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!
Showing posts with label american legacies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label american legacies. Show all posts
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Preservation Hall Jazz Band Heats Up
-By Eric Hansen of Deseret News
Life can be measured by the things on your
"bucket list" and the things you never knew were on there in the first
place. They include those truly memorable nights in your life that when
someone asks about them, or when something reminds you, you can't help
but pause for a moment and smile.
One of those nights happened
for me in New Orleans a year ago with my sisters. After a great meal on a
balmy night, we sat down and heard some live jazz. It was real, New
Orleans jazz — in the heart of the French Quarter.
The music, beats and
improvisation were so infectious that the slapping of my hands on the
tops of my thighs would later turn to bruises. I slapped with such gusto
that I couldn't help myself.
I tried to be more careful Sunday night at Red Butte Garden as the Preservation Hall Jazz Band took the stage, but it was hard.
The large band, clad in attire
that could pass for costumes from the movie "Men In Black," delicately
wailed — if that's possible — from one classic to the next.
Kicking it off with "They Come
to Play" and "On the Bayou," the band, featuring guitar, mandolin,
banjo, fiddle, clarinet, piano and plenty of brass, talked little and
played a lot and seemed to have a fantastic time doing so.
In a joint effort, much like
the CD released in 2011, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band played with the
Del McCoury band, creating a night of vintage New Orleans jazz, with a
little bit of classic bluegrass sprinkled in...
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
TUBA TUESDAY GIVEAWAY! Free Track: Milenberg Joys
The Pres Hall family is introducing a new giveaway series titled, TUBA TUESDAY GIVEAWAY! We will be giving away Rare and Unique Hall Memorabilia every Tuesday. The giveaways include:
-A monthly FREE DOWNLOAD
-As well as contests through Pres Hall's MAILING LIST
-Win vintage photos, posters, apparel, music and MUCH MORE!
If you haven't already, START FOLLOWING US! Keep your eyes open on Tuesday. You could very well be a winner!
TUBA TUESDAY GIVEAWAY: FREE TRACK!
MILENBERG JOYS from American Legacies
Today's free track is entitled, Milenberg Joys, featuring the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Ronnie McCoury (Mandolin) from The Del McCoury Band. The instrumental recording is from the 2011 release, AMERICAN LEGACIES: The Preservation Hall Jazz Band and The Del McCoury Band
AMERICAN LEGACIES is AVAILABLE on iTUNES ($9.99)
or
PURCHASE from Preservation Hall's Online Store
Featured Musicians on Milenberg Joys:
Ronnie McCoury-Mandolin
Mark Braud-Trumpet
Charlie Gabriel-Clarinet
Clint Maedgen-Saxophone
Freddie Lonzo-Trombone
Carl Leblanc-Banjo
Rickie Monie-Piano
Joe Lastie Jr.-Drums
Ben Jaffe-Tuba
American Legacies track listing:
1. The Band’s In Town
2. One Has My Name
3. Shoeshine Blues
4. Banjo Frisco
5. A Good Gal
6. Jambalaya
7. I’ll Fly Away
8. You Don’t Have To Be A Baby To Cry
9. The Sugar Blues
10. Milenberg Joys
11. 50/50 Chance
12. One More Fore I Die
2. One Has My Name
3. Shoeshine Blues
4. Banjo Frisco
5. A Good Gal
6. Jambalaya
7. I’ll Fly Away
8. You Don’t Have To Be A Baby To Cry
9. The Sugar Blues
10. Milenberg Joys
11. 50/50 Chance
12. One More Fore I Die
About AMERICAN LEGACIES
Read more about AMERICAN LEGACIES HERE
PURCHASE AMERICAN LEGACIES DIGITALLY @ iTUNES
or
@ PRESERVATION HALL'S ONLINE STORE
Monday, February 13, 2012
Huffington Post Grammy Preview: The Best Albums of 2011 From Top to Bottom
Michael Giltz
I've traveled to the future and can reassure you that Adele will have a fun night at the Grammys on Sunday. Her album is one of those inevitable triumphs at an awards show that feels right. Adele has dominated the charts and the radio and critics; if she'd been able to tour, we'd probably be saying how much better her songs sound in concert than they do on the album and realize she has room to grow. Her smash hit 21 is in every sense the album of the year.So I was surprised in my recent trip down South to realize how few people actually own it. Five million copies is nothing to sneeze at in the North American market, but a lot more people should snap it up. If and when they do, here are some other albums you might want to consider purchasing as well. These days, you can check them out first on Spotify or MySpace so you won't have to take my word for it before spending your precious entertainment dollars. I have an embarrassing lack of classical music this year (I just wasn't exposed to much), but there's something for almost everyone -- pop, rock, country, jazz, gospel, world music, film scores, ambient, folk and more. If you've liked the artist before or enjoy the genre, I'll bet it's worth your time.
