the then-existing Jim Crow laws made such an event an impossibility. Many of the bands he would produce contained artists of different races. Wein wanted the audiences diverse and united as well. At the time, the city was inhospitable to such inclusion; even Wein\u2019s wife Joyce was unable to join him on a trip there due to complications related to the fact she was African-American, and he was not. After the passage of the Civil Rights Act, efforts were renewed for Wein to host his Festival. However, the city was still not socially ready for the inclusion it required. It was canceled again. By 1970, New Orleans had changed enough to make the event a reality. It would not exactly follow the Newport model. Instead, it was to be more reflective of its new home and the various cultural influences therein, including a broader range of musical styles. Although it has increasingly incorporated more popular artists since that April, its essence has remained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Back in Newport, the city council had not only prohibited rock acts from performing at future festivals but also imposed a series of fines and restrictions on Festival Productions Inc. before it could host the 1970 Jazz Festival. Across the weekend, the event included Ike and Tina Turner, Roberta Flack, Nina Simone, Jean-Luc Ponty, Dizzy Gillespie, bluesman Albert King, Kenny Burrell, Chico Hamilton, Leon Thomas, and  Ella Fitzgerald with the Tommy Flannigan Trio. There were three workshops. One centered on the violin with Ponty, Mike White, and Ray Nance. Another on drums with Hamilton, Elvin Jones, Philly Joe Jones, and Jo Jones. And the last on trumpets with Gillespie, Joe Newman, and Jimmy Owens. Tenor titan Dexter Gordon flew in from France while talented altoist Sadao Watanabe, who once played with John Coltrane, came from Japan.  Gary Burton\u2019s Quartet augmented with Keith Jarrett promoted their recent Atlantic release. Eddie Harris showcased his prowess on the varitone electric sax in what later became Live at Newport <\/em>(Atlantic, 1970).<\/p>\n\n\n

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