Report To The Community 2021

event: Celebrating George
Wein, a tribute to the great jazz
impresario and founder of the
Newport Jazz Festival. Originally
planned as a tribute to Wein
on the occasion of his 96th
birthday, it became a memorial
of sorts when Wein unexpectedly
passed away just a few weeks
before the planned event.
“George transformed jazz into
a music for everyone,” NJPAC
President and CEO John
Schreiber said as he opened
the emotional event. When
he was just a “jazz-crazy kid,”
Schreiber got his start in the
music business working for
Wein — he described his dream
job interview with the impresario
as “having an audience with
the Wizard of Oz” — and spent
many years of his career at
Wein’s Festival Productions,
Inc. Schreiber described the
pianist and producer as “my
mentor, my friend, my first and
best boss, my second father.”
A battalion of jazz greats
performed at the event,
including Christian McBride,
clarinetist Anat Cohen, bassist
Peter Washington, pianist
Kenny Barron, drummer
Johnathan Blake, trumpeter
Randy Brecker, saxophonist
and flutist Lew Tabackin,
and the vocal trio Duchess.
And of course, the festival
included a range of events
throughout the city, including
several free performances.
Newark’s first lady of jazz,
Dorthaan Kirk, hosted a jazz
brunch at NICO Kitchen + Bar,
Don Braden performed a jazz
concert for children and families,
Buster Williams appeared at
Bethany Baptist Church for its
Jazz Vespers and the history of
Newark’s beloved jazz channel,
WBGO, was told through a
screening of the documentary,
The WBGO Story: Bright Moments
from Newark to the World. •
“The mood of
the piece is one
of hope and
promise...it makes
you feel good.”
— Christian McBride
words and
music
A magical night of
jazz, poetry and activism
with Christian McBride’s The Movement Revisited
The words of Civil Rights
Movement icons Rev. Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr., Malcolm X,
Rosa Parks and Muhammad Ali
resounded throughout NJPAC’s
Prudential Hall in November,
as Christian McBride’s
celebrated jazz symphony,
The Movement Revisited: A
Musical Portrait of Four Icons,
made its New Jersey debut.
– Jay Lustig
The inspirational and musically
varied 70-minute magnum
opus — which incorporates
elements of pop, funk and gospel
music, in addition to jazz — was
presented as the centerpiece
of this year’s 10th annual TD
James Moody Jazz Festival. It
featured seven-time GRAMMY®
winner and NJPAC Jazz Advisor
McBride leading his own 17-piece
The cast of Christian McBride’s
monumental The Movement
Revisited onstage in Prudential Hall
20
njpac.org