Thursday, January 14, 2010

"PRESERVATION" Preview #9: Appearing with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band - MR. PETE SEEGER & MR. TAO RODRIGUEZ-SEEGER

February 16, 2010 - PRESERVATION: an album benefiting Preservation Hall & The Preservation Hall Music Outreach Program hits the streets! (Best Mardi Gras Ever?) While we wait with baited breath, we share with you these previews of the 19 amazing tracks and special guests that make this latest offering from the Preservation Hall Jazz Band so very special. In this installment...

PETE SEEGER
by Zac Johnson for Allmusic.com
Perhaps no single person in the 20th century has done more to preserve, broadcast, and re-distribute folk music than Pete Seeger, whose passion for politics, the environment, and humanity have earned him both ardent fans and vocal enemies since he first began performing in the late '30s. His never-ending battle against injustice led to his being blacklisted during the McCarthy era, celebrated during the turbulent '60s, and welcomed at union rallies throughout his life. His tireless efforts regarding global concerns such as environmentalism, population growth, and racial equality have earned him the respect and friendship of such political heroes as Martin Luther King, Jr., Woody Guthrie, and Cesar Chavez, and the generations of children who first learned to sing and clap to Seeger's Folkways recordings must number in the millions. Rising above all of Seeger's political ideals and his passion for authentic folk music is his clear voice and chiming banjo which both sing out with a clarity that rings true...
READ MORE

TAO RODRIGUEZ-SEEGER
From Wikipedia.org
Tao Rodríguez-Seeger (b. Poughkeepsie, New York, 1972) is an American contemporary folk musician. He plays banjo, guitar, harmonica, and sings in Spanish and in English. He is known as a founder of The Mammals and is the grandson of legendary folk musician Pete Seeger. Tao spent nine years of his childhood in Nicaragua. Tao's father, Emilio Rodríguez, a Puerto Rican filmmaker, was invited by the Sandinistas to document the nation's civil war. Tao's mother is Mika Seeger. When he was fourteen, in 1986, Rodríguez-Seeger started performing with his grandfather Pete Seeger. In 1999 he was a member of the band RIG, with Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion. In 2001 he was a founding member of the Mammals with Michael Merenda and Ruth Ungar. In 2006 he recorded an album, Que Vaya Bien, with Puerto Rican folk singers Roy Brown, and Tito Auger of the Puerto Rican rock band Fiel A La Vega and he formed the Anarchist Orchestra (now known as the Tao Rodriguez-Seeger band) with Jacob Silver, also of the Mammals, Laura Cortese and Robin McMillan.

On Sunday, May 3rd, 2009, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band had the great honor of joining an all-star roster at Madison Square Garden to celebrate the life and legacy of Pete Seeger at a benefit for the Clearwater Foundation thrown in honor of this amazing man's 90th birthday. You can find links to coverage of this amazing event HERE.
SESSION PHOTOS BY SHANNON BRINKMAN
THE SONG:
"Blue Skies"
Pete Seeger & Tao Rodriguez-Seeger with
the Preservation Hall Jazz Band
(Irving Berlin) Irving Berlin Music Company

Pete Seeger - vocals, banjo
Tao Rodriguez-Seeger - vocals
Michael Merenda, Ruth Ungar - backing vocals
Jacob Silver - string bass
Leon "Kid Chocolate" Brown - trumpet
Charlie Gabriel - clarinet
Daniel "Weenie" Farrow - tenor sax
Maynard Chatters - trombone
Carl LeBlanc - banjo
Ben Jaffe - tuba
Ernie Elly - drums


Check out this footage from the recording session!

PETE SEEGER APPRECIATION PAGE
TAO RODRIGUEZ-SEEGER - OFFICIAL WEBSITE
HUDSON RIVER SLOOP CLEARWATER
LEARN MORE ABOUT "PRESERVATION"

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Nice shirt Tao!