George Wein & Newport All-Stars at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola

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George Wein is a legend off the stage, but he's made quite a name for himself on the stage as well. Catch a rare performance by the jazz impresario on Tuesday, November 17 - Sunday, November 22, at 7:30 pm and 9:30 pm when George Wein brings his Newport All-Stars to Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center, 60th & Broadway. The Newport Jazz Festival has represented the best in jazz since its birth in 1954. In carrying the message of Newport throughout the world, Wein has organized dynamic groups that have featured many of the most important names in jazz. The All-Stars have performed around the world from Australia to Japan to every country in Europe.

Joining Wein at Dizzy's are Howard Alden (guitar), Winard Harper (drums), Jay Leonhart (bass), Randy Sandke (trumpet), Lew Tabackin (tenor saxophone) and some very special guests.

NEA Jazz Master George Wein is considered to be as much 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 which played professionally around the area. In 1950, he opened a jazz club and later a record label, both called Storyville. 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 84, Mr. Wein has as much creative fuel as he did when he started the Newport festival. His company, New Festival Productions, produces the CareFusion Newport Jazz Festival, CareFusion New York Jazz Festival and the Newport Folk Festival.

Mr. Wein has been honored by heads of state, educational institutions and leading publications. Honors and awards have been bestowed upon him by the Studio Museum in Harlem, Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, the Government of France, 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. He 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 and the Alexander Family Endowed Scholarship Fund at Simmons College.

Born in Newport Beach, CA, Howard Alden began playing at 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/or recorded with 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.

Born in Baltimore in 1962, Winard Harper had a natural affinity for drumming. He was encouraged to play the drums by his father, who noticed him beating on cans when he was a toddler. At the age of five, Winard was developing his skills and making guest appearances with his older brother Danny. When Winard heard a recording of Clifford Brown and Max Roach, he was irreversibly inspired to play jazz. Constantly in reverence of his predecessors while remaining innovative in his own right, Harper has become one of the most celebrated drummers in jazz. He is a virtuoso on the drum set as well as the balafon, the West African equivalent of the marimba. Harper's first major gig was with Dexter Gordon in 1982, and he went on to work with Johnny Griffin before capturing the attention of Betty Carter, with whom he spent four years. In addition, he and his brother Philip formed The Harper Brothers and blazed a brilliant trail both on the charts and on the international touring circuit. When not touring with his band, Harper continues to work and record with Joe Lovano, Avery Sharpe, Steve Turre, Wycliffe Gordon, Frank Wess, Ray Bryant and Jimmy Heath, among others.

Jay Leonhart, born in Baltimore, MD, 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 including 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.

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. YMHA, 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 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 Army, Mr. Tabackin moved to New Jersey and then 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.

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