Preservation Hall in the New York Times Magazine

As the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and friends get ready for their big show at Carnegie Hall tomorrow night, check out this great profile of their home venue in New Orleans in this week's New York Times Magazine...

The Saints Go Marching On

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When Preservation Hall opened in 1961, its purpose was to save traditional jazz. It was probably a decade late. Dixieland was on its second or third revival, while the rest of jazz was evolving frantically. From then until now, the music of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band stood perfectly still. The instruments and the repertory have barely altered in decades: tuba, trombone, banjo, clarinet; “Mood Indigo,” “St. Louis Blues,” “When the Saints Go Marching In.” It was considered backward music for tourists; it was Dixie Beatlemania. And yet. Fifty years later, there is no other place like Preservation Hall. It’s hot and uncomfortable, and no alcohol is served. The musicians change nightly — the original players are long gone — but the sound is the same. The band has been playing its own funeral for the past 50 years, and it shows no signs of dying.

Wm. Ferguson

VIDEO: Preservation Hall's Legacy