A Very Special Celebration and Second Line for Walter Payton, Jr. (1942-2010)

PRESERVATION HALL ANNOUNCES

A VERY SPECIAL MEMORIAL AND SECOND LINE

CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF

WALTER PAYTON, JR.

(1942-2010)

Saturday, November 20, 2010 – 10:30am

On Thursday, October 28, 2010, the city of New Orleans lost a great man and a wonderful musician.  The world will not be the same without Walter Payton Jr.  Please join us at Preservation Hall on Saturday, November 20 at 10:30am as we pay tribute to the life and times of Walter Payton.  After a short memorial service, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band will perform a very special Secondline through the French Quarter, down St. Claude Ave., and past McDonough 15 where Walt taught music for many years.

About Walter Payton:

Born and raised in New Orleans’ Uptown neighborhoods, Walter’s first brushes with Preservation Hall came in the early sixties when Allan Jaffe would lend him his sousaphone for gigs with the Eureka, Apollo, and Olympia Brass Bands.  After receiving advanced instruction from Robert Rohe at Xavier College, Walter went on to perform on several hit records, including Lee Dorsey’s “Working in a Coal Mine” and Aaron Neville’s “Tell It Like It Is.”  Walter Payton also served as a teacher in the New Orleans public school system for twenty-five years, where he had the opportunity to instruct a young Ben Jaffe in the ways of the bass.

A Second Line and Celebration for our Friend

Walter Payton Jr.

(1942-2010)

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Memorial Service at 10:30 AM

Second Line Parade at 11:00 AM

Beginning at Preservation Hall / 726 St. Peter Street

Parade will begin at 726 St. Peter Street at 11:00am.

Parade will march from Preservation Hall,

Turn Right on Bourbon Street,

Turn Left on Barracks Street

Turn Left on St. Claude,

Turn Left on St. Philip Street,

Pause in front of McDonough 15 School, 721 St. Phillip Street,

Right on Royal Street,

Left on St. Ann,

Right at Jackson Square (crossing St. Louis Cathedral)

Right on St. Peter Street,

Finishing at Preservation Hall – 726 St. Peter Street.

~Please join us in celebrating the life of our dear friend~

Mourning the Passing of the Great Walter Payton

Walter Payton, longtime New Orleans jazz bassist and educator, dies at 68
Thursday, October 28, 2010, 9:06 PM
Keith Spera, The Times-Picayune 

Walter Payton Jr., the genial bassist who anchored the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and shaped generations of public school students, died Thursday at Kindred Hospital-New Orleans following a lengthy illness. He was 68.

 He grew up on Annunciation Street. As a boy, he played sousaophone and dismissed his grandmother's suggestion that he take up the string bass. "Naw, I don't see nothing but old men playing those things," he said, recalling the scene in a 2008 interview. "I don't want to do that."

But on Easter 1958, he attended a performance at the Municipal Auditorium by James Moody and Ellis Marsalis' New Orleans Jazz Quintet. "The bass players in both groups, they were having so much fun," he said. "More fun than anyone else in the band. There were literally dancing with their basses."

He was sold on the instrument. Decades later, he described its appeal. The upright bass is "shaped just like a lady," he said, laughing. "The hips, the waist. And the best thing is, she don't do nothing you don't tell her to. She don't talk back. If you press her in the right place, she says just what you want her to say. And no more."

Other than a brief time spent working in the cafeteria of Xavier University, he made a living in music. After graduating from Xavier with a degree in music education, he spent the next 25 years teaching in the New Orleans public school system. During his years at McDonogh 15 elementary in the French Quarter, he taught music and organized the school band; in the '70s, he conducted the young band at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

He influenced many aspiring musicians, including his future boss, Preservation Hall creative director Ben Jaffe. “When I was his student – and I still consider myself his student – Walter was a bit scary,” Jaffe once recalled. “But he had a lasting impact on me. He instilled in me a respect for music.”

Throughout his teaching career, Mr. Payton also worked as a professional musician in a variety of settings. He marched with various brass bands, including the Eureka, Olympia. Treme and Apollo. He made his debut at Preservation Hall in 1965 and worked at the old Dew Drop Inn and the original Blue Room at the Fairmont Hotel.

After retiring from the school system in 1991, he plunged headlong into the life of a fulltime musician. With his Snap Bean and Gumbo File combos and with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, he traveled the globe. “I love being on the road,” Mr. Payton said in 2008. “I love it, love it, love it.”

Along the way he performed at Carnegie Hall, accompanied symphony orchestras and backed Robert Parker, Nancy Wilson, Harry Connick Jr., Clark Terry, Doc Paulin, the king of Thailand, and many more. He contributed to his son Nicholas' 2001 Louis Armstrong tribute "Dear Louis."

