Wednesday, May 26, 2010

It Ain't My Fault!

On May 12th, Mos Def and Ben Jaffe got together to write a song for Gulf Aid, a benefit for those affected by the oil spill.

In an all-night jam session less than 12 hours later, they recorded the song with Lenny Kravitz, Trombone Shorty, Tim Robbins and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band...



Stay tuned for information regarding the release of this historic track!
In the meantime, please visit
Gulf Aid and The Gulf Restoration Network
to learn more about what you can do to help.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Mos Def, Preservation Hall Jazz Band unite for Gulf Aid (from wwltv.com)

Mos Def, Preservation Hall Jazz Band unite for Gulf Aid
by Bradley Handwerger
for wwltv.com


Mos Def and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band participated in the Gulf Aid Concert that took place Sunday along the river near downtown. The concert raised money for fishermen and wetlands that have been affected by the oil leak spewing out of the former Deepwater Horizon pipe.

PHJB in American Songwriter's Hangout Festival Review

Saturday At The Hangout Festival: Preservation Hall, The Whigs, The Roots, Erin Brockovich

By Caine O'Rear on May 16th, 2010
from AmericanSongwriter.com

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.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE!

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Preservation Hall to participate in Gulf Relief Concerts in New Orleans and Gulf Shores

(May 12, 2010) In the wake of the April 20th oil rig explosion and the resulting catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the The Preservation Hall Jazz Band(PHJB) will be participating in TWO concerts this weekend to benefit Gulf Coast Recovery.

Gulf Aid Benefit Concert-New Orleans, LA, May 16th
The Preservation Hall Jazz Band will be joining Lenny Kravitz, Allen Touissaint, Mos Def, Ani DiFranco, The Voice of the Wetlands Allstars (featuring Tab Benoit, Dr. John, Cyril Neville, George Porter Jr., Waylon Thibodeaux, Johnny Sansone, and Johnny Vidacovich), Zachary Richard and more. The fundraising concert will take place on Sunday, May 16, rain or shine from noon - 10 pm at Mardi Gras World River City overlooking the Mississippi River in New Orleans. Tickets are $50 and are available exclusively via Elevate Tickets http://www.elevate.com. VIP packages will be available. All funds will be managed and distributed by GULF AID in partnership with WWOZ, Mardi Gras World, SDT Waste & Debris, Rehage Entertainment and others. . The fund has been created to assure that all monies are properly distributed to organizations to focus on two key elements of recovery – the wetlands/coastal environmental issues and the well-being of fishermen and the regional seafood industry. For more info, go to http://www.wwoz.org

The Hangout Beach Music & Arts Festival- Gulf Shores, AL , May 14-16
On Friday May 14th PHJB will be sitting in with Atlanta-based country act the Zac Brown Band at the Hangout Beach Music & Arts Festival in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Other headliners at the Hangout Festival include Trey Anastasio and TAB, John Legend, Ben Harper and Relentless 7, The Black Crowes, Alison Krauss, The Roots, Michael Franti and Spearhead, Girl Talk, and more. Tickets and info are available at http://www.hangoutmusicfest.com/ All profits from the Festival will benefit coastal conservation and restoration.

My Morning Jacket and The Preservation Hall Jazz Band - We didn't say it...

As you probably are aware by now, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and My Morning Jacket have just completed a whirlwind affair; two weeks out on the road together with some amazing Jazz Fest performances in the middle! As one might expect, a genre-transcending monster mash of such prodigious proportions has caught the eye of some very astute journalists. Here's what a few of them had to say...

APRIL 20th - BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA
My Morning Jacket Open Tour in Alabama
Concert Review by Kenn McCracken for Spin.com
"My Morning Jacket have a reputation as one of the best live bands around, and their tour kickoff Tuesday night at the Alabama Theater in Birmingham showed why.

After a strong opening set by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, which concluded with a surprise guest vocal by My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James on "Louisiana Fairytale and St. James Infirmary," MMJ took the stage and dove into "One Big Holiday..." FULL ARTICLE HERE

Concert Shots: My Morning Jacket / Preservation Hall Jazz Band, 4-20-10
by Brent Thompson for The Birmingham Weekly

"One of the more unlikely – and enjoyable – double-bill shows you’ll ever find: Louisville’s guitar-driven quintet My Morning Jacket headlining a show opened by Big Easy stalwarts Preservation Hall Jazz Band. On Tuesday, April 20, the bands played to a sold-out crowd at the Alabama Theatre in a show presented by Red Mountain Entertainment..."