Now make sure you read the list and immediately chide me for not including so and so (Wilco! Jayhawks! Tuneyards!) or for foolishly including so and so (Panic! at the Disco? Really?) or for having one act too high (Glen Campbell in the Top 10?) or too low (Frank Ocean at the bottom?). Hey, it wouldn't be fun if we didn't argue. I'm especially looking forward to getting tips about any albums I haven't heard yet. Chances are if an act is on a lot of year-end lists that I probably already gave it a listen. But little known favorites of yours are very welcome comments indeed. That's certainly all I hope to achieve with my picks: point you in the direction of an album or two I think you'll love. And now, the list! Come back over the weekend and I promise to add in some comments explaining my choices.
BEST ALBUMS OF 2011
1. FLEET FOXES Helplessness Blues (CSN rocks out)
2. TOM WAITS Bad As Me (bohemian troubadour in top form)
3. KING CREOSOTE & JON HOPKINS Diamond Mine (quirky concept album, gorgeously done)
4. GILLIAN WELCH The Harrow and the Harvest (simple, straightforward, striking folk)
5. TEDDY THOMPSON Bella / kd lang Sing It Loud /RON SEXSMITH -- Long Player, Late Bloomer (pure pop by pure pros)
6. WYNTON MARSALIS AND ERIC CLAPTON Play the Blues / BRANFORD MARSALIS AND JOEY CALDARAZZO Songs of Mirth and Melancholy (trad jazz)
7. GLEN CAMPBELL Ghost on the Canvas (haunting country pop)
8. BOMBINO Agadez (Tuareg rocks!) / BOUBACAR TRAORE Mali Denhou (gentle African guitar) / LADYSMITH BLACK MAMBAZO Songs From a Zulu Farm (ecstatic and playful children's music)
9. VARIOUS ARTISTS This May Be My Last Time Singing: Raw African American Gospel on 45 RPM (1957-1982) (lo-fi, high flying gospel that's so good you'll convert)
10. ADELE 21 (unstoppable soul diva)
11. GROUPLOVE Never Trust a Happy Song (raucous LA pop-rock)
12. PANIC! AT THE DISCO Vices & Virtues (sterling but overlooked pop-rock)
13. NICK LOWE The Old Magic (vintage wine, vintage bottle)
14. WILD FLAG Wild Flag (giving super groups a good name)
15. BRAD MEHLDAU Modern Music (dependably adventurous jazz trio)/COLIN VALLON -- Rruger (bold EU trio following in Mehldau's wake)
16. JAY-Z AND KANYE WEST Watch the Throne (braggadocio taken to new heights)
17. BON IVER Bon Iver (stares down success with quiet confidence)
18. BALLAKE SISSOKO AND VINCENT SEGAL Chamber Music (delicate instrumentals)
19. PAUL SIMON So Beautiful or So What (mortality, musically)
20. BETH HART & JOE BONAMASSA Don't Explain (the blues, thumpingly good)
***
21. PRESERVATION HALL JAZZ BAND AND DEL MCCOURY BANDAmerican Legacies (an institution finds new life via collaboration)
22. AMBROSE AKINMUSIRE When the Heart Emerges Glistening (quietly probing jazz)
23. JAMES BLAKE James Blake (trippy pop)
24. VARIOUS ARTISTS Live From the Old Town School (folk's beating heart)
25. GIRLS Father, Son, Holy Ghost (interesting identity crisis)
26. TINARIWEN Tassili (bluesy, distinctive, campfire sing-alongs)
27. JOY FORMIDABLE The Big Roar (noisy pop)
28. DARI0 MARINELLI WITH JACK LIEBECK Jane Eyre soundtrack (the year's best traditional score)/ MATTHEW COOPER Some Days Are Better Than Others (the year's best untraditional score)
29. THE CORAL Butterfly House/THE MAGIC NUMBERS Runaway (pop, unimported, unrecognized)
30. PISTOL ANNIES Pistol Annies / MIRANDA LAMBERT Four The Record (country's top gal and friends)
***
31. THE LOW ANTHEM Smart Flesh (brainy Americana)
32. CHARLIE HADEN AND QUARTET WEST Sophisticated Ladies (female singers, jazz swingers)
33. THE BLACK KEYS El Camino (rock, no fuss)
34. M83 Hurry Up, We're Dreaming (ambient pop)
35. ALISON KRAUSS AND UNION STATION Paper Airplanes/ JOHN HIATTDirty Jeans and Mudslide Hymns (old dogs, old tricks, happily so)
36. BEASTIE BOYS Hot Sauce Committee, Part Two (feisty hip-hop from the old-timers)
37. BEN HOWARD Every Kingdom (gentle pop)/MIKE BLOOM King Of Circles (WARM singer-songwriter vibe for this solo debut)
38. VINICIUS CANTUARIA AND BILL FRISELL Lagrimas Mexicanas (two great guitars, one great voice equal haunting Latin music)/
39. THE GOURDS Old Mad Joy (rootsy celebration) / MARC BROUSSARD Marc Broussard (bluesy rock)
40. SUZANNE VEGA Close-Up Volume 3: State Of Being (acoustic songs, electric songwriting)
READ ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
PHJB and Del McCoury Band's "I'll Fly Away" chosen as #5 top song of 2011 in Pop Matters
“I’ll Fly Away”
Sarah Zupko, December 5th 2011
“I’ll Fly Away” is a tune with a long history in American music; it’s a standard for New Orleans brass bands playing at jazz funerals, it’s heavily favored by gospel musicians, and has been a standard part of the bluegrass repertoire for decades. In other words, it’s thoroughly soaked in Americana, that catch-all genre that pulls from traditional American roots music forms. So, it was a perfect song for the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and the Del McCoury Band to make as the centerpiece of their stellar 2011 album, American Legacies. Despite all the superb versions of this song over the years, Pres Hall and the McCoury Boys virtually stamp this classic as their very own, offering up the definitive version to stand for the ages. Soaring trumpet, swirling clarinet, soulful lead vocals, airtight bluegrass harmonies, rhythmic banjo… this is Americana at its very finest. 