Mr. Patyon was a robust man who at one point was an avid kick-boxer and martial arts practitioner. Married four times, he was quick with a sly smile and an even slyer line.

“He always used to say to girls, ‘When did you leave heaven? You’re so beautiful,’” recalled Michael Paz, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band's road manager.

Mr. Payton suffered a stroke in January while in Washington D.C. on tour with Preservation Hall. He eventually returned to New Orleans, but never recovered sufficiently to return to the road. He had been in and out of hospitals for several months.

“I saw him a couple days ago, and he spoke to me a little, which he hadn’t done the last few times I saw him,” Paz said.

He is missed.

"PRESERVATION" Preview #17: Appearing with PHJB on their upcoming benefit album - MS. BRANDI CARLILE!

February 16, 2010 - PRESERVATION: an album benefiting Preservation Hall & The Preservation Hall Music Outreach Program hits the streets! (Best Mardi Gras Ever?) While we wait with baited breath, we share with you these previews of the 19 amazing tracks and special guests that make this latest offering from the Preservation Hall Jazz Band so very special. In this installment...

BRANDI CARLILE
by Mark Deming
for AllMusic.com

A gifted singer/songwriter whose rich voice and literate storytelling belie her youth (she was only 23 when she released her major-label debut), Brandi Carlile was born in the small town of Ravensdale, WA, an isolated community 50 miles from Seattle. With few neighbors or friends nearby, Carlile grew up learning to make her own entertainment, camping and hiking in the nearby woods and teaching herself to sing. Carlile grew up listening to the classic country music her parents doted on (Patsy Cline remains Carlile's favorite singer), and she made her stage debut at the age of eight after she was taken to a local country radio show by her mother. At 17, Carlile picked up the guitar, having developed a taste for rock & roll through Elton John's classic albums of the 1970s (she cites Tumbleweed Connection as a particular favorite), and she began hitting the Seattle bar scene, playing anywhere she could get a gig (including a stint singing backup for an Elvis Presley tribute act). While playing clubs, she encountered a band called the Fighting Machinists, featuring twin brothers Tim Hanseroth on guitar and Phil Hanseroth. Impressed by their instrumental skills and spot-on harmonies, Carlile became an instant fan of the Fighting Machinists, and when the group broke up, she persuaded the Hanseroth twins to form a group with her. While they started out as an aggressive rock & roll band, Carlile's emotionally powerful songwriting and acoustic guitar work soon became the dominant component of their sound, and they began touring regularly, headlining small venues and opening shows for Dave Matthews, Shawn Colvin, and India.Arie. In 2000, Carlile recorded the first of several self-released recordings that sold briskly at shows, and in 2005 she was signed to Columbia Records, releasing a self-titled album later that same year. The album earned enthusiastic reviews, and Carlile was named one of 2005's "Artists to Watch" by Rolling Stone. In 2006, Carlile and her band began work on her second Columbia album, with T Bone Burnett producing. Titled The Story, it was released in spring 2007. Give Up the Ghost followed two years later in 2009.

SESSION PHOTO BY ERIKA GOLDRING

THE SONG:
"Old Rugged Cross"
Brandi Carlile & The Preservation Hall Jazz Band
(Traditional)

Brandi Carlile - lead vocals
Tim & Phil Hanseroth - backing vocals
Mark Braud - trumpet
Clint Maedgen - clarinet
Daniel "Weenie" Farrow - tenor sax
Lucien Barbarin - trombone
Carl LeBlanc - banjo
Walter Payton - string bass
Rickie Monie - piano
Ben Jaffe - tuba
Joe Lastie - drums

Brandi Carlile appears courtesy of Columbia Records

AS INTERPRETED BY GEORGE LEWIS (1962):

"DREAMS," BY BRANDI CARLILE, LIVE IN STUDIO Q:

BRANDI CARLILE - OFFICIAL WEBSITE

PRESERVATION HALL - OFFICIAL WEBSITE

LEARN MORE ABOUT "PRESERVATION"

"PRESERVATION" Preview #15: Appearing with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band on their upcoming benefit album - MR. STEVE EARLE!

February 16, 2010 - PRESERVATION: an album benefiting Preservation Hall & The Preservation Hall Music Outreach Program hits the streets! (Best Mardi Gras Ever?) While we wait with baited breath, we share with you these previews of the 19 amazing tracks and special guests that make this latest offering from the Preservation Hall Jazz Band so very special. In this installment...

