Archive for the ‘Preservation Hall Jazz Band’ Category
Bourbon Street Parade: New Orleans’ Preservation Hall Jazz Band Celebrated In New Box Set
726 St. Peter Street in New Orleans, Louisiana doesn’t look like much. But beyond its weathered, nondescript exterior, the venerable building named Preservation Hall has hosted some of the finest and most exciting music to ever emerge from the storied French Quarter. Many musicians have spread the gospel of New Orleans music as the Preservation Hall Jazz Band for 50 years, and the anniversary isn’t going unnoticed. Legacy Recordings has just announced The Preservation Hall 50th Anniversary Collection, a 4-CD box set which will arrive in stores on September 25. With five previously unreleased tracks and guest appearances from Tom Waits, Pete Seeger and Richie Havens, the box is the most comprehensive survey yet of the group’s timeless, spirited music, spanning the period between 1962 and 2010.
It’s a testament to the legacy of Preservation Hall that patrons still line up every night to attend despite the facility’s lack of the standard amenities for a concert venue. Preservation Hall serves no drinks, and even lacks air conditioning. But one thing remains: the music. The building, which even survived the ravages of Hurricane Katrina, has over the years served as an art gallery, a photography studio and even a tavern during the War of 1812. As the 1960s dawned, art gallery owner Larry Borenstein began inviting his musician friends to the building for local jam sessions. Out of those informal gatherings grew the concept of Preservation Hall. Allan and Sandra Jaffe took over the Hall and turned it into an institution, and it’s their son Ben that continues the tradition today as director. Though Allan Jaffe (1935-1987) hailed from Pennsylvania, he became a Crescent City legend when he and his wife took over the lease of the historic building. In the liner notes, Ben Jaffe writes that his parents had “the idea of…formalizing the jam sessions into organized, nightly performances by the living legends of New Orleans Music, most of which had been forgotten, locked out by changes in the social landscape and the bottom line hustle of Bourbon Street.” Allan Jaffe even sat in as a tuba player (in lieu of string bass) at sessions, and famed jazzmen from Louis Armstrong to Jelly Roll Morton performed with band members.
The Preservation Hall Jazz Band began touring in 1963, but it wasn’t just one unit. Many groups kept the torch burning for classic New Orleans jazz under that moniker. Atlantic Records’ jazz guru Nesuhi Ertegun was captivated by what he discovered on a 1962 trip to New Orleans, and Atlantic would issue four LPs of the original band’s work, three of which are represented on the new box set. Another Louisiana legend, Cosimo Matassa, served as Ertegun’s engineer for these seminal recordings. These albums truly captured an era gone by, as evidenced by the ages of the musicians present for the sessions: ‘Papa’ John Joseph (85), Alcide ‘Slow Drag’ Pavageau (74), George Lewis (62), Punch Miller (68), Big Jim Robinson (69), Emanuel Sayles (55), Billie (55) and De De Pierce (58), and Louis Nelson (59). The Preservation Hall Jazz Band has always given its due to the elder statesmen of jazz.
By 1964, Jaffe had launched his own Preservation Hall Recordings label; in 1976, he signed the band to CBS Records (now under the Sony Music umbrella). At CBS, four more LPs were issued over the next decade. Future albums would come from Sony’s Masterworks division, as well as on the reactivated Preservation Hall label. 2010’s Preservation: An Album to Benefit Preservation Hall & the Preservation Hall Music Outreach Program continued the tradition of inviting musicians of all stripes to join in, and the album featured guest appearances from Dr. John, Pete Seeger, Andrew Bird, Yim Yames, Richie Havens, Steve Earle, Buddy Miller, Merle Haggard and more. The tracks from Seeger, Yames, Bird and Waits re-appear on the new box set. Bluegrass star Del McCoury was another guest on Preservation, and continued his association with the band via a 2009 album, American Legacies, joining his band with Preservation Hall’s. Two tracks from that collaboration also appear.
Hit the jump for more details including the scoop on the unreleased tracks, full track listing with discography and a pre-order link! Read the rest of this entry »