American Legacies: Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Del McCoury Band
Recorded in 1964:
Sweet Emma and Her Preservation Hall Jazz Band (2CD)
Released in 2009:
New Orleans Preservation, Vol. 1 - Buy It HERE!
PHJB on NPR!
PRESERVATION Preview on All Songs Considered!
PHJB on WNYC!
Welcome to Made In New Orleans!
Hello everyone and welcome to the Preservation Hall Made in New Orleans Blog! We put this up with the intentions of creating a dialogue with you about New Orleans Music & Culture and latest happenings of Preservation Hall & The Preservation Hall Jazz Band.
Each week, we will post on a variety of topics; everything from what’s been happening here at the Hall, features on Preservation Hall musicians of the past/present, responses to your questions/comments, and personal accounts of life in our fair city of New Orleans. We’d like for you to contribute your stories and memoirs as well. Tell us about that time you stumbled off Bourbon Street and into the Hall and saw Billie & Dede Pierce in 1963. Or maybe that time when the Preservation Hall Band played in your hometown. Tell us your New Orleans story. We welcome it.
Have a lovely day. We look forward to hearing from you.
Join us for a new series of late-night performances featuring some of the crescent city’s truly up-and-coming emissaries of New Orleans Jazz. Aurora Nealand is a saxophonist and composer who has been based in New Orleans, LA since 2004. She currently plays saxophones/accordion with the bands The Royal Roses, Panorama Jazz/Brass Band, Why Are We Building Such A Big Ship, The Brian Coogan Band, and Stagger Back Brass Band. In the past 4 years she has performed extensively in the local New Orleans music scene as well as at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and the French Quarter Festival.
April 12th is just around the corner, and we couldn't be more excited about this record! And it looks like we're not the only ones... Check out these advance reviews and get ready for something special!
The Del McCoury Band and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band explore the common ground where bluegrass and jazz meet in their collaborative American Legacies project scheduled for release on April 12th via McCoury Music and Preservation Hall Recordings.
Inspired by the success of the Del McCoury’s participation on 2010’s Preservation, a Preservation Hall Jazz Band project made with multiple artists to benefit New Orleans’ unique Preservation Hall venue and its Music Outreach Program, the set offers a dozen songs. Complementing the release, the two groups have announced a joint tour that will feature them performing on their own and together in a groundbreaking concert experience.
With common roots in the rich musical mix of the American south in the 19th and early 20th centuries, bluegrass and jazz have sat alongside one another with a myriad of common influences and musical vocabularies that have nevertheless remained largely unexplored until now.
American Legacies is a tour of songs and sounds that sum up the simultaneous (and often intersecting) histories of two distinctively American musical forms—the jazz that has drawn music lovers from around the world to New Orleans for more than a century, and the “hillbilly jazz” of bluegrass, created more than 60 years ago by Del McCoury’s one-time employer, Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys...
There have always been some who see country music and jazz as opposite ends of the American music spectrum—one down home, emotionally straightforward and inclined towards the well-understood and safe; the other urban, sophisticated, even intellectual, and born to go off on unfettered, exploratory tangents. You could, of course, hear that opposition expressed by fans of either sort of music to describe why they’ll have nothing to do with the other. The often beautiful truth, though, is that these two largely domestic products have been bumping into each other and dating seriously, if not going steady, ever since both became more defined commercial styles in the 1920s.
From the jazz band backing on a fair number of Jimmie Rodgers records, and his famed duet with Louis Armstrong through the country breakdown/jazz intersection in Western Swing in the thirties in the hands of Bob Wills and Milton Brown and Bob Dunn, the jazz ties in improvisation and putting the sounds first in bluegrass in the forties, the turn to more complex stringed instrument stylings in the hands of Easterners like Merle Travis, Chet Atkins and Jethro Burns into the fifties, and (in one of Nashville’s worst kept secrets) the many top-line country instrumentalists who’ve played jazz gigs by night ever since, there have been very substantial, ongoing country-jazz connections and conversations. The obvious-enough jazz vocal and guitar leanings of a Willie Nelson were underscored in his 2008 collaboration with Wynton Marsalis; Merle Haggard accented his own long-standing jazz leanings in his 2004 album Unforgettable—and that “Night Life” Ray Price has been singing about for decades is a notably jazzy one...