STEVE EARLE
Stephen Fain Earle was born on Jan. 17, 1955, in Fort Monroe, Va. He grew up in Schertz, Texas, a community 17 miles north of San Antonio. At the age of 11, Earle got his first guitar and learned to play it quickly enough to take third place in the Schertz school district's annual talent show when he was 13.

At 14, Earle left home for Houston to stay with his 19-year-old uncle, Nick Fain, who encouraged him to continue his guitar playing. Soon after, Earle met hard-living songwriter Townes Van Zandt, who inspired him to make music his career. Earle later said of Van Zandt, "He was a real good teacher and a real bad role model." At 19, Earle moved to Nashville. While struggling to make it in the music industry, the young hopeful paid the bills by doing odd jobs. "I've never had a job longer than three months in my life," he said. "I've always led a bohemian lifestyle. I have framed houses, worked on oil rigs, worked on shrimp boats and in restaurants, but it was different for me because I knew I was always going to get out."

In Nashville, Steve played in various bands to support himself. He made his first recording in 1975 on Guy Clark's Old No. 1 album, playing bass and singing backup on the cut "Desperadoes Waiting for a Train." Earle eventually wrote songs that were recorded by some major artists. His first publishing deal was with Sunbury Dunbar (a division of RCA), where he earned $75 a week as a staff writer. He almost had his song "Mustang Wine" recorded by Elvis Presley, but Presley failed to show up for the scheduled session. The song was later recorded by Carl Perkins. Johnny Lee had a No. 14 hit in 1982 with "When You Fall in Love," a song Earle co-wrote with John Scott Sherrill.

From 1982 to 1985, Earle recorded a series of rockabilly tracks for Epic Records. Two of these charted. "Nothing But You" went to No. 70 in 1983, and "What'll You Do About Me" went to No. 76 the following year. From Epic, Earle moved to MCA Records, where, in 1986, he released the roundly acclaimed Guitar Town. For this work, many critics hailed him as the missing link between the power of rock and the passion of pure hillbilly music. The title track became the highest-charting song of Earle's country career, making it all the way to No. 7 in 1986. In 1987, MCA released Earle's sophomore album, Exit 0. It, too, became an instant favorite of critics. One song, "I Ain't Ever Satisfied," enjoyed some airplay on rock radio, but country radio ignored it. Another single from the album, "Nowhere Road," climbed to No. 20 on the country charts. The album Copperhead Road made its bow in 1988 and demonstrated Earle's growing interest in rock music. MCA targeted the title single to rock radio. Although the album made few waves in the United States, it did build Earle's reputation in England.

In 1990, MCA released the much harder-sounding The Hard Way. It was followed the next year by the live album Shut Up and Die Like an Aviator. This was Earle's last contracted album for MCA. The label declined to renew his contract because of his increasing use of drugs. For the next four years, the singer all but disappeared from the music scene. In 1994, Earle was arrested and sent briefly to prison for possession of narcotics. He was paroled later that year after completing a rehabilitation program. During his break from recording -- a period he called his "vacation in the ghetto," Barbara Behler and Mark Brown, who worked at the Warner/Chappell publishing company, and John Dotson, Earle's former manager, compiled a promotional CD of his songs they titled Uncut Gems. They shopped it around to other recording artists in Nashville, a move that led to Travis Tritt and Stacy Dean Campbell each recording "Sometimes She Forgets" and Robert Earl Keen cutting "Tom Ames' Prayer."

Winter Harvest Records released Earle's folksy, acoustic-oriented collection, Train a Comin', in 1995. Soon after, Earle formed his own label, E-Squared Records. His first album for the new label, I Feel Alright, came out in 1996 and combined elements of country, rock and rockabilly. The next year saw the debut of his El Corazon. Earle tipped his hat to bluegrass music in 1999 when he recorded The Mountain with the Del McCoury Band. In 2000, he released Transcendental Blues, also on E-Squared.

Earle has been an outspoken and tireless opponent of capital punishment. His "Ellis Unit One" is featured on the 1996 soundtrack of the film Dead Man Walking. In recent years, Earle also has written and performed poetry and fiction. He presented excerpts from his works in progress at the 2000 New Yorker Festival and published a short-story anthology Doghouse Roses in 2001. He also stirred up controversy with the song "John Walker's Blues," about John Walker Linde, an American who many considered a traitor for joining the Taliban. The biography Hardcore Troubador: The Life and Death of Steve Earle was published in 2003.SESSION PHOTOS BY ERIKA GOLDRING

THE SONG:
"Tain't Nobody's Business"
Steve Earle with The Preservation Hall Jazz Band
(Traditional)

Steve Earle - vocals, guitar
Charlie Gabriel - clarinet
Clint Maedgen - tenor sax
Ben Jaffe - banjo
Rickie Monie - piano
Walter Payton - string bass

Steve Earle appears courtesy of New West Records

AS PERFORMED BY BESSIE SMITH (1923):

"CITY OF IMMIGRANTS" BY STEVE EARLE (LIVE, 2008):

STEVE EARLE: OFFICIAL WEBSITE

PRESERVATION HALL: OFFICIAL WEBSITE

LEARN MORE ABOUT "PRESERVATION!"

