This Weekend: A Double-Dose of PHJB in Birmingham!

So you already know that Danny Clinch's lovely documentary "Louisiana Fairytale - Live At Preservation Hall" is going to be playing at the Carver Theatre as a part of the 13th Annual Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival at 1:10pm this Sunday in Birmingham, Alabama?

And you're already hip to the fact that the Preservation Hall Jazz Band will be playing, live and in-person, at Sidewalk Central on 18th Street between 3rd and 4th Avenue on Saturday at 6:45pm?

Kudos!  But, did you know that the performance documented in "Louisiana Fairytale" was the culmination of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band's exciting 2010 tour with My Morning Jacket that kicked off... in Birmingham!  Check out this review of the tour opening performance in Spin Magazine!

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

Charlie Gabriel and Clint Maedgen outside the Alabama Theater in 2010 
- Photo by Ben Jaffe -

The Preservation Hall Junior Jazz and Heritage Brass Band at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art

It's time for the Family Fair at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art!

This Saturday, August 20th, the Preservation Hall Junior Jazz and Heritage Brass Band will be performing at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art (located at 925 Camp Street). The group will perform at 2pm as part of their Family Fair festivities. The event is free and open to the public and will also feature Dave James of Young Audiences, Calliope Puppets, as well as Teen Docents Puppet Theater. Join us this Saturday to experience the music of our young rising musicians, as they play and share the love of traditional New Orleans Jazz.

August 20th, 2011 @ The Ogden Museum of Southern Art

N.O. Suzuki Forum at 10am

Calliope Puppets at 11:15 am

Dave James at 12:15 pm

Teen Docents Puppet Theater at 1:15 pm

The Preservation Hall Junior Jazz and Heritage Brass Band at 2:00 pm

Jazz People: New Orleans Portraits by Lee Friedlander, opening at the Newcomb Art Gallery August 24.

Sweet Emma Barrett at Luthjen’s, 1958

*All are gelatin silver prints

*Photography by Lee Friedlander.  Courtesy of the William Ransom Hogan Archive of New Orleans Jazz

(New Orleans, LA) From August 24 to October 9, 2011, the Newcomb Art Gallery at Tulane University presents Jazz People: New Orleans Portraits by Lee Friedlander, curated by Newcomb Art Department faculty member Stephen Hilger.  The works in Jazz People, thirty-nine black and white photographs from New Orleans in the 1950s and
1960s, are drawn primarily from Tulane's William Ransom Hogan Archive of New Orleans Jazz with additional images on loan from the collection of Allan and Sandra Jaffe, the founders of Preservation Hall.  "Lee's photographs embody a visual encyclopedia of
early New Orleans jazz that is unprecedented," stated Preservation Hall Creative Director Ben Jaffe. As Allan and Sandra's son, the young Jaffe grew up witnessing performances by many of the legendary musicians depicted in Friedlander's work.

Kid Thomas Valentine, 1957

*All are gelatin silver prints

*Photography by Lee Friedlander.  Courtesy of the William Ransom Hogan Archive of New Orleans Jazz

                         
            

                          

Ben and Del on CNN.com - Mardi Grass. You heard it here first.

More Photos from the Preservation Hall Junior Jazz and Heritage Brass Band

The Preservation Hall Junior Jazz and Heritage Brass band wrapped up this weekend with another stellar class. Check out some great photos from Barry Kaiser from this past class!

Know a child aged 10 to 15 interested in joining the Preservation hall Junior Jazz and Heritage Brass Band for their weekly classes? Email Ashley at ashley@preshallfoundation.org for more information!

a sweet note from Positive Vibrations

Just received a sweet thank you note from our friends at Positive Vibrations Foundation.  A few weeks back they joined our Preservation Hall Junior Jazz & Heritage Brass Band for Family Day at The Ogden Museum of Southern Art.

