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 Tour through Brazil and Argentina, 2012

The Preservation Hall Jazz Band will be touring through select cities in Brazil and Argentina from August 11th-18th.

BRAZIL AND ARGENTINA 2012 TOUR DATES:

-Aug. 11th, Ibrirapuera Park, São Paulo, Brazil

-Aug. 14th, Bourbon Street Music Club, São Paulo, Brazil

-Aug. 15th, Miranda Club, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

-Aug. 16th, Museu da Esplanada, Brasilia, Brazil

-Aug. 18th, La Trastienda, Buenos Aires, Argentina

MORE DATES AND VENUES TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON!

View the PHJB's entire summer tour schedule HERE.

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.

Ben Jaffe Interview with AM New York

Check it out: More lovely press from NYC in support of our 50th Anniversary and tomorrow's huge show at Carnegie Hall...

Preservation Hall Celebrates 50 Years

• For five decades, The Preservation Hall Jazz Band has served as a keeper of and ambassador for the New Orleans jazz tradition.
• 
  Named after the French Quarter music venue Preservation Hall, the group has performed alongside artists ranging from Louis Armstrong to Robert Plant.
• 
  This week, fans and collaborators including rockers My Morning Jacket, folk singer Steve Earle, rapper Mos Def and bluegrass legend Del McCoury will join the band at a 50th anniversary concert at Carnegie Hall.
• 
  amNewYork spoke with creative director and tuba player Ben Jaffee, whose parents founded Preservation Hall.
• 
  Is it challenging to carry on the legacy of Preservation Hall? It is. You spend a lot of time thinking about your decisions and the way they impact the musicians who play here and your audience. Then you have bigger responsibilities, because Preservation Hall has become a symbol of New Orleans' rich cultural history.
• 
  What do you wish more people knew about New Orleans jazz? One big misconception is that New Orleans jazz is old-time music or about re-creating something from the past. I liken our music tradition to our cuisine: The recipes for red beans and rice or gumbo haven't really changed, but you have people who bring new influences to them. To me, that's the ultimate statement, when you can take a tradition and breathe new life into it.
• 
  Why do you think the music of New Orleans has gotten so much attention the past few years? I believe it's almost singlehandedly a result of Katrina and what we went through. They saw people fighting for our lives and things that mattered to us and realized exactly how important New Orleans is. Also, our music kicks ass - none of this would survive if it wasn't great music.
• 
  Do you think Preservation Hall will be around in another 50 years? This is not only a celebration of the past 50 years, but about our future and where we are today. I can attest from playing all over the world that Preservation Hall makes people smile and have a good time. I feel like we could get everything figured out real quick if we could get everyone to a Preservation Hall concert.
  
  If you go: Preservation Hall Jazz Band is performing on Saturday at 8 p.m. at Carnegie Hall, 881 Seventh Ave., 212-247-7800, $30-$95.

Cityview article by Michael Swanger "Jaffe and Preservation Hall Jazz Band perpetuate spirit of New Orleans Jazz"

Fifty years ago, Allan and Sandra Jaffe founded Preservation Hall in the heart of New Orleans' French Quarter in an attempt to preserve and celebrate New Orleans jazz music and its musicians. They intended to stay in the Big Easy during the civil rights movement of the 1960s before moving on, but fell in love with the city and never left.
     Fifty years later, their 40-year-old son and tuba player, Ben Jaffe, serves as director of the venerable musical institution and its touring Preservation Hall Jazz Band (PHJB), which marches into town Friday for a concert at Drake University. Jaffe, a second generation New Orleanian, is a prime example of how fully integrated music is in the culture, communities and families of New Orleans. In short, it's in his blood.
      "Music in New Orleans isn't something separated; it's part of our church services, funeral processions and carnival celebrations. It's something you either are or you are not," said Jaffe over the telephone from his office at Preservation Hall, which first opened its doors in 1961.

Jaffe, who joined the touring PHJB the day after he graduated from Oberlin College in 1993, said that, regardless of his parents' affiliation with the New Orleans music scene, he would have become a musician. Yet it is apparent that his deep reverence and consciousness of PHJB's greatest attributes is the result of his upbringing and environment.


READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

Performance Review: 'American Legacies,' PHJB and the Del McCoury Band in Boston

photo by Matthew J. Lee / Globe Staff

Celebrating jazz, country, gospel in a collaborative spirit
By Bill Beuttler
Boston Globe Correspondent / March 22, 2011  
Bluegrass and New Orleans jazz came together at Symphony Hall Saturday as the Celebrity Series of Boston brought the Del McCoury Band and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band to town for a joyous and virtuosic celebration of their joint album due out next month, the aptly titled “American Legacies.’’

Ben Jaffe, whose parents founded Preservation Hall 50 years ago, came onstage with pianist Rickie Monie, who played some gentle stride as Jaffe introduced the other five members of the band, the horn players each blowing a short, personable solo en route to their chairs. Del McCoury (who was playing in Baltimore honky-tonks the year Preservation Hall opened, joining bluegrass titan Bill Monroe’s band in 1963) brought his group out to join them, and everyone finished off “Basin Street Blues.’’ A Jaffe original, “The Band’s in Town,’’ followed, featuring McCoury trading vocal lines with saxophonist Clint Maedgen and solos from Mark Braud on trumpet and McCoury’s son Ronnie on mandolin, and the table was set for an evening of mostly collaborative music.

There were brief separate sets as well. The McCoury band revisited “Rain and Snow,’’ tore through the instrumental “Rawhide,’’ and then slowed down for four-part vocal harmonizing on “Get Down on Your Knees and Pray.’’ The Preservation Hall bunch went it alone on “That’s a Plenty’’ and “Shake It and Break It,’’ with Braud explaining that the latter would feature “my mother’s favorite vocalist’’ filling in for Andrew Bird.

But the show primarily featured the two distinct dialects of indigenous American instrumental music genially feeling each other out on jazz, country, and gospel chestnuts. Some highlights: Maedgen adding his tenor to the McCoury band’s version of Ernest Tubb’s “You Don’t Have to Be a Baby to Cry,’’ Braud’s muted trumpet and vocals on “The Sugar Blues,’’ Charlie Gabriel’s clarinet and gravely vocals on “A Good Gal,’’ and Joe Lastie’s crowd-pleasing drum solo on the ostensible closer, “Just a Closer Walk With Thee.’’ And “Mullensburg Joys’’ effectively displayed its shared pedigree (Bill Monroe himself recorded the Jelly Roll Morton jazz standard as “Milenberg Joy’’) in a series of solos building to Gabriel trading licks with fiddler Jason Carter.

Maedgen sang a spirited “I’ll Fly Away’’ with Del McCoury as a first encore, then everyone trooped out one last time, the audience dancing along to a rousing “When the Saints Go Marching In.’’ American legacies, indeed.

Bill Beuttler can be reached at bill@billbeuttler.com.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE!

Review: "Louisiana Fairytale: Live at Preservation Hall" at SXSW by Magnet Magazine

SXSW Report: "Live At Preservation Hall: Louisiana Fairytale," North Mississippi Allstars

March 18, 2011

MagnetMagazine.com

 

MAGNET's Mitch Myers files his sixth round of notes from SXSW

SXSW is reigning down with full force now. The crowds are massive, and the density of party action is almost beyond reason. So, what else is there to do in Texas but celebrate New Orleans-style? Director Danny Clinch ensured a little bit of the French Quarter was delivered to Austin on Thursday with the screening of his new documentary film Live At Preservation Hall: Louisiana Fairytale. Clinch’s movie focuses on New Orleans jazz traditions, specifically the guys in the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, who have been playing music at 726 St. Peter Street in the French Quarter since the early ’60s.

Part of the New Orleans jazz tradition is to collaborate while moving forward; in this case, it meant the Preservation Hall group joined forces with Jim James and his band, My Morning Jacket. This pairing isn’t as unlikely as it first sounds, and Clinch did an expert job capturing the meeting of the two ensembles and their exciting, intimate performance down on St Peter Street. We also learn the history of the Preservation Hall and its members, gain insights into their musical lifestyle and watch the visiting members of My Morning Jacket absorb some of their enchantment.