"PRESERVATION" Preview #14: Joining the Preservation Hall Jazz Band on their Upcoming Release - MS. ANI DIFRANCO!

February 16, 2010 - PRESERVATION: an album benefiting Preservation Hall & The Preservation Hall Music Outreach Program hits the streets! (Best Mardi Gras Ever?) While we wait with baited breath, we share with you these previews of the 19 amazing tracks and special guests that make this latest offering from the Preservation Hall Jazz Band so very special. In this installment...

ANI DIFRANCO

Ani DiFranco has written hundreds of songs, played thousands of shows, captured the imaginations of legions of followers, and jammed with folkies, orchestras, rappers, rock and roll hall-of-famers, jazz musicians, poets, pop superstars, storytellers and a martial arts legend. She’s “fixed up a few old buildings” and minimized her carbon footprint before it was trendy – from installing a geothermal heating and cooling system in the renovated church that her label calls home to using organic inks on all the t-shirts she sells. But nothing she’s done in her 18-year career has garnered more attention than a business decision.

Since Ani bucked the major label system in the early-‘90s, opting to release her music on her own terms, the self-described Little Folksinger has been the subject of all kinds of hyperbole. She’s been called “fiercely independent” (Rolling Stone), “inspirational” (All Music Guide), “the ultimate do-it-yourself songwriter” (The New York Times), etc. As the cracks in the music industry get larger and more big-name artists follow Ani’s lead – Radiohead, Madonna and Nine Inch Nails among them – maybe people will just start calling her “smart.”

As important as Righteous Babe Records is to the singer/songwriter/guitarist, she’s more than happy to trust like-minded people with the business and revel in the complete artistic freedom it provides. On her new album, Red Letter Year, she takes more advantage of this freedom than ever before. Conceived, sculpted and refined over the course of two years – a lifetime compared to a typical Ani recording session – the album is an impeccably crafted, multi-layered sonic achievement.

And while the extra time is a big reason for Red Letter Year’s captivating musical depths, the people in Ani’s life play an even bigger part – her partner and co-producer Mike Napolitano (Joseph Arthur, The Twilight Singers, Squirrel Nut Zippers) and her one-year-old daughter Petah Lucia (gurgling, infectious laughter, wide-eyed innocence). Love, family and home are three of the album’s most prominent muses, resulting in a dozen songs that exude warmth and renewed vigor.

For several years to come, musicians will be making headlines as they jump the major label ship and take charge of their own destinies. Having been there and done that, Ani DiFranco will be more than happy to just sit back and make art.SESSION PHOTOS BY ERIKA GOLDRING

THE SONG:
"Freight Train"
Ani DiFranco & The Preservation Hall Jazz Band
(Turner Layton/Henry Creamer) Morley Music Co. (public domain)

Ani DiFranco - vocals, guitar
Mark Braud - trumpet
Charlie Gabriel - clarinet
Clint Maedgen - tenor sax
Lucien Barbarin - trombone
Carl LeBlanc - string bass
Joe Lastie - drums
Ben Jaffe - tuba

Ani DiFranco appears courtesy of Righteous Babe Records

AS PERFORMED BY ELIZABETH COTTON:

"SHY" by ANI DIFRANCO:

ANI'S OFFICIAL WEBSITE
LEARN MORE ABOUT "PRESERVATION!"

"PRESERVATION" Preview #13: Joining the Preservation Hall Jazz Band on their Upcoming Release - MR. TOM WAITS

February 16, 2010 - PRESERVATION: an album benefiting Preservation Hall & The Preservation Hall Music Outreach Program hits the streets! (Best Mardi Gras Ever?) While we wait with baited breath, we share with you these previews of the 19 amazing tracks and special guests that make this latest offering from the Preservation Hall Jazz Band so very special. In this installment...

TOM WAITS
Tom Waits has built a career as varied as there are creative outlets—delving into cinema (both composing and acting), musical theater, opera, live performance, and literature—yet seamlessly interweaving a truly distinctive and fully-realized persona. The tools of his trade have included such things as the marimba, trombone, brake drum, metal aunglongs, banjo, bell plate, bullhorn, conga, accordion, optigon, mellotron, maracas, pump organ, basstarda, chamberlain, harmonium, viola, sticks, chairs, a musical saw, as well as the regular old guitar, bass, piano and drums and, of course, that trademark voice.