...Jazz and country share some common history, in that both have sometimes buried ties to very old school American show business, in the music of the minstrel shows and vaudeville, of Tin Pan Alley composers and sentimental pop parlor songs. Those connections will be on display, marvelously so, in the album-length collaboration coming in mid-April from the Del McCoury Band and the national treasure Preservation Hall Jazz Band, American Legacies. It’s a revelation to hear the similarities in manner and approach to the phrasing and vocal flavor of Del himself (always a declared fan of the blues) and PHJB lead singer and sax man Clint Maedgen on such tunes as “Jambalaya,” “I’ll Fly Away,” “Sugar Blues” and “One Has My Name,” all given the traditional New Orleans jazz treatment. The instrumental chops of the whole McCoury gang throughout the disc will remind you that mandolin, banjo, guitar and fiddle were all jazz instruments right along with the brass before the recording industry generally separated them into rural and urban musical divisions. Here they are again, and it’s a blast...
Volunteer Registration for the 2011 French Quarter Festival presented by Capital One Bank is now open! (Deadline to register is April 1, 2011.)
Want to be a French Quarter Festival Volunteer?
You’ll meet new people, have fun and support a great cause! Volunteers are an essential part of the French Quarter Festival! This event would not be possible without you.
What do French Quarter Festival Volunteers do?
There is a job for every interest at the French Quarter Festival. If you have questions or concerns about what volunteer positions will fit your needs best, please e-mail our Volunteer Coordinator, Georgia Rhody, georgia@fqfi.org.
Want to Volunteer with a Group?
We love volunteer teams at French Quarter Festival! If you'd like to bring a group to volunteer, please be sure to sign up each member of your team indicating the name of your group leader. Group slots fill quickly, so the earlier the better!
Volunteer Requirements
All volunteers must be 16 years and older.
All Volunteers must sign a volunteer waiver online or upon check-in.
All Volunteers must attend an orientation - exceptions are made for out-of-town volunteers.
All Volunteers serving alcohol must read & sign the LA Responsible Alcohol Vendor Handbook.
Volunteer Benefits
Volunteers are asked to commit to at least one shift of up to 5.5 hours and will receive:
A limited edition collectible Volunteer t-shirt to be worn while volunteering.
Food tickets for each volunteer who works a complete shift.
Loads of appreciation from the community & FQFI staff and the satisfaction of a job well done!
Volunteer Registration
Volunteer registration opens online approximately two months before the French Quarter Festival begins. All volunteer assignments are based on your prompt response, years of service volunteering and availability. If you are a former volunteer you should receive an email prior to registration opening. Not yet on our list?sign up for the VOLUNTEER EMAIL ALERT HERE!
Bonnaroo 2011 Lineup just announced. Lineup includes:
Arcade Fire
Widespread Panic
The Black Keys
Buffalo Springfield
My Morning Jacket
Lil Wayne
String Cheese Incident
Robert Plant & Band of Joy
Mumford & Sons
The Strokes
The Decemberists
THE PRESERVATION HALL JAZZ BAND
and many more.
2011 is going to be a huge year for Preservation Hall. It's our fiftieth anniversary and we're going to be celebrating all year long with a series of amazing special projects. Additionally, next month will see the release of PRESERVATION HALL by LSU Press. It's a beautiful book featuring the amazing Preservation Hall photography of Shannon Brinkman, accompanied by interviews with Preservation Hall players by Eve Abrams. It's been a long time in the making, but you can Pre-Order your copy today! Please do!
"In their rare behind-the-scenes portrait, New Orleans photographer Shannon Brinkman and audio documentarian Eve Abrams capture the rhythm and cool of this historic club with both a pulsating array of images and the heartfelt words of band members.
Shannon Brinkman is an award-winning art photographer from New Orleans. Brinkman has traveled around the world covering a variety of subjects from international horse sport events to overseas performances of the Preservation Hall Band.
