Sat 6/21 @ 8PM
When in New Orleans, fans of traditional jazz flock to Preservation Hall to hear its house band, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, or one of the other New Orleans-style ensembles who play there when the house band is on tour, as they often are.
While the music they play has its roots in the very earliest part of the 20th century, the band itself was formed in 1961 by a New York couple, Allan and Sandra Jaffe, who opened the Preservation Hall as a sanctuary for the then-fading sound. And at the time, many of the city’s jazz pioneers were still alive, eager for work and recognition.
Most are gone now, as is Allan Jaffe. His son Ben, a 1993 Oberlin graduate, now runs Preservation Hall and plays bass and tuba in the band. And the music is no longer in any danger of being forgotten, as new generations of musicians have dived in and rejuvenated it, joining younger energy with a reverence for their talented elders.
You’ll feel like you landed in New Orleans when the Preservation Hall Jazz Band comes back in town to perform at the Kent Stage.
Tickets are $30-$40.
thekentstage.com/preservation-hall-jazz-band/