New Orleans Times-Picayune: PHJB the Toast of NY for Saturday's Anniversary Show

Great coverage from New Orleans Times-Picayune writer Keith Spera!


Preservation Hall Jazz Band the toast of New York for Saturday's anniversary show

Published: Friday, January 06, 2012, 5:00 PM     Updated: Friday, January 06, 2012, 5:09 PM

 By Keith Spera, The Times-Picayune 
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The primary members of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band are in New York City this weekend to celebrate the band’s 50th anniversary with a sold-out concert at Carnegie Hall on Saturday. The roster of special guests includes My Morning Jacket, Del McCoury, Allen Toussaint, Trombone Shorty, the Blind Boys of Alabama, Mos Def, Givers and Tao Seeger.

Matthew Hinton / The Times-PicayuneMembers of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, which includes trombonist Frederick Lonzo, left, trumpeter Mark Braud, center, and saxophonist and singer Clint Maedgen, far right, are in New York for a 50th anniversary concert at Carnegie Hall on Saturday.

The show is likely to receive considerable attention from the New York media. On Friday, the home page of the New York Times web sitefeatured a four-plus minute video snapshot of the band in action at Preservation Hall on St. Peter Street in New Orleans. The paper's coverage also includes a pair of sumptuous photos by Mark Peterson.

Trumpeter Mark Braud is misidentified in a video caption as “Mark Brand,” but otherwise the clip paints a flattering portrait of the multi-generational band. Several current members, including Braud, were not yet born when the Hall was founded in 1961.

If you do not have a ticket for Saturday’s show in New York, you’ll have a second chance come spring: The Preservation Hall crew plans to recreate its 50th anniversary celebration, complete with several of the same special guests, at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival presented by Shell. The Pres Hall celebration will close out the Gentilly Stage on May 6, the fest’s final Sunday, in the slot previous held by the now-disbanded Radiators.

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

(click to visit original site)

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