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From New Orleans' famed Preservation Hall, the jazz of the Big Easy comes to Campbell's own preserved music hall, the Heritage Theatre, when the Preservation Hall Jazz Band comes marching in on April 8.
For more than 40 years, the band has been treating French Quarter visitors to live performances of authentic New Orleans jazz, a brass-and-woodwinddominated sound sometimes also called traditional jazz. Ensembles usually include drums, bass, clarinet, piano, trombone and sometimes banjo, with a trumpet often as the lead instrument. The genre is known for its unembellished arrangements and, as in many other forms of jazz, improvisation is a key element of the style. New Orleans jazz often includes gospel hymns and brass band music.
The Preservation Hall got its start in 1961 when East Coast natives Allen and Sandra Jaffe bought a ramshackle 18th-century building in the French Quarter that was at the time, an art gallery where local musicians occasionally jammed. But the Preservation Hall got its name not for what the couple did to the building (which, now famously a point of pride, was absolutely nothing), but because they made the place into a full-time music venue where older musicians could perform their specialty: traditional jazz, the popularity of which was then in serious decline.
To this day, from the outside, the now-legendary spot is unobtrusive in daylight, even quite rundown looking, but crowds gather nightly to pack the place and to hear the traditional jazz stylings of a rotating roster of musicians. The Preservation Hall Jazz Band swaps members in and out so that the band can always maintain an ensemble at home and tour both nationally and around the world.
The band's current lineup includes clarinetist Ralph Johnson, drummer Joseph Lastie Jr., trumpeter and bandleader John Brunious and pianist Rickie Monie, all New Orleans natives, who grew up playing traditional jazz. Also part of the lineup is the Jaffes' son, Ben, on bass. Rounding out the ensemble is trombonist Frank Demond, who was mentored by top New Orleans trombonist Jim Robinson, and has played with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band regularly since the early '70s.
The Preservation Hall Jazz Band performs with the Peninsula Banjo Band, a group of local musicians that boasts the same longevity as the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. In its 40 years, the Peninsula Banjo Band has played concerts and parties, offered scholarships to anyone interested in learning banjo and has been very active in the charitable community, raising more than $168,000 for local nonprofits.
The Preservation Hall Jazz Band and the Peninsula Banjo Band perform April 8, 7:30 p.m. at the Heritage Theatre, 1 W. Campbell Ave, Campbell. Tickets are $36. 408.866.2700 or www.heritagetheatre.org.
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