To set the tone just before the film’s screening, Clinch wisely summoned the spirit of New Orleans down in Austin as the Preservation Hall Jazz Band suddenly appeared and circled the street in front of the Paramount Theater, playing a moving, grooving second-line parade for the waiting moviegoers and passers-by. The parade then continued inside the theater, which led to a dynamic performance of “St James Infirmary,” with a suit-clad James singing and moaning and throwing himself up against the theater seats and along the front of the stage. It’s clear that the musicians from the two groups had a great deal of respect for one another, and this movie is more of a celebration of the summit than anything else. Photographer Clinch is certainly growing as a director—he’s made concert films showcasing bands like Pearl Jam and John Mayer—and this might be his best yet...

FULL ARTICLE HERE!

Ted Leo interviews Danny Clinch about 'Louisiana Fairytale' featuring PHJB and MMJ for IFC at SXSW

PREMIERE OF "LIVE AT PRESERVATION HALL: LOUISIANA FAIRYTALE" AT SXSW featuring PHJB and My Morning Jacket

If you find yourself in Austin this Thursday, we are screening Danny Clinch's latest film ''Louisiana Fairytale'' at SXSW!

And for those who can make it, you will be treated to a pre-screening set of music by The Preservation Hall Jazz Band!

Thursday, March 17th 2:30pm 

@ Paramount  Theater
713 Congress Ave.
Austin, TX 78701

For music, film or press guests of the festival, those credentials will get you right in!  Otherwise, tickets are $10 at the door.
 

From My Morning Jacket : 

"my morning jacket is thrilled to play alongside the one and only
preservation hall jazz band in this beautiful new film from danny
clinch. the film details a magically collaborative performance between
the pres hall jazz band and mmj- late one night down in the french
quarter at the legendary preservation hall itself, along with
documentary footage and interviews about the preservation hall and its
rich new orleans heritage. please come down and check it out!" 

Tonight @ The Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis - A Tribute To Sweet Emma Barrett featuring PHJB, Tom Sancton, and Marcia Ball

Hope you're ready, Minneapolis!  It's going to be an amazing show tonight.  

Tickets are still available: CLICK HERE if you need some! 

By Rick Mason Wednesday, Mar 9 2011
New Orleans's iconic Preservation Hall Jazz Band's latest jaunt upriver promises to be extraordinary in every sense. With phenomenal Louisiana-Texas pianist Marcia Ball in tow, this unique, once-only performance at the new Guthrie will commemorate the original PHJB's 1964 concert at the old Guthrie with pianist/singer Sweet Emma Barrett, which was recorded for an album that's still in print. Ball, well-schooled in the pianistic eccentricities of the Crescent City, will re-create the rollicking style of Barrett, who was a charismatic presence on St. Peter Street even after a paralyzing stroke forced her to play one-handed. She would hunch over the keyboard like a vulture, while her music soared. This year is the 50th anniversary of Preservation Hall's founding by Allan Jaffe, and the venerable institution has thrived of late with a fresh, maverick spirit under the leadership of his son Ben. This collaboration with Ball is one example, as is PHJB's upcoming recording with bluegrass master Del McCoury. Ball, incidentally, has a new album of her own, Roadside Attractions, due imminently. This show will include previously unseen footage of the '64 event, plus trad jazz clarinetist Tommy Sancton, who will read passages from his memoir about Barrett and Preservation Hall in the '60s. Mon., March 14, 7:30 p.m., 2011

 Pop music spotlight: Preservation Hall Jazz Band, with Marcia Ball
Marcia Ball brings the 50-year-old New Orleans institution to the Guthrie
by Jon Bream
Monday: The 50-year-old New Orleans institution recorded its landmark album "Sweet Emma Barrett & Her Preservation Hall Band" in 1964 at the old Guthrie Theater. For many years, leader/tuba player Ben Jaffe, son of the the couple who opened Preservation Hall in the Crescent City in 1961, has wanted to pay tribute to that breakthrough album. The time has come. None of the original musicians is alive, but hard-driving Louisiana/Texas piano woman Marcia Ball will be on board to take Barrett's role as PHJB recreates "Sweet Emma Barrett," which was reissued in 2005 as a double CD. (7:30 p.m. Mon. $38-$40. Guthrie, 818 S. 2nd St., Mpls. 612-377-2224.)