About Positive Vibrations Foundation:
Positive Vibrations Foundation is a non-profit private operating foundation formed exclusively for charitable and educational purposes as defined by IRS section 501(c)(3). The mission of the Positive Vibrations Foundation is to create and encourage community through the development and preservation of the arts, music, culture and heritage. The Foundation promotes and underwrites music for progressive community events and awards sixteen full fellowship grants to outstanding teen musicians worldwide for its annual Summer Arts through Culture Program. The educational program is conducted in New Orleans, Louisiana each June. Fellows return to their home communities prepared to execute a Pay it Forward Project. These are service projects developed in partnership with the foundation which involve the Fellows taking on the challenge of improving a condition in their home community.  http://www.positivevibrationsfoundation.org/


 

Rickie Monie invited to autograph the piano at The Majestic Theatre in Gettysburg, PA

Last night, the folks at The Majestic Theatre in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania told Rickie that he "burned on the keys" that night and asked him to sign their 9 foot Steinway piano.  He obliged.  Check out who he signed next to.

Interview with Ben Jaffe and Del McCoury on "Hidden Track" music blog

Here's an interview from with Ben and Del from the Hidden Track music blog:

HT Interview: Del McCoury and Ben Jaffe, Ambassadors of American Music
by Ryan Dembinsky

When The Del McCoury Band teamed up with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band to record the album American Legacies, the merging of the two bands represented more then just a simple musical collaboration. The union brought together two groups who serve as the ambassadors of their respective genres, stewards of American music heritage. Over the years, beyond being of the foremost musicians in their fields, both The Del McCoury Band and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band under the direction of Ben Jaffe have taken on roles tasked with spreading the legacies of bluegrass and New Orleans Jazz music.
Del McCoury has not only spread bluegrass to the younger generation (quite literally) through teaching and playing with his own sons, but he has participated in countless collaborations throughout the festival circuit and embraced the various derivations of traditional bluegrass such as newgrass and the jambands. Similarly, Ben Jaffe and Preservation Hall have reached new audiences by incorporating New Orleans Jazz into collaborations with My Morning Jacket, Ani Difranco and Tom Waits, among others.
In what was undeniably one of the greatest honors I’ve ever had as a writer, I sat down with both Del McCoury and Ben Jaffe at the Ameritania Hotel just around the corner from the Ed Sullivan Theater right before the bands took the stage to tape their performance for the David Letterman show later that night. In speaking with Del and Ben, it takes all of about five seconds to see why everybody wants to play music with them. They radiate charisma and come across instantly as truly genuine people who are happy to be doing what they do. What follows is an intimate conversation that touches on the cross-fertilization of the two genres of music, the surprising similarities between New Orleans Jazz and bluegrass, the importance of family, and honoring one’s heritage.

Hidden Track: I was going to ask this to both you, but before Ben gets here, Del, when you were first starting out in music and learning your chops what led you to your style, to bluegrass, and to your instrument?

Del McCoury: I learned to play the guitar when I was about nine. My brother taught me to play. When I was about 11, he bought a record of Earl Scruggs and when I heard him play that three finger style banjo, it turned a light on. I thought, “That is what I want to do!” I learned it, and I played it until I went to work for Bill Monroe.
He needed a guitar player and a lead singer, which I thought, “I don’t know if I can do this?” I had played with him here in New York City, my first time in this town. Later, I went down to Nashville, because he offered me a job, and when I got there he still didn’t have a lead singer and guitar player. All along I think he was thinking that of me, because a lot of his musicians through the years could play different instruments and sing.
Anyway, he put me on that path instead of the path I wanted to go on, which was playing banjo and singing harmony. I could sing all the harmony parts. I was kind of a natural tenor singer and I sang baritone in a lot of bands, but when he got me to play guitar, it was a pretty big challenge, because I had to learn to play all the songs he had recorded and wanted to play at the shows. He told me, “You know, if you can make the grade doing this, you’ll like it better.” I remember thinking, “I believe he’s wrong there,” but he was right. So that’s what got me here on this path. It was actually Bill Monroe.

READ THE REST OF THE INTERVIEW HERE

PHJB & Del McCoury Band to perform at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass!

Just Announced!  Preservation Hall Jazz Band & The Del McCoury Band will be joining the lineup for this year's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.  Other acts announced include Dr. John, Gillian Welch, Chris Isaak, Earl Scruggs, Robert Plant & Band of Joy, Old Crow Medicine Show, and dozens more.   The festival dates are Sept. 30-Oct 2 and the best part about it - It's Free!