As patrons awoke to sunburns and hangovers Saturday, the news broke that Jakob Dylan and Jerry Jeff Walker had cancelled their scheduled appearances due to travel problems in Texas. It was the first hiccup—oil spill aside—the festival had experienced up to that point.
But the cancellation proved serendipitous, with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band filling Dylan’s spot and delivering one of the best sets of the weekend. The high-water mark of the set was the band’s rendition of “St. James Infirmary,” which featured guest appearances from the leggy Grace Potter and Gov’t Mule’s Warren Haynes.
Preservation Hall Jazz Band with Grace Potter and Warren Haynes from Caine O'Rear on Vimeo.
After the show seemingly ended, the band left the stage and then came back out in the crowd for a jam session (see video).
Preservation Hall Jazz Band at Hangout Festival from Caine O'Rear on Vimeo.
between My Morning Jacket and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, which have been performing together recently. The Pres Hall band joined Jim James et al for a funk romp through “Highly Suspicious.” Then they tackled “Mother-In-Law.” Then Bonerama’s Craig Klein and Mark Mullins came on stage with Al “Carnival Time” Johnson and they all did “Carnival Time.” To close the set, Clint Maedgen arrived and the ensemble covered Curtis Mayfield’s “Move On Up.” It was a fun and quirky progression but an absolutely inspired set..."
MORE PHOTOS HERE
"The Preservation Hall Jazz Band’s set Sunday was a reminder that there are no corny songs, just corny versions. It opened with a dynamic, joyful “Bourbon Street Parade” and closed with not one but two back-to-back versions of “St. James Infirmary.” The idea of repeating a song seems like a recipe for disaster, but the first was sung by My Morning Jacket’s Jim James and it had a haunting air, with James contributing ghostly moans while Terence Blanchard’s solo escalated the melancholy with grace. Blanchard remained onstage and took a different, livelier tack on the rollicking version sung by Clint Maedgen but whipped to the finish line by drummer Joe Lastie."FULL ARTICLE HERE
"...Trombonist Freddie Lonzo and trumpeter Mark Braud provided the low-down brass blues, clarinetist Charlie Gabriel added a soaring clarinet response and singer Clint Maedgen was hip without pretense. Their version of "I Believe Like Moses Did" never broke down, even when they were goofing...
Amy LaVere was there to sing the enticing "Baby Won't You Please Come Home" into a vintage-style ribbon microphone, albeit one that was wreaking havoc for the sound technicians. Her auburn-accented hair sailed into the breeze, and she handled an equally flowing delivery.
"Pres Hall joined My Morning Jacket for the conclusion of the latter's Jazz Fest set on Saturday. Later that night, members of My Morning Jacket sat in with Preservation Hall at the Hall itself for the toughest ticket of this Jazz Fest season. Prominent rock photographer Danny Clinch is on hand to shoot a documentary of the collaboration.
A little before 3 a.m. on April 25th, the past and promise of American music collided, with funk and ecstasy, at Preservation Hall in New Orleans. In that venerable French Quarter storefront, with its bare-walls decor and resident spirits of past jazz masters, the house combo — the Preservation Hall Jazz Band — and Southern-rock futurists My Morning Jacket played Curtis Mayfield's "Move On Up" as a 12-piece unplugged supergroup. MMJ singer Jim James, decked out like a riverboat card shark, let his falsetto fly in the reverb-free room, through a lusty thicket of brass and frantic acoustic picking. Then the Preservation Hall cats, with MMJ drummer Patrick Hallahan, filed out of the club and took the music into St. Peter Street, leading the audience on a second-line parade and pulling surprised drinkers out of nearby bars into the wake.