Performance Preview: Trey McIntyre Project and PHJB bring "Ma Maison" and "The Sweeter End" to Boise - BoiseWeekly.com

TMP Celebrates Mardi Gras With "Ma Maison" and "The Sweeter End"
And New Orleans' Preservation Hall Jazz Band joins TMP live
BoiseWeekly.com - March 09, 2011
by James Ady

PHOTO BY KURT GERBER

Just days after 2011's Mardi Gras celebrations quiet down, Boise-based dance company Trey McIntyre Project and the famed New Orleans Preservation Hall Jazz Band will rev the festivities back up. The two performance powerhouses will join forces in an exuberant mix of artistry, energy and visceral spirit on Saturday, March 12, at the Morrison Center.

This collaboration has been in the subconscious making for years. New Orleans is a beloved stomping ground for TMP Artistic Director Trey McIntyre, who for years enjoyed the city's easily accessible proximity to his dance alma mater, the Houston Ballet. During his years as a regular visitor to the city, McIntyre established long-lasting friendships and an affinity for the city's saturated culture.

"New Orleans is so welcoming, and the people are very similar to Boiseans in the sense that no matter where you are, you always feel like you belong," said McIntyre.

That affection led to the creation of 2008's Ma Maison and the brand-new The Sweeter End, both of which will be on the Morrison Center stage on Saturday for a matinee and an evening performance.

The idea for the two ballets first emerged in 2008 while TMP was performing at New York's Association of Performing Arts Presenters. Friends of McIntyre's from the New Orleans Ballet suggested some kind of collaboration between his company and one of the jazz groups from the Big Easy, spurring McIntyre to search out the right music for his dancers.

After spending just one night at the world-renowned Preservation Hall and hearing PHJB live, McIntyre's decision was made.

"It's almost a religious experience to just be in that historic space and hear them perform. You can actually see the grooves in the wood floor where the musicians have stood for decades," said McIntyre, a self-proclaimed dance anthropologist.

PHJB is a veritable Southern institution, which has counted some of world's most talented jazz musicians and pioneers as members, including Louis Armstrong, Buddy Bolden, Bunk Johnson and Jelly Roll Morton. Led by creative director and PHJB tuba player Benjamin Jaffe, the musical tour de force was founded in 1961 by Jaffe's parents, Allan and Sandra, who named the band after its French Quarter home.

"The first time I met Trey, he was with some of the dancers from New Orleans Ballet, and although I don't really know exactly what I expected from meeting a choreographer, I was surprised by his gentle and calm demeanor ... he was very laid-back," said Jaffe.

After that initial meeting with McIntyre, Jaffe expressed immediate interest and commitment to an artistic merger, and the two respective directors began brainstorming. McIntyre commissioned PHJB to write the music to which he would choreograph both Ma Maison and The Sweeter End. McIntyre was even present in the studio as PHJB recorded the music that he would later take back to his home studio on Fulton Street for rehearsals.

The brightly colored Ma Maison costumes, developed by acclaimed New York-based designer Jeanne Button, are accentuated by skeleton masks, adding quirky elements of androgyny, anonymity, humor and fright. Costumes for The Sweeter End were imagined and constructed by New York-based designer Andrea Lauer with denim donated by Levi's--Lauer's designs in the familiar material are at once urban and country.

Inspired by ritual, the celebration of death and the respectfully feared afterlife, both Ma Maison and The Sweeter End are fueled by themes of life's pleasures and expressions of primal joy. Both received fantastic audience response and critical praise after the sold-out Feb. 7 performance in New Orleans in the 2,300-seat Mahalia Jackson Theater. That night was the world premiere of The Sweeter End, which ended in a standing ovation and was a jubilant and fitting close to a powerful evening.

"We have been doing Ma Maison since 2008, and the piece takes on a whole new feeling when we dance it with the musicians live," said the energetic Chanel DaSilva, who has been with TMP since it was founded in 2008.

As satisfying as the partnership has been, introducing a live seven-piece jazz band into a dance performance posed a few artistic challenges.
"It just takes some time to feel each other out, getting the tempos correct and making sure no one feels artistically compromised," said McIntyre.

TMP spent a full week in New Orleans prior to the Mahalia Jackson Theater performance, rehearsing with PHJB to iron out all the little nuances that make a good performance great. Now Boise audiences will get to experience the culmination of this incredible collaboration. Jaffe said he and the rest of the band are looking forward to being here, too.