Sarah Zupko
CLICK HERE FOR FULL ARTICLE
Sarah ZupkoTuesday, September 13, 2011
PHJB & Del McCoury Band performance on Austin City Limits TV show to air on PBS!
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| photo by Sean Murphy http://murphotos.smugmug.com/ |
As you may remember, PHJB & Del McCoury Band(and a guest appearance by Jim James) taped for the Austin City Limits TV show a few months back. Well the time has come. Although the suggested air date is Oct. 29, make sure to check your local PBS station to find out when the show runs in your town by CLICKING HERE
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Interview with Ben Jaffe and Del McCoury on "Hidden Track" music blog
Here's an interview from with Ben and Del from the Hidden Track music blog:
HT Interview: Del McCoury and Ben Jaffe, Ambassadors of American Music
When The Del McCoury Band teamed up with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band to record the album American Legacies, the merging of the two bands represented more then just a simple musical collaboration. The union brought together two groups who serve as the ambassadors of their respective genres, stewards of American music heritage. Over the years, beyond being of the foremost musicians in their fields, both The Del McCoury Band and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band under the direction of Ben Jaffe have taken on roles tasked with spreading the legacies of bluegrass and New Orleans Jazz music.
Del McCoury has not only spread bluegrass to the younger generation (quite literally) through teaching and playing with his own sons, but he has participated in countless collaborations throughout the festival circuit and embraced the various derivations of traditional bluegrass such as newgrass and the jambands. Similarly, Ben Jaffe and Preservation Hall have reached new audiences by incorporating New Orleans Jazz into collaborations with My Morning Jacket, Ani Difranco and Tom Waits, among others.
HT Interview: Del McCoury and Ben Jaffe, Ambassadors of American Music
by Ryan Dembinsky
When The Del McCoury Band teamed up with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band to record the album American Legacies, the merging of the two bands represented more then just a simple musical collaboration. The union brought together two groups who serve as the ambassadors of their respective genres, stewards of American music heritage. Over the years, beyond being of the foremost musicians in their fields, both The Del McCoury Band and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band under the direction of Ben Jaffe have taken on roles tasked with spreading the legacies of bluegrass and New Orleans Jazz music.
Del McCoury has not only spread bluegrass to the younger generation (quite literally) through teaching and playing with his own sons, but he has participated in countless collaborations throughout the festival circuit and embraced the various derivations of traditional bluegrass such as newgrass and the jambands. Similarly, Ben Jaffe and Preservation Hall have reached new audiences by incorporating New Orleans Jazz into collaborations with My Morning Jacket, Ani Difranco and Tom Waits, among others.
In what was undeniably one of the greatest honors I’ve ever had as a writer, I sat down with both Del McCoury and Ben Jaffe at the Ameritania Hotel just around the corner from the Ed Sullivan Theater right before the bands took the stage to tape their performance for the David Letterman show later that night. In speaking with Del and Ben, it takes all of about five seconds to see why everybody wants to play music with them. They radiate charisma and come across instantly as truly genuine people who are happy to be doing what they do. What follows is an intimate conversation that touches on the cross-fertilization of the two genres of music, the surprising similarities between New Orleans Jazz and bluegrass, the importance of family, and honoring one’s heritage.
Hidden Track: I was going to ask this to both you, but before Ben gets here, Del, when you were first starting out in music and learning your chops what led you to your style, to bluegrass, and to your instrument?
Del McCoury: I learned to play the guitar when I was about nine. My brother taught me to play. When I was about 11, he bought a record of Earl Scruggs and when I heard him play that three finger style banjo, it turned a light on. I thought, “That is what I want to do!” I learned it, and I played it until I went to work for Bill Monroe.