In a career that has spanned four decades, his music has taken adventurous turns, from confessional country-blues and jazz-flavored lounge, to primal rock and avant-garde musical theater. By turns tender and poignant, to strange and twisted, his songs tend to explore the dark, underbelly of society as he gives his uniquely human voice to adventurers both romantic and mercenary, drifters, con artists and those forgotten characters on the fringe and in the fray. Waits has expanded and drawn from a deep well of American song idioms: folk, blues, country, jazz ballads, polkas, waltzes, cabaret, swing, popular ballads, and a category that can only be described as Waitsian.

Named as one of VH-1’s “Most Influential Artists of All Time” it is no surprise that Waits’ body of work has long been covered (and coveted) by other musicians. Notable cover versions include: Bruce Springsteen (“Jersey Girl”), Rod Stewart and Everything But The Girl (“Downtown Train”), Marianne Faithfull (“Strange Weather”), The Ramones (“I Don’t Wanna Grow Up”), 10,000 Maniacs (“I Hope That I Don’t Fall In Love With You”), Bob Seger (“Blind Love”), Shawn Colvin (“The Heart Of Saturday Night”), plus Elvis Costello, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Johnny Cash, and many others. A diverse list of artists have cited Tom Waits as an inspiration, including Bob Dylan who has named him one of his “secret heroes.” And the adoration strikes a chord with a rabid fan following—there is even an annual celebration called “Waitstock” near Poughkeepsie, New York.

For more than 30 years now, Tom Waits has been creating music. He continues to inspire new generations of songwriters who have their own story to tell…and their own dark muse to follow.

SESSION PHOTOS BY CLINT MAEDGEN AND J. LLOYD MILLER

THE SONG:
"Tootie Ma Is A Big Fine Thing"
Tom Waits with The Preservation Hall Jazz Band
(traditional)

Tom Waits - vocals
Mark Braud - trumpet
Charlie Gabriel - clarinet
Clint Maedgen - tenor sax
Lucien Barbarin - trombone
Rickie Monie - piano
Carl LeBlanc - banjo
Walter Payton - string bass
Ben Jaffe - tuba
Ernie Elly - drums

ANOTHER RECENT INTERPRETATION,
BY MEDESKI, SCOFIELD, MARTIN & WOOD:

"LIE TO ME" BY TOM WAITS - OFFICIAL VIDEO:

TOM WAITS - OFFICIAL WEBSITE
PRESERVATION HALL - OFFICIAL WEBSITE
LEARN MORE ABOUT "PRESERVATION"

"PRESERVATION" Preview #12: Appearing with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band on their Upcoming Release - MR. DEL MCCOURY

February 16, 2010 - PRESERVATION: an album benefiting Preservation Hall & The Preservation Hall Music Outreach Program hits the streets! (Best Mardi Gras Ever?) While we wait with baited breath, we share with you these previews of the 19 amazing tracks and special guests that make this latest offering from the Preservation Hall Jazz Band so very special. In this installment...

DEL MCCOURY
by Sandra Brennan
for Allmusic.org
Among the most distinguished practitioners of traditional bluegrass, Del McCoury was the epitome of the "high lonesome sound" for over three decades. Born Delano Floyd McCoury, he was raised in Bakersville, NC. In 1941, he and his family moved to Glen Rock, PA, where he got his start as a five-string banjo picker with Keith Daniels & the Blue Ridge Ramblers. Later he played with Jack Cooke's Virginia Mountain Boys in Baltimore. McCoury got his first big break in 1963 when Bill Monroe hired the Virginia Mountain Boys to play a few New York gigs. Monroe was impressed by the young banjo player and invited him to join his Blue Grass Boys. Shortly after accepting Monroe's offer, McCoury became the group's lead vocalist and took up rhythm guitar. In early 1964, he recorded one single with Monroe, but a month later returned home to marry.

Following his marriage, he and fiddler Billy Baker spent three months in California playing with the Golden State Boys. Upon his return back east, McCoury began playing and recording with the Shady Valley Boys. McCoury left the group in 1967 and founded the Dixie Pals with Bill Emerson, Wayne Yates, and Billy Baker. McCoury & His Dixie Pals, which underwent several membership changes, played together for over 20 years and recorded on such labels as Rounder, Revonah, Leather, and Rebel. In 1987, the unit was renamed the Del McCoury Band following the additions of his sons Ronnie on mandolin and Robbie on banjo along with fiddler Tad Marks and bass player Mike Brantley.

