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The world
famous Preservation Hall Jazz Band will bring its unique style
of New Orleans music to Brigham Young University-Idaho in
Rexburg with a concert Saturday, Dec. 3, at 7:30 p.m. in the
Hart Auditorium.
Tickets
for the Center Stage Performing Arts Series event are $12 for
the general public and $4 for BYU-Idaho students. A preshow
dinner is also available for an additional $12. Tickets may be
purchased from the BYU-Idaho Ticket Office, by calling 496-2230
or online at www.byui.edu/tickets.
Preservation Hall Jazz Band derives its name from Preservation
Hall, the venerable music venue located in the heart of New
Orleans’ French Quarter, founded in 1961 by Allan and Sandra
Jaffe. The band has traveled worldwide spreading their mission
to nurture and perpetuate the art form of
New Orleans
jazz.
Whether
performing at Carnegie Hall or Lincoln
Center,
for British Royalty or the King of Thailand, this music embodies
a joyful, timeless spirit. Under the auspices of current
director Ben Jaffe, the son of founders Allan and Sandra,
Preservation Hall continues with a deep reverence and
consciousness of its greatest attributes in the modern day as a
venue, band and record label.
The
building that houses Preservation Hall has housed many
businesses over the years including a tavern during the War of
1812, a photo studio and an art gallery. It was during the years
of the art gallery that then owner, Larry Bornstein, began
holding informal jam sessions for his close friends. Out of
these sessions grew the concept of Preservation Hall. The
intimate venue, whose weathered exterior has been untouched over
its history, is a living embodiment of its original vision.
To this
day, Preservation Hall has no drinks, air conditioning or other
typical accoutrements strictly welcoming people of all ages
interested in having one of the last pure music experiences left
on the earth.
The band
began touring in 1963 and for many years there were several
bands successfully touring under the name Preservation Hall.
Many of the band’s charter members performed with the pioneers
who invented jazz in the early twentieth century including Buddy
Bolden, Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong and Bunk Johnson.
Band leaders over the band’s history include the brothers Willie
and Percy Humphrey, husband and wife Billie and De De Pierce,
and famed pianist Sweet Emma Barrett.
These
founding artists and dozens of others passed on the lessons of
their music to a younger generation who now follow in their
footsteps like current band leader and trumpeter John Brunious. |