Preservation Hall presents Tribute to Sweet Emma in Minneapolis on Monday!

PRESERVATION HALL JAZZ BAND of NEW ORLEANS
Celebrates their Golden Anniversary with
Special Concert Performance
and Tribute to Sweet Emma Barrett
Featuring Special Guests
MARCIA BALL AND TOMMY SANCTON
LIVE AT THE GUTHRIE THEATRE,
MONDAY, MARCH 14TH, 2011

Monday, March 14th, 2011 – Minneapolis, MN:
On October 18th, 1964, Sweet Emma Barrett and her Preservation Hall Jazz Band (PHJB) played a legendary show at the Tyrone Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Under the guidance of original PHJB manager and agent Henry Blackburn, the group had played their first show at the venue the year before. So successful was that first visit that it was decided that the return engagement should be documented for posterity. The resulting recording became Preservation Hall’s first concert album: New Orleans’ Sweet Emma and her Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Still popular today, this live album features iconic members of Preservation Hall’s charter line-up in a rollicking performance that captures not only the soul of Traditional New Orleans Jazz, but the personalities of some of its early practitioners.

On Monday, March 14th, 2011, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band (PHJB) will make its first ever visit to the new Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis. In honor of the 50th anniversary of Preservation Hall’s mission to preserve, perpetuate and nurture Traditional New Orleans Jazz, this very special tour date will celebrate the performance that spawned one of Preservation Hall’s most iconic albums and the woman for whom it was named. Featuring readings by musician and author Tommy Sancton from his critically acclaimed memoir Song for My Fathers: A New Orleans Story in Black and White (in which he details his first encounter with Ms. Barrett at Preservation Hall in the 1960s), never-before seen footage from the 1964 production at the old Guthrie Theatre, and renditions of Sweet Emma’s style and songbook by renowned pianist Marcia Ball with today’s PHJB, this one-of-a-kind presentation is not to be missed.
Tickets available at www.guthrietheater.org