"We have actually been to Boise and Sun Valley before, and the thing that never gets old is seeing just how majestic the natural environment is," Jaffe said. "You know, New Orleans is pretty flat, and we don't get to see the mountains unless we're traveling, so Idaho is pretty cool for us."

When asked what the future holds for TMP, McIntyre wasn't ready to divulge his plans.

"I am working on a few ideas, but nothing I'm ready to talk about," he said.

McIntyre did, however, admit to an ongoing desire to integrate the latest technologies for his multi-media enhanced shows. He enjoys remaining as flexible in his work as his dancers' rubber band-like hamstrings.

Jaffe has some personal and professional expectations of his own that he hopes to express during the show.

"[I] always want the audience to leave having had a fantastic experience," he said. "This is at the core of New Orleans music; it's emotional and allows people the chance to celebrate."

ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE!

American Legacies on A Blog Supreme / NPR Jazz

Where Bluegrass Meets New Orleans Jazz
March 7, 2011
by Paul Brown

photo by Shannon Brinkman

If you're looking for credibility in either bluegrass or jazz, you'd be hard-pressed to top either the Del McCoury Band or the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. McCoury once joined the band of Bill Monroe, generally acknowledged as bluegrass' founder; he now leads his own acclaimed band. Around the time that McCoury met Monroe, Preservation Hall was founded to "nurture and perpetuate the art form of New Orleans Jazz." Many of the PHJB's charter members played with the early 20th-century pioneers of jazz, and that line of mentorship continues into today.

The Del McCoury Band and the PHJB have recorded a new album together: American Legacies is due out April 12. Bluegrass and jazz may seem odd bedfellows at first, but it's not the first time McCoury and Preservation Hall have collaborated — and there's a lot of history where that comes from. Listening to "One More 'Fore I Die," the last track on the album, it's hard to tell where the bluegrass ends and the jazz begins. We're happy to present an exclusive premiere of the song, as a free stream or download.

 CLICK HERE FOR THE DOWNLOAD! 

So why does this hybrid of American traditions work so well? We asked NPR newscaster Paul Brown, who's also an award-winning bluegrass and old-time string music documentarian, researcher and musician. He kindly sent us this thought. —Ed.

---

This song works so well for one simple reason: Bluegrass, at its heart, is white rural jazz. It's old-time country or "hillbilly" music with a jazz structure and jazz motifs.
  This may not be obvious at the first casual listen, but folklorists and documenters have pointed it out many times. Bluegrass utilizes the jazz formula of establishing melodies, infusing them with blues motifs including blues scales with flatted notes, and –- most distinctively –- giving instruments and singers prominent breaks. Older styles of white country music don't feature breaks nearly so prominently, but jazz-inspired solos are an integral part of the bluegrass sound.

Bill Monroe, who had heard jazz as he developed his new band sound with the Blue Grass Boys, knew exactly what he was trying to achieve with traditional rural music. He pushed his musicians hard to realize a jazzy new take on the songs and tunes he'd learned as a kid. And he composed his own tunes and songs to fit his vision. (Bluegrass music wasn't even called by that name until the mid-1950s, well after Monroe had established the genre.)

If bluegrass and jazz have so much in common, what distinguishes them? One thing is the banjo style. The four-string banjo, derived from African instruments, is certainly a familiar sight and sound in early jazz bands. But an element that defines bluegrass specifically is the use of the three-finger five-string banjo style brought to a new level by Earl Scruggs.

Scruggs played with Monroe in the late 1940s before joining up with Lester Flatt to form the Foggy Mountain Boys. The renowned fiddler and banjo player John Hartford once told me that without the Scruggs-style banjo, there would be no bluegrass: The bluegrass bands would simply have been fairly nondescript country jazz bands. And if you listen to early Monroe recordings before Scruggs arrived, the Blue Grass Boys sounded much more like a country, jazz and blues band than what we would now think of as a bluegrass band. It's the banjo style combined with the jazz structure that really creates the bluegrass sound.

So bluegrass, with the 3-finger-style banjo, has its own sound, a mix of white and black musical streams coming out of the mountains and hollows of the Appalachians and the cities. But with this performance, we hear how much the two styles have in common, and we hear Del McCoury bringing bluegrass back to its jazz roots.

