George Wein, the visionary credited with creating the concept of the contemporary music festival, died on September 13 at his apartment in Manhattan. He was 95. Wein founded the Newport Jazz Festival in 1954, but his crowning achievement came in 1970 when he brought the concept to New Orleans with the Jazz and Heritage Festival, a landmark event enabling the public interracial celebration of black culture in a city that was still struggling with the aftermath of integration.

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