April 21st - NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
The Jacket Are Back at It
by Andrew William Smith for Interference.com
"...the Preservation Hall Jazz Band created a timeless, romantic, and clubby vibe, complete
with clarinet solos and a soaring sousaphone. For two tunes, Yim Yames took the stage and sang lead through a red cheerleader’s megaphone. The collaborative spirit and mutual respect seen then would return for the encore, where the Preservation party would join the Jacket for a full-on, throw-down, soul-town, funkytronic dance party..."

April 24th - PHJB joins MMJ at JAZZ FEST
Kayceman's Top Three (JazzFest, 04.24.10) for Jambase.com
#1 - My Morning Jacket I have seen Jim James bring rain to Bonnaroo when Tennessee needed it, and now I've seen him bring sun to Jazz Fest when New Orl
eans needed it. A powerful, moving performance by the Jacket, they touched on all facets of their catalog including Curtis Mayfield's "Move On Up" to close the set. But what made this show so special was the inclusion of New Orleans legends Al "Carnival Time" Johnson singing "Carnival Time" and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band (who is currently on tour with MMJ) on a wicked version of "Highly Suspicious" that had this writer wondering if we might be witnessing the start of a horn relationship for MMJ similar to what Widespread Panic has developed with NOLA's Dirty Dozen Brass Band.

Another Day At Jazz Fest Ends On A High Note
by Jerry Shriver for USA Today
"...Louisville's My Morning Jacket capped their 90-minute set of dreamy, theatrical, 21st-century white country-soul songs by introducing New Orleans' venerable Preservation Hall Jazz Band. The ultra-traditional ensemble, whose recent benefit album features My Morning Jacket lead singer Jim James, backed him here on uproarious versions of Mother-in-Law, It's Carnival Time and the Curtis Mayfield classic Move On Up..."

Jazz Fest April, 24 - Full Morning Jacket
by Will Coviello for The Gambit

"The most amazing harmony at the fest was struck 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..."


Preservation Hall Jazz Band, My Morning Jacket, and Amy Lavere Photos - Preservation Hall, 04/24/10
photos by Mark C. Austin for Paste Magazine

On Saturday night, Preservation Hall Jazz Band took to the building from which they’re named after, playing for an intimate crowd of 120 with help from My Morning Jacket and Amy Lavelle. Paste’s Mark C. Austin was there.


My Morning Jacket with Preservation Hall Jazz Band / 04.24.10 / Preservation Hall
Words by Kayceman
Photos by Erika Goldring

"After performing part of their set with Preservation Hall Jazz Band earlier in the day at their Saturday headlining Jazz Fest slot (read about it here), My Morning Jacket teamed up with the local New Orleans legends later that night on their home turf at the tiny New Orleans institution, Preservation Hall. It was an intense, intimate evening that had the 100 or so attendees completely enthralled with every note and word. The show featured the Preservation Hall Jazz Band starting the night off solo then welcoming singer Amy LaVere and MMJ's Jim James, both of whom appear on Preservation Hall Jazz Band's new benefit album Preservation. Following the Prez Hall portion, MMJ took the stage for an incredible acoustic set that concluded with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band parading through the French Quarter with My Morning Jacket."MORE PHOTOS HERE

April 25th - MMJ joins PHJB at JAZZ FEST 2010
Jazz Fest lets the sun and fun shine in after wet weekend
by Jerry Shriver for USA Today
"With thousands watching under brilliant blue skies, Preservation Hall ran through a lively repertoire of standards and offered proof that the music pioneered in New Orleans a century ago was the clear progenitor of today's jam-band phenomenon. Toward the end, the band brought out My Morning Jacket vocalist Jim James, who wielded a Rudy Vallee-style megaphone to croon Louisiana Fairytale while twirling giddily during the instrumental breaks. The show ended with a delightful bit of musicology: contemporary trumpeter Terence Blanchard came on stage to back James and the band on an early version of the jazz standard St. James Infirmary, punctuating the mournful lyrics with rough-hewn cries and wails. Then James left the stage and Preservation Hall vocalist Clint Maedgens took over to sing the now-standard version of the song, tracing its evolution. The lesson may have been lost on the crowd, but the song's enduring power was not..."

Jazz Fest Week One: Quick Thoughts
by Alex Rawls for Offbeat Magazine
"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

Preservation Hall Jazz Band: No Added Preservatives by Josh Jackson for NPR Jazz
"...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.

Jim James showed up in the band's suit-and-tie dress code, with a bullhorn resembling a stolen traffic cone. There was little caution to his sweetness on "Louisiana Fairytale," a song about smelling magnolias and being in love — "The world is at our feet, the picture is complete, like a Lou'siana fairytale." Really, Yim Yames?"

Preservation Hall Gets A Little Help From Their Friends
by Keith Spera for the New Orleans Times-Picayune

"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.

And, at Jazz Fest on Sunday, My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James joined Preservation Hall at the Gentilly Stage for two songs. He even donned the band's traditional white shirt, black tie and black vest, accessorized with a pair of rock star sunglasses.