In "One More 'Fore I Die," we can also hear remnants of church-song harmonies and phrasing common to jazz and bluegrass. There's a good reason for this: Countless jazz and bluegrass performers started learning music while singing in churches, whether urban or rural. It often doesn't take much to bring bluegrass and jazz singing together.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE!

Trey McIntyre Project & PHJB on NOLA.com!

Check out this great article by Chris Waddington about the upcoming debut of "The Sweeter End" at The Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts this weekend!

Trey McIntyre Project meets the Preservation Hall Jazz Band in a dance extravaganza
Published: Wednesday, February 02, 2011, 5:00 AM
by Chris Waddington

What happens when a world-renowned choreographer encounters the street styles of the New Orleans second line?

Trey McIntyre answered that question with “Ma Maison,” the electrifying 2008 collaboration between his company of nine dancers and the musicians of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. That death-haunted, 30-minute piece featured dancing skeletons, dressed in Carnival colors, who jigged, shimmied, knocked their knees in a Charleston step and spun in slow motion pirouettes while the band unleashed drum rolls and wails.

 Commissioned by the New Orleans Ballet Association, “Ma Maison” got a stomping, cheering crowd out of its seats at Tulane University’s Dixon Hall and has gone on to be reprised more than 30 times nationally.  Most recently, a crowd of 7,000 packed the Hollywood Bowl to see the piece.

photo by Eliot Kamenitz

 On Friday, Feb. 4, the same creative team will premier “The Sweeter End” — and reprise “Ma Maison” — in an evening-length New Orleans extravaganza that includes live music by the Preservation Hall players. The new dance is another NOBA commission.

“Working on ‘Ma Maison’ was an education for me,” McIntyre said. “I came to see how New Orleanians embrace an awareness of death in the course of celebrating daily life. The city is a richer place because of those contradictions — and very inspiring to me...”

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE!
TICKETS FOR THE PERFORMANCE HERE!

Tom Waits with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band on 78 - On Sale This FRIDAY at Preservation Hall!

 

For Sale This Friday at Preservation Hall,

726 St. Peter Street / NOLA 70116

from 10:00am - 5:00pm Central Standard Time

On Friday, this special recording, 

benefiting The Preservation Hall Junior Jazz and Heritage Brass Band, 

will be available for in-person purchase only.  

 

Please visit www.preservationhall.com/tomwaits78 for online sales

beginning at 12:01am CST on Saturday, October 20th.

At no time will we be accepting orders by phone!

This very special 78RPM recording will be available at two donation tiers:
$50 for the recording on its own,
~OR~
$200 for the recording packaged with a limited edition record player
celebrating Preservation Hall's 50th anniversary.
(turntable plays 78, 45, and 33 and features USB out)

 PLEASE NOTE:

While the 78s are signed and numbered by Ben Jaffe, we will not honor requests for specific numbers.  The numbered 78 you receive will be by luck of the draw, only.

Here it Comes: Preservation Hall to release LIMITED EDITION (504) 78RPM Format of Tom Waits / PHJB Collaboration!

On November 19th, 2010, Preservation Hall Recordings will release 504 LIMITED EDITION, hand numbered, 78rpm format vinyl records featuring two tracks by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band with very special guest Tom Waits. The proceeds from the sales of this very special project will benefit the Preservation Hall Junior Jazz & Heritage Brass Band, the cornerstone of the Preservation Hall music outreach program in partnership with The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation.

“In New Orleans, our musical traditions, are passed down from one generation to the next. I was very fortunate to grow up at the feet of so many masterful musicians.  It’s one of Preservation Hall’s missions to ensure the future of our musical heritage. Our music outreach program guarantees our musical legacy will live on through another generation.” says Creative Director of Preservation Hall and son of the Hall’s founders, Ben Jaffe.

Mr. Waits traveled to New Orleans to record two songs with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band for the critically-acclaimed project PRESERVATION: An Album To Benefit Preservation Hall and the Preservation Hall Music Outreach Program, “Tootie Ma Was A Big Fine Thing”  and “Corrine Died On The Battlefield”. Originally recorded by Danny Barker in 1947, these two selections are the earliest known recorded examples of Mardi Gras Indian chants.