Eve Abrams is a New Orleans–based radio producer, writer, audio documentarian, and educator. Her stories air regularly on WWNO, New Orleans’ public radio station; WWOZ, New Orleans’ jazz and heritage station; and nationally on National Public Radio. Her writing has appeared in Fourth Genre, OffBeat Magazine, Wesleyan Magazine, Post Road Magazine, and in the book Where We Know: New Orleans As Home."
Cie Frazier, Kid Thomas Valentine, Herb Alpert, Allan Jaffe, Willie Humphrey / photo by Julian Leek
Allan Jaffe and Herb Alpert by Julian Leek
Back in 1968, Herb Alpert and his Tijuana Brass Band filmed a TV special in New Orleans titled The Beat of the Brass. Shot during Mardi Gras, the special features Mr. Alpert and his group riding and playing in a Mardi Gras parade, on the Delta Queen riverboat, and... at Preservation Hall!
Here at Preservation Hall, we recently received an email with scans of photos taken on that rare night from Julian Leek! With all the guest artists we've been featuring here at The Hall, and with Mardi Gras nipping at our heels once again, we thought we'd take the opportunity to share them with you!
Make sure you check out Part 2 of this rare 1968 special to see Mr. Alpert in his prime, sitting in with Preservation Hall legends Kid Thomas Valentine, Big Jim Robinson, Cie Frazier, Allan Jaffe, Billie Pierce, and Willie Humphrey!
Tomorrow at 10:00AM - The Largest Free Music Festival in the South makes its annual press conference in Jackson Square! Be there for special announcements about this year's festival, the unveiling of the 2011 French Quarter Festival Poster, and live music by the French Quarter Fest All Stars featuring the legendary Pete Fountain!
American music fans have an unprecedented opportunity to hear two masterful groups explore the common ground where bluegrass and jazz meet when the Del McCoury Band and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band release their collaborative American Legacies project on April 12th via McCoury Music and Preservation Hall Recordings. Inspired by the success of the Del McCoury’s participation on 2010’s PRESERVATION, a PHJB project made with multiple artists to benefit New Orleans’ unique Preservation Hall venue and its Music Outreach Program, the set offers a dozen songs filled with deep respect and joyful virtuosity. Complementing the release, the two groups have announced a joint tour that will feature them performing on their own and together in a groundbreaking concert experience.
With common roots in the rich musical gumbo of the American south in the 19th and early 20th centuries, bluegrass and jazz have sat alongside one another with a myriad of common influences and musical vocabularies that have nevertheless remained largely unexplored until now. American Legaciesis a no-holds-barred tour of songs and sounds that sum up the simultaneous (and often intersecting) histories of two distinctively American musical forms—the jazz that has drawn music lovers from around the world to New Orleans for more than a century, and the “hillbilly jazz” of bluegrass, created more than 60 years ago by Del McCoury’s one-time employer, Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys.
Known as one of the premiere ambassadors of bluegrass, the Del McCoury Band is fronted by veteran Del McCoury, A hero to east coast bluegrass audiences through the 1970s and 1980s, he stepped onto the national stage with a move to Nashville in the early 1990s that started the Del McCoury Band on an unprecedented streak of International Bluegrass Music Association awards and international acclaim. Today, McCoury, along with a band that includes his sons Ron and Rob, are admired by hard-core bluegrass traditionalists and eclectic music fans and stars alike as they make appearances everywhere from the Bonnaroo Music Festival to late night network TV shows to their own popular Delfest. For millions of fans across the US and around the world, the Del McCoury Band is simply the face of bluegrass.
Founded just a few years before McCoury joined Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band has been carrying the distinctive sound of New Orleans jazz around the world on behalf of Preservation Hall, a unique venue that embodies the city’s musical legacy. With a cast of musicians schooled through first-hand experience and apprenticeship into the music’s historic traditions, the PHJB has served as an irreplaceable, vital link to the earliest days of one of America’s most beloved forms of popular music, evoking the spirits of times past in an ever-evolving modern context that has found them traveling around the world.