Even before James's appearance, the Pres Hall set demonstrated the benefits of cross-generational collaboration. Thirty-something, pencil-mustachioed saxophonist and singer Clint Maedgen, recruited from the avant-garde performance troupe the New Orleans Bingo! Show, presided over a leering "Complicated Life," a Kinks cover that the Hall has adapted.

On "I Believe Like Moses Did," trombonist Freddie Lonzo, trumpeter Mark Braud and Maedgen, on one microphone, swapped call-and-response lines with clarinetist Charlie Gabriel on another. The playing was invigorated, the attitude mischievous..."


Preservation Party: On The Ground at New Orleans Jazz Fest
by David Fricke for RollingStone.com

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.

April 27 - ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA
Concert Review: My Morning Jacket at the St. Augustine Amphitheatre (with setlist)
by Deborah Ramos for CreativeLoafing.com

"When the band returned to the stage, they brought the Preservation Hall Jazz Band back with them. The St. Augustine show came just after both bands had played two shows in the Jazz Band’s native New Orleans, and they brought the energy of those performances into this evening. The Jazz Band proved themselves the perfect backing band for “Highly Suspicious,” a song I enjoy more and more every time I see it live, with the funk elements really emphasizing Prince’s influence in James’ vocals..."

May 2 - COLUMBUS, OHIO
[Concert Review] My Morning Jacket at the Lifestyle Communities Pavillion
by Casual Clay Cunningham for Everyview.com

"While the rain, which beat down rather heavily prior to the show, never fully subsided, it at least began to slow down by the time opening act, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, took the stage. While I am not a connoisseur of jazz music, I was quite taken with their great on stage chemistry, and the sheer joy they seemed to feel playing for an audience they likely don’t generally play for. And if you can close you set by getting a pavilion full of jaded hipsters to join you in a rendition of “You Are My Sunshine,” you must be doing something right (though having MMJ members perform three songs with them likely aided in getting the crowd on their side)..."

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Daniel "Weenie" Farrow. Rockstar.


Daniel Farrow & Jim James

One of the more beautiful experiences of last week’s tour with PHJB and My Morning Jacket- In Charlie Gabriel’s absence, Preservation Hall’s treasured tenor sax player Daniel “Weenie” Farrow stepped in and joined the tour for a couple of dates. During a post-show hangout at an old mill turned bar in St. Augustine, MMJ frontman Jim James asked about Weenie, as they had met and played together during the Preservation Album sessions. After kind words exchanged about Mr. Farrow, we mentioned that Weenie often plays an unforgettable solo of “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” at the Hall. No matter how many times you hear him play it you have to stop everything to listen.

So the next day after soundcheck before the show in Charleston, Weenie and Jim re-introduce themselves, and Mr. Farrow plays a couple of choruses of the song. Jim smiles and asks him if he would be interested in playing it again before their encore at the end of the show. Mr. Farrow kindly agrees, and says “I’m gonna put it on ‘em tonight”.

After an incredible opening set by PHJB and a stellar performance by MMJ all the stage lights go out and the crowd is roaring for an encore. The stage manager leads Weenie up the ramp and onto the stage with a flashlight. The crowd is still cheering, not knowing what is going to happen next. A spotlight opens up and focuses and the fog machines kick in and Weenie begins playing “Somewhere Over The Rainbow”. As soon as he gets through the first chorus much of crowd moves to relative silence. By the second chorus, you could hear people singing along. By the final flourish, you heard the applause and screams of two-thousand plus people cheering for Mr. Farrow and that HAWWWWW you can only hear at a rock concert. Weenie took a bow and stepped offstage. I say to Mr. Farrow “Weenie! You’re a rockstar!”. Weenie replies with a smile and asks if it sounded okay. All I could do is give him a hug.

About a half-hour later, Weenie walked to the tour bus carrying his sax and was approached by a couple of young female MMJ fans. They asked for a picture with him. After the photo, he steps on to the bus and stashes away his horn and says “I can’t wait to tell Steve(Pistorious, piano player at the Hall) I was a rockstar.”

If you’ve ever met Daniel “Weenie” Farrow, you’ll know you won’t ever meet a kinder, sweeter, and enlightened individual. You can feel his joy for life whenever he plays his horn or whenever you shake his hand and ask him how everythings going. He always says “it’s good when the music makes people happy. And that makes you feel good too.” Well you put it on’ em that night Weenie. Just like you do every week at the Hall.

Here’s a photo from the moment. And a youtube video someone posted!


Saturday, May 1, 2010

Preservation Hall in Rolling Stone!


Preservation Party: On the Ground at New Orleans Jazz Fest
by David Fricke, Rolling Stone

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.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE BY CLICKING HERE