He needed a guitar player and a lead singer, which I thought, “I don’t know if I can do this?” I had played with him here in New York City, my first time in this town. Later, I went down to Nashville, because he offered me a job, and when I got there he still didn’t have a lead singer and guitar player. All along I think he was thinking that of me, because a lot of his musicians through the years could play different instruments and sing.
Anyway, he put me on that path instead of the path I wanted to go on, which was playing banjo and singing harmony. I could sing all the harmony parts. I was kind of a natural tenor singer and I sang baritone in a lot of bands, but when he got me to play guitar, it was a pretty big challenge, because I had to learn to play all the songs he had recorded and wanted to play at the shows. He told me, “You know, if you can make the grade doing this, you’ll like it better.” I remember thinking, “I believe he’s wrong there,” but he was right. So that’s what got me here on this path. It was actually Bill Monroe.
READ THE REST OF THE INTERVIEW HERE
Monday, August 1, 2011
PHJB & Del McCoury Band to perform at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass!
Just Announced! Preservation Hall Jazz Band & The Del McCoury Band will be joining the lineup for this year's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. Other acts announced include Dr. John, Gillian Welch, Chris Isaak, Earl Scruggs, Robert Plant & Band of Joy, Old Crow Medicine Show, and dozens more. The festival dates are Sept. 30-Oct 2 and the best part about it - It's Free!
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Preservation Hall Jazz Band & Del McCoury Band at Soundcheck in The Greene Space
Here is the video of our performance with the Del McCoury Band from Soundcheck in The Green Space (NewYork, NY) on July 20th. This video also features informative Q & A with Ben Jaffe and Del McCoury for an added glimpse into this magical musical collaboration. The performance features the classic song "Jambalaya", and a Ben Jaffe composition, "The Band is in Town."
Full version here...
Enjoy!
Full version here...
Enjoy!
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
NY Times Review, "Bluegrass and Jazz Bands, With More in Common Than You’d Think", by Ben Ratliff
Here's another great review from our show at City Winery in New York, with the Del McCoury Band...enjoy!
Del McCoury’s bluegrass group and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band did the proper adult thing on Wednesday night: they resolved their differences, surrounded by expensive claret.
On “American Legacies” (McCoury Music), their recent joint album, they’ve explicitly made their traditions melt together. This is an old story. Louis Armstrong did it with Jimmie Rodgers; Wynton Marsalis did it with Willie Nelson. The pairing is not a stretch, though it can seem to be. For the first half of the 20th century bands from putatively different traditions implicitly understood their common origins and points of crossover. And their repertories overlapped. Type in the song title “Corrine, Corrina” on YouTube and you’ll get Red Nichols’s jazz version, Bo Carter’s string-band blues version, and various shades of country into rock ’n’ roll from the Collins Kids, Ray Peterson, Brooks & Dunn, Big Joe Turner, and Jerry Lee Lewis.
Or you could do the same with “Milenberg Joys,” which the combined bands played near the end of their set at City Winery on Wednesday. It’s a song that Mr. McCoury — raised in the Black Mountain region of North Carolina — knew because he used to play it in Bill Monroe’s band, and the jazz group knew because Jelly Roll Morton wrote it. (The dynastic Preservation Hall band, from New Orleans, was founded in 1961 by Allan and Sandra Jaffe, parents of its current tuba player and director, Ben Jaffe; it has no original members, but the current lineup is full of familial and professional ties to the group’s past.) In that song, and in a few other places, the musicians did right by the audience: they made music subtly pan across the stage, from one band to another, so you could hear the difference in rhythmic temperament, whether in grooves or in solos.
Read full article here
Del McCoury’s bluegrass group and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band did the proper adult thing on Wednesday night: they resolved their differences, surrounded by expensive claret.
On “American Legacies” (McCoury Music), their recent joint album, they’ve explicitly made their traditions melt together. This is an old story. Louis Armstrong did it with Jimmie Rodgers; Wynton Marsalis did it with Willie Nelson. The pairing is not a stretch, though it can seem to be. For the first half of the 20th century bands from putatively different traditions implicitly understood their common origins and points of crossover. And their repertories overlapped. Type in the song title “Corrine, Corrina” on YouTube and you’ll get Red Nichols’s jazz version, Bo Carter’s string-band blues version, and various shades of country into rock ’n’ roll from the Collins Kids, Ray Peterson, Brooks & Dunn, Big Joe Turner, and Jerry Lee Lewis.
Or you could do the same with “Milenberg Joys,” which the combined bands played near the end of their set at City Winery on Wednesday. It’s a song that Mr. McCoury — raised in the Black Mountain region of North Carolina — knew because he used to play it in Bill Monroe’s band, and the jazz group knew because Jelly Roll Morton wrote it. (The dynastic Preservation Hall band, from New Orleans, was founded in 1961 by Allan and Sandra Jaffe, parents of its current tuba player and director, Ben Jaffe; it has no original members, but the current lineup is full of familial and professional ties to the group’s past.) In that song, and in a few other places, the musicians did right by the audience: they made music subtly pan across the stage, from one band to another, so you could hear the difference in rhythmic temperament, whether in grooves or in solos.