The period following the formation of the Del McCoury Band proved to be very productive, with several terrific releases for Rounder. The band carefully bridged the gap between the interesting song choices and instrumentation of the best progressive bluegrass groups, while still retaining the high lonesome style of traditional bluegrass. In early 1999, the band reached a whole new group of listeners when they backed singer/songwriter Steve Earle on his successful traditionally themed album The Mountain. Around that time, McCoury and sons amicably ended their relationship with Rounder, moving to Ricky Skaggs' Ceili label for the Family and Del and the Boys records. The band released It's Just the Night in 2003, followed by The Company We Keep in 2005 and the gospel-influenced Promised Land in 2006, and Family Circle in 2009.

Keep an eye on the Preservation Hall Jazz Band touring schedule for dates featuring PHJB and The Del McCoury Band together in performance!

SESSION PHOTOS BY ERIKA GOLDRING

THE SONG:
"After You've Gone"
Del McCoury & The Preservation Hall Jazz Band

(Turner Layton / Henry Creamer) Morley Music Co. (public domain)

Del McCoury - vocals
Charlie Gabriel - clarinet
Freddie Lonzo - trombone
Rickie Monie - piano
Walter Payton - string bass
Joe Lastie - drums

Del McCoury appears courtesy of McCoury Music

AS PERFORMED BY SOPHIE TUCKER WITH MIF MOLE AND HIS MOLERS (1927)

THE DEL MCCOURY BAND PERFORMS
1952 VINCENT BLACK LIGHTNING

THE DEL MCCOURY BAND - OFFICIAL WEBSITE
PRESERVATION HALL - OFFICIAL WEBSITE
LEARN MORE ABOUT "PRESERVATION"

"PRESERVATION" Preview #11: Appearing with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band - DR. JOHN!

February 16, 2010 - PRESERVATION: an album benefiting Preservation Hall & The Preservation Hall Music Outreach Program hits the streets! (Best Mardi Gras Ever?) While we wait with baited breath, we share with you these previews of the 19 amazing tracks and special guests that make this latest offering from the Preservation Hall Jazz Band so very special. In this installment...

DR. JOHN
Dr. John, or Mac Rebennack as known to friends and family, is universally celebrated as the living embodiment of the rich musical heritage exclusive to New Orleans. His very colorful musical career began in the 1950s when he wrote and played guitar on some of the greatest records to come out of the Crescent City, including recordings by Professor Longhair, Art Neville, Joe Tex and Frankie Ford. A notorious gun incident forced the artist to give up the guitar and concentrate on organ and piano. Further trouble at home sent Dr. John west in the 1960s, where he continued to be in demand as a session musician, playing on records by Sonny and Cher, Van Morrison and Aretha Franklin to name a few. He also launched his solo career, developing the charismatic persona of Dr. John The Night Tripper. Adorned with voodoo charms and regalia, a legend was born with his breakthrough 1968 album Gris-gris, which established his unique blend of voodoo mysticism, funk, rhythm & blues, psychedelic rock and Creole roots.

Several of his many career highlights include the masterful album Sun, Moon and Herbs in 1971 which included cameos from Eric Clapton and Mick Jagger and 1973’s In The Right Place, which contained the chart hits “Right Place Wrong Time” and “Such A Night.” Dr. John garnered Grammy award wins in 1989, 1992, 1996 and 2000. In 2004, his musical love letter to the city of New Orleans, “N’awlinz Dis Dat or D’udda,” was awarded the prestigious Académie Charles Cros 57ème Palmarès award in France. It was the first time since the 1970s that an artist from North America received the award. He has also received six other nominations over the years.

In 2007 he was nominated for a Grammy for “Sippiana Hericane,” his Hurricane Katrina benefit disc. Other awards include the American Society of Young Musicians 2007 Trailblazer Award. After Hurricane Katrina and government bunglers bashed New Orleans in 2005, Dr. John immediately stepped up to the plate with both generous relief fund-raising concerts and recordings and angry public words of protest. One of the Crescent City's most favored sons, Dr. John does his considerable bit to keep the world's attention focused on what needs to be done to help New Orleans come back. In 2008, he released the album “City That Care Forgot,” which deals with various aspects of post-Katrina New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. In 2009, “City That Care Forgot” won the Grammy for “Best Contemporary Blues Album.” It is considered to be his finest recording in twenty years.

