Fan Video from WGBH's Summer Arts Weekend in Boston, MA

Here is a great fan video from the Preservation Hall Jazz Band's performance at WGBH's Summer Arts Weekend in Boston. Big shout out goes to Alexander Ortiz Goico who filmed and edited the video! Thanks for your creativity and support!

Visit Alex's portfolio HERE!

PHJB Announces Live at Carnegie Hall Album: St. Peter and 57th (EXCLUSIVE DOWNLOAD)

Entitled St. Peter and 57th (September 25th, Rounder Records), the album will feature a number of special guests from an assortment of genres including,Features guests such as George Wein, Del McCoury Band, Allen Toussaint, Ed Helms, GIVERS, Steve Earle, Tao Seeger, My Morning Jacket, Trombone Shorty, Yasiin Bey (aka Mos Def), King Britt, Blind Boys of Alabama, and Merrill Garbus of tUnE-yArDs

 

In commemoration and celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the iconic venue Preservation Hall, the prolific New Orleans jazz legends Preservation Hall Jazz Band are set to release a live recording of the band's acclaimed January 7th performance at Carnegie Hall.  

Rehearsal--Photo by Howard Lambert

The concert was orchestrated to benefit the Preservation Hall Music Outreach Program, directly supporting the passing of the musical and cultural traditions of New Orleans to the city's next generation of musicians. A portion of the proceeds from the album will also benefit the program.  

The band is also sharing "St. James Infirmary, Part 1" featuring My Morning Jacket's Jim James, which just premiered on Pitchfork. 

The Preservation Hall Junior Jazz Band Perform at ELCA Youth Gathering

The Preservation Hall Junior Jazz Band performed at the Superdome this weekend at the ELCA Youth Gathering. The band opened for Switchfoot and performed to an audience of over 35,000 people. We couldn't be more proud of the PHJrJB!

To find out more about Junior Jazz Band/Educational Program, visit Preservation Hall's Foundation Blog.

HIGHLIGHTS: Forecastle Festival, 2012

The Preservation Hall Jazz Band just wrapped up several performances at this years Forecastle Festival in Louisville, Kentucky. The band had an amazing performance on the festival's main stage with an excellent audience turnout! PHJB had special guests sit in during their set, including Jim James from My Morning Jacket and Andrew Bird.

Later that night, PHJB sat in with My Morning Jacket during the Festival's closing set.

Photo by Matt Jordan

There was an after party once the festival wrapped up aboard the Belle of Louisville. The Preservation Hall Jazz Band and My Morning Jacket performed to a sold out show. The energy aboard the Belle was tangible!

Locals Get Free Admission for 3rd show, Weds + Sat

New Orleans Residents Get Free Admission for the 3^rd Show, Wednesdays and Saturdays

Now through August 31^st, Preservation Hall is proud to announce that New Orleans Residents have free admission to the third show on Wednesdaysd Saturdays. To take advantage of our summer special, bring your local ID or Entergy bill down to Preservation Hall, located at 726 St. Peter Street, in the Heart of the Quarter. Can’t make it in on a Wednesday or Saturday? We are still offering New Orleans Residents 2-for-1 admission, now through August 31^st. It's the perfect opportunity to be a tourist in your own hometown.

RECAP: Charlie Gabriel's 80th Birthday

Clarinetist, saxophonist, and flutist Charlie Gabriel is a fourth-generation jazz musician from New Orleans. Raised in a classically trained musical family that emigrated from Santo Domingo in the 1850s, Gabriel began playing clarinet professionally with the Eureka Jazz Band when he was eleven years old. During World War II, his father, clarinetist and drummer Martin Manuel Manny Gabriel often sent his son as a substitute on gigs. Charlie recalls how the musicians with whom he played ”T-Boy Remy, Kid Humphrey, Kid Sheik, Kid Shots, Kid Clayton, and Kid Howard” also raised him and brought him home after the gigs.

In a career spanning countless genres, Gabriel has performed with Tony Bennett, Frankie Avalon, Brenda Lee, Mary Wells, Aretha Franklin , Eddie Willis, Joe Hunter, and many other early Motown artists. Gabriel sums up the influence of his fellow musicians, "many, many people inside of me that I have rubbed shoulders with, and I got something from each one of them. It's all wrapped up inside of me, and by me still playing today and still able to go around the universe, I give to them all these other things I have from those that I have came in contact with"

Upcoming American Legacies Dates

The Preservation Hall Jazz Band and the Del McCoury Band are hitting the road soon for a string of exciting performances. They maybe passing through your town!

July 12th, Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park Grand Rapids, MI

July 13th, The Orpheum Wichita, KS

*2-for-1 Ticket Special

July 24th, Door Community Auditorium, Fish Creek, WI

July 25th, Interlochen Center for the Arts Kresge Auditorium, Interlochen, MI

July 26th and 27th, WGBH / Boston Globe Summer Arts Weekend, Copley Square, Boston, MA

Touring Band to Perform at Newport Folk Festival and Newport Jazz Festival

We've finally hit the middle of the Summer season, which means the Preservation Hall Jazz Band is well into tour season. Two exciting performances coming up are the Newport Folk Festival (7/28) and the Newport Jazz Festival (8/3). It is a rare opportunity for the Hall Band to perform both festivals. There will also be a performance by the Tao Seeger Brass Band, including members of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.

for Newport Jazz Festival Ticket info, click HERE

for Newport Folk Festival Ticket info, click HERE

 

Uncle Lionel Batiste, Treme Brass Band bass drummer, has passed (1931-2012).

Our dear friend and bass drummer for the Treme Brass Band, Uncle Lionel Batiste, has passed away this past weekend. The Preservation Hall family misses Uncle Lionel and we send our condolences to his family and fellow Treme Brass Band members.

By Keith Spera of The Times-Picayune

"Uncle" Lionel Batiste, the Treme Brass Band’s longtime bass drummer and a beloved, dapper character who reveled in charming women of all ages on the dance floor, died early Sunday at Ochsner Baptist Medical Center after a brief battle with cancer. He was 80.

Mr. Batiste was an iconic figure in the brass band community and the larger world of New Orleans music. With his omnipresent sunglasses, a wristwatch worn across his hand, and his kazoo, he literally moved to the beat of his own drum.

In the traditional brass band cap, white shirt and black tie, Mr. Batiste appeared in numerous commercials and TV shows, including HBO's "Treme." He was also featured on the 2010 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival presented by Shell's souvenir Congo Square poster by artist Terrance Osborne.

Many local musicians cite him as a role model. Trumpeter Kermit Ruffins has referred to Mr. Batiste as “my total influence,” who taught Ruffins “how to act, how to dress and how to feel about life."

“Inside Uncle Lionel’s bass drum," said fellow drummer Herman LeBeaux, "is the pulse of the city."

READ THE FULL NOLA.com ARTICLE HERE