Read full article here
Examiner review of The Del McCoury Band & The Preservation Hall Jazz Band at City Winery, by Jim Bessman
Check out this great review by Jim Bessman of the Examiner, from our City Winery show in New York with the Del McCoury band!
On paper it still sounds preposterous but in practice, The Del McCoury Band's partnership with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band (PHJB) must have been made in paradise--or at least New Orleans' French Quarter.
Then again, both traditional jazz and bluegrass depend plenty on solo and group instrumental mastery and improvisation, and the musicians in the two bands--12 in all--are tops on all counts. At City Winery last Wednesday night, the Grand Ole Opry's McCoury Band and the house band of New Orleans music's Opry counterpart played together, opposite each other, and in various combinations--surprisingly seamlessly.
On paper it still sounds preposterous but in practice, The Del McCoury Band's partnership with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band (PHJB) must have been made in paradise--or at least New Orleans' French Quarter.
Then again, both traditional jazz and bluegrass depend plenty on solo and group instrumental mastery and improvisation, and the musicians in the two bands--12 in all--are tops on all counts. At City Winery last Wednesday night, the Grand Ole Opry's McCoury Band and the house band of New Orleans music's Opry counterpart played together, opposite each other, and in various combinations--surprisingly seamlessly.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
More behind the scenes photos from Letterman taping
PHJB and DMB just finished taping at Letterman. Here's more behind-the-scenes for ya. Tune in TONIGHT!
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| Clint Maedgen |
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| Ronnie, Jean, and Del McCoury and Ben Jaffe |
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| Maedgen and Jaffe |
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| Jaffe! |
Rickie Shaffer?
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| PHJB's Rickie Monie gearing up for Letterman TONIGHT photo by Ronnie McCoury |
TUNE IN TONIGHT AS PRESERVATION HALL JAZZ BAND & DEL MCCOURY BAND PERFORM ON THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN!
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Preservation Hall & Del McCoury Band to appear on Letterman on July 19!
If you haven't heard yet, The Preservation Hall Jazz Band & The Del McCoury Band will be appearing on The Late Show with David Letterman ON JULY 19TH! There was initially some misinformation going out that it was in July 20 but you can ignore that. SO TUNE IN ON JULY 19!
Read the article by Keith Spera(but ignore the date):
Preservation Hall Jazz Band to appear on Letterman show
The Preservation Hall Jazz Band and bluegrass bandleader Del McCoury are scheduled to appear together on “Late Night with David Letterman” on July 19 July 20. The bands will also perform that night at New York’s City Winery.
The relationship between McCoury’s band and Preservation Hall has proved to be a fruitful one. It grew out of Preservation Hall creative director and tuba player Ben Jaffe’s desire to expand the band’s reach and explore common ground with other forms of roots music. Earlier this year, Preservation Hall released a joint album with McCoury called “American Legacies.”
On Mardi Gras, McCoury even paraded through the streets of the French Quarter with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.
Other recent outings by Preservation Hall have found the band performing at the Grand Ole Opry – rarely, if ever, has a tuba ever appeared on the most hallowed stage of country music – and throughout the massive Bonnaroo Music Festival in June in Tennessee. One of those Bonnaroo gigs involved sitting in with My Morning Jacket, the much-acclaimed rock band with whom Pres Hall has previously toured and collaborated with at the Voodoo Experience and Jazz Fest.
The relationship between Jaffe and company and My Morning Jacket is the subject of “Louisiana Fairytale,” a new documentary by photographer Danny Clinch. “Louisiana Fairytale” will be screened at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art on July 23 and during the New Orleans Film Festival in October.
Read the article by Keith Spera(but ignore the date):
Preservation Hall Jazz Band to appear on Letterman show
Published: Thursday, July 07, 2011, 3:42 PM Updated: Thursday, July 07, 2011, 3:49 PM
By
The relationship between McCoury’s band and Preservation Hall has proved to be a fruitful one. It grew out of Preservation Hall creative director and tuba player Ben Jaffe’s desire to expand the band’s reach and explore common ground with other forms of roots music. Earlier this year, Preservation Hall released a joint album with McCoury called “American Legacies.”
On Mardi Gras, McCoury even paraded through the streets of the French Quarter with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.
Other recent outings by Preservation Hall have found the band performing at the Grand Ole Opry – rarely, if ever, has a tuba ever appeared on the most hallowed stage of country music – and throughout the massive Bonnaroo Music Festival in June in Tennessee. One of those Bonnaroo gigs involved sitting in with My Morning Jacket, the much-acclaimed rock band with whom Pres Hall has previously toured and collaborated with at the Voodoo Experience and Jazz Fest.