SESSION PHOTOS BY SHANNON BRINKMAN

THE SONG:
"Winin' Boy"
(Ferdinand Morton) public domain

Dr. John - vocals, piano
Mark Braud - trumpet
Charlie Gabriel - trumpet
Clint Maedgen - tenor sax
Freddie Lonzo - trombone
Walter Payton - string bass
Ben Jaffe - tuba / tambourine
Joe Lastie - drums

Dr. John appears courtesy of 429 Records

AS PERFORMED BY JELLY ROLL MORTON, 1939:

VINTAGE DR. JOHN - SUCH A NIGHT, 1981:

DR. JOHN - OFFICIAL WEB PAGE
DR. JOHN - OFFICIAL BOXER SHORTS
"PRESERVATION" - OFFICIAL WEBSITE

"PRESERVATION" Preview #10: Appearing with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band - MR. JASON ISBELL!

February 16, 2010 - PRESERVATION: an album benefiting Preservation Hall & The Preservation Hall Music Outreach Program hits the streets! (Best Mardi Gras Ever?) While we wait with baited breath, we share with you these previews of the 19 amazing tracks and special guests that make this latest offering from the Preservation Hall Jazz Band so very special. In this installment...

JASON ISBELL
by James Christopher Monger & Andrew Leahey
for Allmusic.com
After spending six years with the genre-defying roots rock ensemble Drive-By Truckers, singer/guitarist Jason Isbell amicably left the group in 2007 to pursue a solo career. Isbell had already displayed his songwriting prowess during his tenure with the Truckers, and he funneled those talents into Sirens of the Ditch, a bluesy, punk-infused lesson in guitar tones and Southern swagger that marked his solo debut in summer 2007. Backed by a band dubbed the 400 Unit, Isbell took his songs on the road and soon began penning another album, which he recorded with the 400 Unit in 2008. Released the following year, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit found the songwriter ruminating on issues of love, youth, and war.

SESSION PHOTOS BY SHANNON BRINKMAN

THE SONG:
"Nobody Knows You"
Jason Isbell & The Preservation Hall Jazz Band
(Jimmie Cox) Universal / MCA Publishing

Jason Isbell - vocals, guitar
Leroy Jones - trumpet
Rickie Monie - piano
Carl LeBlanc - banjo
Walter Payton - string bass

Jason Isbell appears courtesy of Lightning Rod Records

AS PERFORMED BY BESSIE SMITH (1929):

JASON ISBELL AND THE 400 UNIT - "SOLDIERS GET STRANGE"

JASON ISBELL AND THE 400 UNIT - OFFICIAL WEBSITE
PRESERVATION HALL - OFFICIAL WEBSITE
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"PRESERVATION" Preview #7: Appearing with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band - MR. PAOLO NUTINI

February 16, 2010 - PRESERVATION: an album benefiting Preservation Hall & The Preservation Hall Music Outreach Program hits the streets! (Best Mardi Gras Ever?) While we wait with baited breath, we share with you these previews of the 19 amazing tracks and special guests that make this latest offering from the Preservation Hall Jazz Band so very special. In this installment...

PAOLO NUTINI
by Stewart Mason
for Allmusic.com

In much the same way that José González hails from Sweden and not Spain, Paolo Nutini is not a smooth Italian pop star, but rather a soul-influenced adult alternative songwriter from Paisley, Scotland. Raised in a music-loving family, he grew up listening to a range of folk, opera, jazz, and his father's R&B favorites. Shortly after discovering homegrown folkies like John Martyn, the teenaged Nutini left school to focus on his own musical development, eventually moving from Paisley to London at age 16 and garnering attention via local gigs. He inked a deal with the British arm of Atlantic Records two years later, just several weeks after his 18th birthday.

Working with Coldplay and Badly Drawn Boy producer Ken Nelson, Nutini generated an impressive amount of buzz before his first single, "Last Request," was released in the early summer of 2006. He appeared at special Atlantic Records showcases at Carnegie Hall and the Montreux Jazz Festival, as well as showcase sets opening for the Rolling Stones and Paul Weller. Nutini's debut album, These Streets, was ultimately released in July 2006 alongside his second single, "Jenny Don't Be Hasty." The album fared quite well in the U.K., where it climbed to double-platinum status and sent four singles into the Top 40. Accordingly, an American release followed in January 2007.

For Paolo Nutini's second album, the songwriter took a more active role in the production, partnering with Ethan Johns but helming much of the material himself. The resulting record, Sunny Side Up, appeared in June 2009, featuring increased contributions from Nutini's backing band and a bright, sprightly disposition.

