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Scene report: Preservation Hall Jazz Band
The Preservation Hall Jazz Band was the perfect band to close the Wildflower Center stage at the Austin City Limits Music Festival Sunday.
With pure delight emanating from the dancing audience, the eight-piece band brought the full magic and history of New Orleans music to life with energy and passion that underscore music as the universal language that tames even mud-caked beasts.
Many in the audience were unable to contain themselves in chairs and rushed to the front of the stage to dance and sing along as the first few tunes caught fire. In sweat-soaked grey suits and ties, the band members grinned at the audience and smiled at each other, happy for the chance to share their music with fans who really love the genre.
The band started out hot and ended steamy, with a rendition of Louis Armstrong’s “Ol’ Man Mose,” and their own versions of essentials “Tailgate Ramble,” “Shimmy,” “Sugar Blues” and “Mama Don’t Want.” Standouts included Walter Payton singing “Shimmy” with his head thrown back, eyes closed and a grin across his face during pauses. The man and the music conjured up every ghost great of New Orleans past in memory.
Members of the band that graced the Wildflower stage on Sunday night were Ben Jaffe on tuba, Charlie Gabriel on clarinet, Payton on string bass, Clint Maedgen on tenor sax, Mark Braud on trumpet, Rickie Monie on keyboard, Freddie Lonzo on trombone and Joe Lastie on drums. These eight men are on a mission, and that mission delivers a big slice of heaven on earth to those lucky enough to catch a live performance. They want to nurture and perpetuate the art form of New Orleans jazz. Judging from Sunday night’s performance, they’ve got the pipes to do just that.
“I love playing the music and I love knowing that I’m participating in a culture that’s been going on for hundreds of years,” Jaffe said. “When Katrina hit New Orleans, it didn’t just tear apart the city, it tore apart the culture as well. Many of our great artists and musicians have now been spread across the country. I want to make sure that we can get them back, that we can continue the music and the heritage that has been here for so long.”
Jaffe’s parents, Allan and Sandra Jaffe, founded Preservation Hall in New Orleans in 1961 on St. Peter Street in a building that dates back to the 1700s. They wanted to create a sanctuary that would protect and honor New Orleans jazz, which had taken a nosedive in popularity with the upsurge of modern jazz and rock and roll. The couple, originally from Pennsylvania, wanted a haven where New Orleans musicians could play New Orleans jazz — a style they did not want to lose.
The Preservation Hall Jazz Band began touring in 1963 and produced some big names, including Buddy Bolden, Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, Bunk Johnson, brothers Willie and Percy Humphrey, husband and wife Billie and De Pierce, famed pianist Sweet Emma Barrett and, in the modern day, Wendall and John Brunious.
Jaffe came by his talent naturally. At a very early age, he found he could pick up almost any instrument and begin to play it. He started his professional career when he was 9 years old. Now 38, Jaffe is proud of his heritage.
“New Orleans is one of the last places where people are still born into musical families,” he said. “It’s a badge of honor. And it could only happen in New Orleans, the way jazz could only happen here.”
Payton was Jaffe’s first music teacher. Jaffe and Braud went to school together. John Bernius and Wendell Bernuis, bandleaders, were Jaffe’s uncles.
“Down in New Orleans,” a Blind Boys of Alabama record that featured the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, won a Grammy earlier this year. The band will release a digital album, “St. Peters Street Serenade,” available at the end of October that will feature five audio tracks and three music videos. One video, “St James Infirmary,” will be animated.
The band is also working on a release aimed for March called “Preservation.” The record was recorded in Preservation Hall and took more than a year to pull together. It will feature some pretty impressive names, including Dell McCurry, Jason Isbell, Pete Seeger, Ani DeFranco, Steve Earle, Blind Boys of Alabama, Paulo Nutini, Ave LaVere and Jim James. Money from the album will fund the Preservation Hall outreach program for children.
Jaffe said he was surprised at the response he got from other artists eager to work on the album.
“It’s an incredible array of artists from all over the world,” he said. “I think what brought them in was respect and admiration for the history of Preservation Hall. All of them in some strange way have a connection to Preservation Hall or to New Orleans.”
At the end of the month, the band begins an international tour that will take them to Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Slovenia and France.
“I like to travel, because the audiences are so multigenerational,” Jaffe said. “It gives me a very warm feeling. Parents are giving something to the child that the child loves. They are also giving the child a tradition, something that is worth something to him. Worth carrying on. That is a very warm feeling.”
Roy Mata photo
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