Artistic Director of the Newport Jazz Festival!! How does it feel waking u

Artistic Director of the Newport Jazz Festival!! How does it feel waking up this morning with that “big” title? (Laughter)Strange, you know, it’s a great feeling but it’s a strange feeling, because in my endeavors I never ever saw anything like this coming along. When George Wein called me in October of 2015, he said “Hey I would like to have a one-on-one discussion with you over lunch.” I thought that he wanted to ask me about being an artist and resident at the Newport Jazz Festival because I knew that over the last few years they had started having a featured artist at the festival. So I went over to his house and we sat and talked, then he asked his assistant to “close the door please” and I began to get a little nervous thinking, what does he want to talk to me about? He gave me the rundown on the Newport Festival; he told me that just a few short years ago the Newport Festival’s Foundation had gone non-profit. With them having a board it’s been a lot easier. He didn’t have to worry about running the festival as he did in the past, always having to go out and find huge sponsors and strike up these deals so he could sell a lot of tickets so they could stay above water as a for profit entity but now that they’re a non-profit it’s a little easier because they have a board. He said that “We recently had a board meeting and we realized that we had no succession plan” and for a guy who’s ninety years old that’s ridiculous. I’m still shaking my head like yeah, yeah! (laughter) George said “My board and I were talking about people who could be my successor.” Now at this point I’m thinking he’s going to ask me for some suggestions. He then says “So after the board had a discussion we all decided that youwould be a great person to be a successor. (laughter) You can’t imagine what that felt like sitting at the table, it’s just like someone saying “Hey you won the lottery!!” George said “I’ve been keeping an eye on all the things that you’ve been doing away from the bass, I keep in touch with everyone over at NJPAC and they love you, I talked to Darlene Chan and you did a wonderful job when you were a curator out there in LA, and you’ve got your NPR Radio Show, Sirius XM Radio Show, I really love your all-inclusiveness when it comes to the whole broad scope of what jazz is. I don’t think there are too many I feel comfortable with running my festival after I’m gone other than you, plus I’ve known you since you were a kid so I feel like I’ve watched you along the way. Is this something that would interest you?” I left his apartment and stood on the street corner and tried to process what had just happened, gave my wife a call and told her what happened. A few days later I called George Wein and said “Yeah I think I can do it!” He replied, “Fantastic!!”

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