The relationship between Jaffe and company and My Morning Jacket is the subject of “Louisiana Fairytale,” a new documentary by photographer Danny Clinch. “Louisiana Fairytale” will be screened at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art on July 23 and during the New Orleans Film Festival in October.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
More "American Legacies" reviews in Paste, East Bay Express, and Audiophile Audition
Here's some more great reviews on the new "American Legacies" Album:
Del McCoury and Preservation Hall Jazz Band:
American Legacies
[McCoury Music and Preservation Hall Recordings]
Album Review by Andy Whitman
When the saints go marching in the holler
The intersection of bluegrass and jazz isn’t exactly a bustling one, but the successful fusions of the past – Bela Fleck’s genre-defying albums, David Grisman’s Dawg music – have placed a heavy emphasis on improvisational interplay and breakneck solos. So the meeting of Dixieland revivalists The Preservation Hall Jazz Band and bluegrass traditionalists The Del McCoury Band is more than a little perplexing and intriguing. Both have had their forays into adventurous musical waters, but both are primarily known for their excellence in strict, formal, and relatively hidebound genres. Foggy mountain breakdown on Basin Street, anyone? Just how does that work again?
As American Legacies amply illustrates, the answer is that it works just fine. McCoury, who started his five-decade career playing with the original bluegrass iconoclast Bill Monroe, has shown an increasing elasticity and flexibility of late, touring with Phish and recording with Steve Earle, and here he seamlessly blends his bluegrass band with the brass and rhythm section of PHJB...
Full Article Here
Preservation Hall Jazz Band & Del McCoury Band – American Legacies – McCoury Music and Preservation Hall Recordings
On American Legacies, bluegrass and jazz come together with stellar results.
Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Del McCoury Band
The thin line between jazz and country music has too seldom been crossed over the years, notable exceptions being Louis Armstrong's 1930 trumpet contribution to Jimmie Rodgers' "Blue Yodel #9"; the hot soloists and swinging rhythm sections in Bob Willis' and Spade Cooley's bands; Merle Haggard's 1973 LP I Love Dixie Blues; and Wynton Marsalis' recent hookups with Willie Nelson. For the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, today's most prominent purveyor of traditional New Orleans jazz, to team up with the Del McCoury Band, one of the most popular bluegrass groups on the planet, may seem odd, but both genres have firm grounding in blues and place high value on improvised instrumental virtuosity. They go together like gin and vermouth, and the combined ensembles shake it up with aplomb...
American Legacies
[McCoury Music and Preservation Hall Recordings]
Album Review by Andy Whitman
When the saints go marching in the holler
The intersection of bluegrass and jazz isn’t exactly a bustling one, but the successful fusions of the past – Bela Fleck’s genre-defying albums, David Grisman’s Dawg music – have placed a heavy emphasis on improvisational interplay and breakneck solos. So the meeting of Dixieland revivalists The Preservation Hall Jazz Band and bluegrass traditionalists The Del McCoury Band is more than a little perplexing and intriguing. Both have had their forays into adventurous musical waters, but both are primarily known for their excellence in strict, formal, and relatively hidebound genres. Foggy mountain breakdown on Basin Street, anyone? Just how does that work again?
As American Legacies amply illustrates, the answer is that it works just fine. McCoury, who started his five-decade career playing with the original bluegrass iconoclast Bill Monroe, has shown an increasing elasticity and flexibility of late, touring with Phish and recording with Steve Earle, and here he seamlessly blends his bluegrass band with the brass and rhythm section of PHJB...
Full Article Here
Preservation Hall Jazz Band & Del McCoury Band – American Legacies – McCoury Music and Preservation Hall Recordings
On American Legacies, bluegrass and jazz come together with stellar results.
By Doug Simpson
Published on April 12, 2011
The 47-minute American Legacies album – starring the Preservation Hall Jazz Band & the Del McCoury Band – is collaboration in the truest essence of the word and a confluence of two of America’s greatest musical inventions, bluegrass and jazz. Some might believe bluegrass and jazz are miles apart but they share numerous similarities and the two genres have come together in quite a few ways over many decades. First, both styles require dazzling virtuosity, respect for the past and devotion to well-defined creative forms. Secondly, jazz and bluegrass (and thus country) have had extensive, continuing connections. Certain songs have become standards in both musical circles, while several artists have combined country/bluegrass shadings with jazzy swing, from Bob Wills to Louis Armstrong and from Chet Atkins to Herb Ellis.
American Legacies mines tradition and listeners could not ask for better interpreters than the Preservation Hall Jazz Band & the Del McCoury Band. McCoury apprenticed with Bill Monroe before starting his own band more than four decades ago and has sustained a time-honored bent ever since. The Preservation Hall Jazz Band was founded a few years after McCoury began his group and has carried forward a New Orleans-inclined heritage...