Inspired by the original recordings, the two recently recorded tracks are being released in a beautifully designed, limited-edition 78 rpm format vinyl record, each signed and numbered by Preservation Hall Creative Director Ben Jaffe. The first one hundred records will be accompanied by a custom designed Preservation Hall 78rpm record player(also plays 33 1/3 & 45 rpm records, see specs beow) as part of a Deluxe Donation package. The remaining four hundred and four will be available as a standalone record for the Basic Donation package.

Both packages will be available for IN-PERSON PURCHASE at Preservation Hall in New Orleans on November 19, 2010 at 10:00am Central and for purchase online at http://www.preservationhall.com on November 20, 2010.  Packages will be limited to one per person.

-Deluxe Donation Tier: $200 – INCLUDES: Limited Edition 78rpm record
AND the limited edition, custom-made Preservation Hall 78 record player(#1-100)

-Basic Donation Tier: $50 – INCLUDES: Limited Edition 78rpm record only (#101-504)

-----------

Record Player Specifications:
USB Enabled For Connection to Windows Equipped PC and Mac
Software Suite For Ripping And Editing Audio Content
Belt Driven Turntable Mechanism
Plays 3 Speeds - 33 1/3, 45 And 78 RPM Records
Plays 7", 10" & 12" Records
Fully Automatic Return Tone Arm
Diamond Stylus Needle
Auxiliary Input
Adjustable Tone Control
Dynamic Full Range Stereo Speakers
Vinyl-Wrapped
Chrome Snap Closure
Corner Guards
Metal And Resin Handle

Great Video: Cory Chisel w/ Preservation Hall Jazz Band @ Newport Folk Festival!

Check out this great backstage footage of PHJB's rehearsal and subsequent performance of "Some Cold Rainy Day" with Cory Chisel at this year's Newport Folk Festival!

"Historic Preservation at the Dakota" (performance review, Minneapolis Star-Tribune)

Historic Preservation at the Dakota
for The Minneapolis Star-Tribune
by Chris Riemenschneider

It’s always a tad disappointing seeing Dixieland kings the Preservation Hall Jazz Band perform anywhere besides their namesake French Quarter venue/hole-in-the-wall, but last night’s third of four gigs at the Dakota still felt closer to the real thing than their usual Orchestra Hall appearances. This week’s shows were (somewhat amazingly) the PHJB’s first stint at the Dakota. As the Dakota’s Lowell Pickett noted in his introduction, “They don’t usually play venues this small … except in their hometown.”

The intimacy certainly added a level of magic to some of the slower, softer numbers, including a bluesy rendition of “My Sweet Substitute” led by clarinetist Charlie Gabriel and a heart-string-pulling instrumental version of “A Closer Walk to Thee.” Other highlights included a slightly Latin-jazzed take on “St. Louis Blues” by trombone player Freddy Lonzo and, best of all, a spirited tear through “Tootie Ma Is a Big Fine Thing,” which Tom Waits sings on the new all-star PHJB charity CD, “Preservation.”

Bassist/sousaphonist Ben Jaffe, whose parents founded the hall/band in 1961, noted the group’s historical ties to Minneapolis during Tuesday's early set: It was the first place they performed outside of Louisiana, and they recorded their first CD, “Sweet Emma,” at the original Guthrie Theater in 1964. Jaffe also told a sweet story about being a kid and taking a call from legendary New Orleans trumpeter Al Hirt – whose name he thought was pronounced “Hoyt” – in honor of Hirt’s widow Beverly, a local resident watching from one of the booths. New Orleans and Minneapolis seem to grow closer every year.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE

New "Ain't My Fault" video on Yahoo! Music

Today on Yahoo! Music, check out the premiere of the NEW EDIT of the music video for "It Ain't My Fault," the benefit track by the Gulf Aid Allstars featuring Mos Def, Lenny Kravitz, Trombone Shorty, and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. This new edit by Richard Gonzalez and Dean Gonzalez combines shocking never-before-seen images from the ongoing Gulf Oil Spill Crisis with the footage from the live recording session at Preservation Hall in New Orleans.