PHOTOS OF PAOLO NUTINI @ PRESERVATION HALL
BY MARY ASHLEY JOHNSON

THE SONG:
"Between The Devil and The Deep Blue Sea"
Paolo Nutini with The Preservation Hall Jazz Band
(Harold Arlen / Ted Koehler) S.A. Music, Bughouse Music

Paolo Nutini - vocals
Mark Braud - trumpet
Charlie Gabriel - clarinet
Lucien Barbarin - trombone
Carl LeBlanc - banjo
Rickie Monie - piano
Ben Jaffe - tuba
Walter Payton - string bass
Lil' Joe Lastie - drums
Paolo Nutini appears courtesy of Atlantic Records

AS PERFORMED BY LEE WILEY IN 1940:

OFFICIAL VIDEO FOR "PENCIL FULL OF LEAD" BY PAOLO NUTINI (CHEEKY!)

PAOLO NUTINI - OFFICIAL WEBSITE
PRESERVATION HALL JAZZ BAND - OFFICIAL WEBSITE
LEARN MORE ABOUT "PRESERVATION" THE ALBUM

"PRESERVATION" Preview #6: Appearing with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band - MS. ANGELIQUE KIDJO & MR. TERENCE BLANCHARD

February 16, 2010 - PRESERVATION: an album benefitting Preservation Hall & The Preservation Hall Music Outreach Program hits the streets! (Best Mardi Gras Ever?) While we wait with baited breath, we share with you these previews of the 19 amazing tracks and special guests that make this latest offering from the Preservation Hall Jazz Band so very special. In this installment...

ANGELIQUE KIDJO

Born in Benin (West Africa), Angelique Kidjo is a Grammy award-winning music recording artist deemed "Africa's premier diva" by Time Magazine. Kidjo's internationally acclaimed repertoire includes collaborations with various recording artists such as Carlos Santana, Peter Gabriel, Alicia Keys, Josh Groban, Branford Marsalis, Joss Stone, and many more. Known for her dynamic and uplifting music, she has translated her distinctive work in the arts to that of philanthropy; by promoting education for girls in Africa through her foundation, Batonga and as a UNICEF Goodwill ambassador Kidjo travels the world to inspire and empower.

EXPERIENCE HER STORY HERE

TERENCE BLANCHARD
By Michael G. Nastos
for Allmusic.com
In the post-Wynton Marsalis era, jazz trumpeter Terence Blanchard has become a most prominent brass player, bandleader, recording artist, orchestrator of film scores, and leader in the mainstream post-bop community. Born on March 13, 1962, in New Orleans, LA, Terence Oliver Blanchard was an only child to parents Wilhelmina and Joseph Oliver Blanchard. He began playing piano by the age of five, switched to trumpet three years later, and played alongside childhood friend Marsalis in summer band camps. While in high school, he took extracurricular classes at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts with Roger Dickerson and Ellis Marsalis. From 1980 to 1982, Blanchard studied under Paul Jeffrey and Bill Fielder at Rutgers University in New Jersey while touring with Lionel Hampton's orchestra. In 1982 Blanchard replaced Wynton Marsalis under his recommendation in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, working in that band up to 1986 as lead soloist and musical director. He then co-led a prominent quintet with saxophonist Donald Harrison, recording seven albums for the Concord, Columbia, and Evidence record labels in five years, including a stirring in-concert tribute to the Eric Dolphy/Booker Little ensemble...

READ MORE

The Song:
"La Vie en Rose"
Angelique Kidjo & Terence Blanchard
with The Preservation Hall Jazz Band
(Edith Guglieme, Luis Gugielmo, Giovanna Gasson)
WB Music Corp. obo Editions, Paul Beuscher SA

Angelique Kidjo - vocals
Terence Blanchard - lead trumpet
Mark Braud - trumpet
Clint Maedgen - clarinet
Daniel "Weenie" Farrow - tenor sax
Lucien Barbarin - trombone
Carl LeBlanc - banjo
Rickie Monie - piano
Walter Payton - string bass
Joe Lastie - drums

Angelique Kidjo appears courtesy of Razor & Tie
Terence Blanchard appears courtesy of Concord Records

EDITH PIAF PERFORMS "LA VIE EN ROSE"

ANGELIQUE KIDJO - WOMBO LOMBO

TERENCE BLANCHARD - CHOICES (Webisode 5)

ANGELIQUE KIDJO - OFFICIAL WEBSITE
TERRENCE BLANCHARD - OFFICIAL WEBSITE
LEARN MORE ABOUT "PRESERVATION"

"New Orleans Ain't the Same without Walter Payton"

Here's an article we stumbled into on our much loved bass player, Walter Payton.

"New Orleans Ain't the Same Without Walter Payton" by Larry Benicewicz