Details

Item details

Date

December 13, 2024 7:00PM

Location

Jemison Concert Hall

Description

Operating as a family business, Preservation Hall supported the unique culture of traditional jazz in New Orleans, which developed in the local melting pot of African, Caribbean, and European musical traditions at the turn of the 20th Century. Preservation Hall was a rare space in the South where racially-integrated bands and audiences shared music together during the Jim Crow era. At the center of that family business, the Jaffe’s became involved in the southern Civil Rights Movement (and were apprehended by police on several occasions) as heads of an integrated venue in a time of cruelly-policed racial segregation. 

The nightly jazz concerts at Preservation Hall gathered a significant amount of press interest from its inception, first from local media, then a year later from national outlets, such as The New York Times and the Brinkley News Hour. As time went on, Allan believed the success of both the Hall and its mission of preservation would require these bands to tour, and in 1963, he organized the newly minted Preservation Hall Jazz Band for a string of performances in the Midwest. 

True to Jaffe’s estimation, the tour was a success and interest in the band and the rediscovery of New Orleans music stretched as far as Japan. The following decades found the band traveling and featured on a wide array of performances, from The Filmore West with the Grateful Dead to the palace of the King of Thailand (who sat in on alto sax). Following Allan Jaffe’s untimely passing in 1987, Preservation Hall and The Preservation Hall Jazz Band now operate under the leadership of the Jaffe’s second son, Benjamin. 

Notes

• Tickets valid for performance date and time only.
• No refunds. Exchanges subject to availability.
• Late seating at discretion of house management.
• All performances are subject to change.