Don't forget, “Ain’t my Fault” is still available for download via iTunes as a single (99 cents) or video ($1.99). All proceeds are being distributed by the Gulf Relief Foundation (GulfAid.org) to support organizations focused on wetlands/coastal environmental issues and the regional seafood industry. Please CLICK HERE to visit iTunes and support this important cause!

PRESERVATION is #1 in PASTE Magazine!

Best Music of 2010 (so far):
Josh Jackson, Editor-in-Chief
Paste Magazine

To celebrate the half-way point of 2010, this week Paste staffers are counting down their favorite albums of the year (so far). Check out all of our lists here, and share your own favorites in the comments.

As editor of an entertainment magazine that spends as much time on music as Paste, I often get asked what I’m listening to. Lately, I’ve been pointing a lot of people to Frightened Rabbit and Mumford & Sons. But that just scratches the surface of stuff that has me excited this year. Here are 10 that don’t even include great releases from LCD Soundsystem, Phosphorescent, Josh Ritter and plenty of others I’m sure I’m forgetting. Listen to a track from each in the playlist below.

10. Beach House – Teen Dream
I didn’t know I needed a new dreamy pop album on my iPod until I heard this.

9. Free Energy – Stuck on Nothing
The aptly named boys from Philly are the best bar band since The Hold Steady.

8. Janelle Monáe – The Archandroid
She’s amazing live, and now she’s got a full album to tide me over between shows.

7. Sleigh Bells – Treats
This album absolutely sounds like the future of music.

6. The National – High Violet
Apparently I’m release-date challenged. I originally thought The XX was 2010 and The National wasn’t out yet. Mea culpa. I’m fixing my list.

5. Band of Horses – Infinite Arms
This album has the office divided, but I fall squarely in the camp that loves its ’70s So-Cal vibe.

4. Frightened Rabbit – The Winter of Mixed Drinks
I can’t get enough of either of this Scottish band’s first two albums—or the live album that came out in between.

3. Mumford & Sons – Sigh No More
We may have matched them on the soccer pitch in South Africa this year, but England has out-Americana’d America this year.

2. Jonsi – Go
The Sigur Rós frontman sounds like he’s having more fun than ever.

1. Preservation Hall Jazz Band – An Album to Benefit Preservation Hall
Guests Tom Waits, Yim Yames, Steve Earle, Buddy Miller and Ani Difranco sound even better with some legendary New Orleans brass.

-Thanks, Josh!

'It Ain't My Fault' - Now Available on iTunes!

On May 12th, Mos Def and Ben Jaffe got together to write a song for Gulf Aid, a benefit for those affected by the oil spill.

In an all-night jam session less than 12 hours later, they recorded the song with Lenny Kravitz, Trombone Shorty, Tim Robbins and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band...

..and now YOU can own your own copy of this amazing track, just by donating 99 cents to help the effort in the Gulf! CLICK HERE to travel to iTunes where this all-star relief track is now available for download!
Like the video? You can own your own copy for $1.99!
iTunes!

"Mama ya don’t say, uh

Oil and water don’t mix

Petrolio don’t go good with no fish

Aw, it ain’t my fault

BP, big pimpin, big problem, bad presence

Billionaire pirate, boiling point, burst pressure

Aw, it ain’t my fault

Say man, who pushed the marshes back ?

Where’s the hurricane shelter and the garden at?

Aw, it ain’t my fault

Said, from the gulf of Mexico to the broke levee wall

Something gone wrong and it’s somebody’s fault

Aw, it ain’t my fault

Scripture says, it say they go to rock to hide they face

And the rock cried out no hiding place

Say, they go to rock to hide they face

And the rock cried out no hiding place

Say, they go to rock to hide they face

And the rock cried out no hiding place

Oh lord, oh lord, it ain’t my fault

OW!

Lord have mercy!

Aw, it ain’t my fault

This is part of my gospel song,

Say they go to rock to hide they face

And the rock cried out no hiding place

Say they go to rock to hide they face

And the rock cried out no hiding place

Say they go to rock to hide they face

And the rock cried out no hiding place

Oh lord, oh lord, it ain’t my fault

OW!

Aw, it ain’t my fault

This is part of my gospel song,

Aw, it ain’t my fault

It ain’t my fault

It ain’t my fault"