Preservation Hall is happy to announce that Danny Clinch's documentary "Live at Preservation Hall: Louisiana Fairytale" will be included in the SXSW 2011 Documentary Lineup. Here's an article from NOLA.com:
The 2011 South by Southwest Film Festival has announced its lineup for its March 11-20 edition, and at least one locally connected film appears on the list.
Director Danny Clinch's documentary "Live at Preservation Hall: Louisiana Fairytale" will be making its world premiere at the Austin festival, screening as part of the its music-centric "24 Beats Per Second" showcase.
The synposis: "For fifty years the Preservation Hall Jazz Band has played to keep the traditions of New Orleans jazz alive, both at home and on tour around the world. Along the way, they have brought in collaborators of all musical stripes to play, honor, and reinterpret America's first true art form. 'Louisiana Fairytale' documents their collaboration with American rock band My Morning Jacket, showing a legendary group of New Orleans musicians passing on traditions and inspiring a new generation. The film features an intimate performance by both bands in the French Quarter's historic Preservation Hall."
"Live at Preservation Hall" is the latest film from Clinch, who has made a name for himself capturing music figures and events on film.
It is among the more than 100 films set to upspool at this year's event, including such headliners as "The Beaver," "Source Code" "Conan O'Brien Can't Stop," "The Greatest Movie Ever Sold" and "Page One: A Year Inside the New York Times."
Here's the full lineup for the 2011 SXSW Film Festival. For more info, visit the official SXSW site.
"On January 26, OffBeat presented the 2010 Best of the Beat Business Awards at the Ogden Museum’s Taylor Library. These awards honor achievement in all aspects of the New Orleans music business, from club management to music photography.
Preservation Hall's Ben Jaffe shares his OffBeat Award with Old Friends
HBO’s Treme received this year’s Heartbeat Award for its dedication to faithful on-screen representation of New Orleans. The Lifetime Achievement in Music award went to Dave Bartholomew for his over-a-half-century of work as a songwriter, producer, arranger and bandleader. Bartholomew penned some of Fats Domino’s most recognizable tunes, including “Blue Monday” and “Walking to New Orleans."
This year’s awards included three new categories. The Bourbon Street Award honors businesses that contribute positively to the musical life of Bourbon Street; the first recipient is the Royal Sonesta, home of Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse, which brought the tradition of live, high-quality modern jazz back to Bourbon. The new award for Best Street Promotion, which honors non-traditional and guerrilla level promotion of music went to Lawrence Parker of Supreme Street, who put on concerts by large national hip-hop acts, released mixtapes by local artists, and staged New Orleans’ first local hip-hop awards show this year. The New Orleans Musicians’ Clinic, which provides high-quality health services to local artists, was honored in the new Best Musician Resource category..."
What happens when a world-renowned choreographer encounters the street styles of the New Orleans second line?
Trey McIntyre answered that question with “Ma Maison,” the electrifying 2008 collaboration between his company of nine dancers and the musicians of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. That death-haunted, 30-minute piece featured dancing skeletons, dressed in Carnival colors, who jigged, shimmied, knocked their knees in a Charleston step and spun in slow motion pirouettes while the band unleashed drum rolls and wails.
Commissioned by the New Orleans Ballet Association, “Ma Maison” got a stomping, cheering crowd out of its seats at Tulane University’s Dixon Hall and has gone on to be reprised more than 30 times nationally. Most recently, a crowd of 7,000 packed the Hollywood Bowl to see the piece.
photo by Eliot Kamenitz
On Friday, Feb. 4, the same creative team will premier “The Sweeter End” — and reprise “Ma Maison” — in an evening-length New Orleans extravaganza that includes live music by the Preservation Hall players. The new dance is another NOBA commission.
“Working on ‘Ma Maison’ was an education for me,” McIntyre said. “I came to see how New Orleanians embrace an awareness of death in the course of celebrating daily life. The city is a richer place because of those contradictions — and very inspiring to me...”
Here's some behind-the-scenes footage on the making of Trey McIntyre Project's "The Sweeter End," the companion piece to the TMP/Preservation Hall Jazz Band collaboration "Ma Maison."