Full Article Here
American Legacies mines tradition and listeners could not ask for better interpreters than the Preservation Hall Jazz Band & the Del McCoury Band. McCoury apprenticed with Bill Monroe before starting his own band more than four decades ago and has sustained a time-honored bent ever since. The Preservation Hall Jazz Band was founded a few years after McCoury began his group and has carried forward a New Orleans-inclined heritage...
Full Article Here
Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Del McCoury Band
American Legacies
By Lee Hildebrand
The thin line between jazz and country music has too seldom been crossed over the years, notable exceptions being Louis Armstrong's 1930 trumpet contribution to Jimmie Rodgers' "Blue Yodel #9"; the hot soloists and swinging rhythm sections in Bob Willis' and Spade Cooley's bands; Merle Haggard's 1973 LP I Love Dixie Blues; and Wynton Marsalis' recent hookups with Willie Nelson. For the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, today's most prominent purveyor of traditional New Orleans jazz, to team up with the Del McCoury Band, one of the most popular bluegrass groups on the planet, may seem odd, but both genres have firm grounding in blues and place high value on improvised instrumental virtuosity. They go together like gin and vermouth, and the combined ensembles shake it up with aplomb...
Full Article Here
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Recording Reviews: 'American Legacies' (Available Now!)
Well, the new album's been available for less than 24 hours, and already folks have some great things to say about our wonderful crossover recording. Check out some of the great reviews!
Preservation Jazz Hall Band & Del McCoury Band
American Legacies
(McCoury Music)
Rating:
By Jon Stone April 12th, 2011 at 7:00 am
“The band’s in town; they come to play.”
Last year Del McCoury appeared on The Preservation Hall Jazz Band’s star-studded benefit record Preservation singing “After You’ve Gone.” Despite the spirited contributions on that release from both old and new-guard artists (Merle Haggard, Steve Earl, Jim James, Andrew Bird, etc.), McCoury’s weathered “high-and-lonesome” bluegrass voice finds immediate and arresting chemistry with the now 50-year-old Preservation Hall jazz tradition. There must have been a lightning-rod moment sometime during that session where both parties knew that an additional album project was an inevitable necessity. American Legacies is the happy result. The record elaborates on the formula that worked so well on the initial team-up, but this time brings Del McCoury’s band to the party completing the crossover circuit and proving once and for all that ideological and traditional borders between bluegrass and jazz are not only mutable but are largely imaginary.
American music is funny that way. One doesn’t have to go back very far before the faded musical familial lines between estranged cousins become undeniably distinct. In this way, when Del McCoury and his band start playing with the musicians in the Preservation Hall at New Orleans, there is an easiness to the collaboration – one due, surely, to the talent of both bands, but also with a sense of ease that sounds and feels like musical reunion...
Good Times And Great Spirits Await With The Preservation Hall Jazz Band & The Del McCoury Band!
Grab a cold one, some great food and wonderful friends because a plethora of musical fun awaits with the American Legacies and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band & The Del McCoury Band! Separately, these musical geniuses have made it their life long objective to preserve traditional American music with tremendous skill, faith and drive within their respective genres. Now, lords of New Orleans jazz meet legends of bluegrass in one of the most compelling collaborations of 2011.
With McCoury’s smooth and signature tenor, fresh and clean clarinets, fun and diverse fiddles and bangin’ banjos, one can clearly hear the musical magic that was created within the release.
The Preservation Hall Jazz Band & The Del McCoury Band explore common and diverse ground to bring a credible and fresh balance of bluegrass and jazz in this project. Multiple artists combine their creativity and luster into a rich musical mix of distinctive American musical forms.
Known as ambassadors of bluegrass, the Del McCoury Band is fronted by veteran Del McCoury, a legendary front man of bluegrass who has been enthralling audiences since the 1980s.
With such songs as ‘A Good Gal,’ ‘Jambalaya,’ ‘The Band’s In Town,’ and ‘I’ll Fly Away,’ one clearly hears the merging of greatness and songs that respectfully exude joy and vibrance...
Preservation Jazz Hall Band & Del McCoury BandAmerican Legacies
(McCoury Music)
Rating:
By Jon Stone April 12th, 2011 at 7:00 am
“The band’s in town; they come to play.”
Last year Del McCoury appeared on The Preservation Hall Jazz Band’s star-studded benefit record Preservation singing “After You’ve Gone.” Despite the spirited contributions on that release from both old and new-guard artists (Merle Haggard, Steve Earl, Jim James, Andrew Bird, etc.), McCoury’s weathered “high-and-lonesome” bluegrass voice finds immediate and arresting chemistry with the now 50-year-old Preservation Hall jazz tradition. There must have been a lightning-rod moment sometime during that session where both parties knew that an additional album project was an inevitable necessity. American Legacies is the happy result. The record elaborates on the formula that worked so well on the initial team-up, but this time brings Del McCoury’s band to the party completing the crossover circuit and proving once and for all that ideological and traditional borders between bluegrass and jazz are not only mutable but are largely imaginary.
American music is funny that way. One doesn’t have to go back very far before the faded musical familial lines between estranged cousins become undeniably distinct. In this way, when Del McCoury and his band start playing with the musicians in the Preservation Hall at New Orleans, there is an easiness to the collaboration – one due, surely, to the talent of both bands, but also with a sense of ease that sounds and feels like musical reunion...
Good Times And Great Spirits Await With The Preservation Hall Jazz Band & The Del McCoury Band!Grab a cold one, some great food and wonderful friends because a plethora of musical fun awaits with the American Legacies and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band & The Del McCoury Band! Separately, these musical geniuses have made it their life long objective to preserve traditional American music with tremendous skill, faith and drive within their respective genres. Now, lords of New Orleans jazz meet legends of bluegrass in one of the most compelling collaborations of 2011.
With McCoury’s smooth and signature tenor, fresh and clean clarinets, fun and diverse fiddles and bangin’ banjos, one can clearly hear the musical magic that was created within the release.
The Preservation Hall Jazz Band & The Del McCoury Band explore common and diverse ground to bring a credible and fresh balance of bluegrass and jazz in this project. Multiple artists combine their creativity and luster into a rich musical mix of distinctive American musical forms.
Known as ambassadors of bluegrass, the Del McCoury Band is fronted by veteran Del McCoury, a legendary front man of bluegrass who has been enthralling audiences since the 1980s.
With such songs as ‘A Good Gal,’ ‘Jambalaya,’ ‘The Band’s In Town,’ and ‘I’ll Fly Away,’ one clearly hears the merging of greatness and songs that respectfully exude joy and vibrance...
Thursday, March 31, 2011
ALBUM REVIEW: 'American Legacies' in Offbeat Magazine
PRESERVATION HALL JAZZ BAND AND DEL McCOURY BAND
AMERICAN LEGACIES
(McCoury Music)
01 April 2011 —
The evolution of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band into a conveyer of hip is one of the musical successes of post-K culture. We can no longer point to the band (or the hall) as simply a bastion of tradition; we must recognize it as an innovator of tradition. As invaluable as his father’s contributions were to our culture, Ben Jaffe is quite important to the now.
On their new collaboration with the Del McCoury Band, we find the band swinging with and around McCoury’s silky tenor. Though it’s doubtful anyone in the world was losing sleep over the dangers of mixing bluegrass with trad, this isn’t a simple suture job. Wicked mandolin runs, clarinets in skyward races with fiddles, percussive banjoes and snares—this is one mean band. Check out “Banjo Frisco” for some very new/old music.
McCoury and family have shared the stage with Phish and recorded with Steve Earle, making them as accustomed to crossover as the current Pres Hall. More importantly, we’re listening to two types of traditional music that blossomed alongside each other in the first half of the 20th Century, nurtured by two different sets of poor folks—urban African Americans and rural whites—who shared a talent to swing and a fondness for celebration and mourning. Everything comes down to blues and banjoes, after all.
The wise move here was to allow Mark Braud and Clint Maedgen to sing lead almost as often as McCoury, and thus really test out the conflagration. “The Sugar Blues” hands you a what-if question involving Bob Wills and Fats Waller, Grand Ole Opry and Preservation Hall, 1931 and 2011. Good answers abound.
AMERICAN LEGACIES(McCoury Music)
01 April 2011 —
The evolution of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band into a conveyer of hip is one of the musical successes of post-K culture. We can no longer point to the band (or the hall) as simply a bastion of tradition; we must recognize it as an innovator of tradition. As invaluable as his father’s contributions were to our culture, Ben Jaffe is quite important to the now.
On their new collaboration with the Del McCoury Band, we find the band swinging with and around McCoury’s silky tenor. Though it’s doubtful anyone in the world was losing sleep over the dangers of mixing bluegrass with trad, this isn’t a simple suture job. Wicked mandolin runs, clarinets in skyward races with fiddles, percussive banjoes and snares—this is one mean band. Check out “Banjo Frisco” for some very new/old music.
McCoury and family have shared the stage with Phish and recorded with Steve Earle, making them as accustomed to crossover as the current Pres Hall. More importantly, we’re listening to two types of traditional music that blossomed alongside each other in the first half of the 20th Century, nurtured by two different sets of poor folks—urban African Americans and rural whites—who shared a talent to swing and a fondness for celebration and mourning. Everything comes down to blues and banjoes, after all.
The wise move here was to allow Mark Braud and Clint Maedgen to sing lead almost as often as McCoury, and thus really test out the conflagration. “The Sugar Blues” hands you a what-if question involving Bob Wills and Fats Waller, Grand Ole Opry and Preservation Hall, 1931 and 2011. Good answers abound.
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