"Oldest of the living Old" The motto is apt for Preservation Hall, showcase for the last of the old-time musicians playing traditional New Orleans Jazz. Called the "real" article, in contrast to commercial 2-beat, and predominently "White" Dixieland, this jazz is high-spirited yet simple and dignified, sometimes ragged but uninhibitedly incandescent.
Such jazz is offered by oldtimers in one of the seven bands featured at the Hall.
New Orleans is the home of Jazz. But the music and many of the musicians followed the money up north after World War I. The distinctive, traditional jazz continued to be played in the Negro community in New Oeleans, but it was lost outside the city to all but historians and a few buffs.
Preservation Hall was founded in 1961 to give audiences a chance to rediscover the vitality and charm of the original jazz form, played live by the dwindling ranks of the original musicians, all contemporaries of Louis Armstrong, Bunk Johnson, King Oliver, Bessie Smith and Jelly Roll Morton.
Art dealer Larry Borenstein and a small group of interested jazz fans founded the center in Borenstein's French Quarter gallery, originally as an open rehearsal hall for a recording venture. Sandra and Allan Jaffe, a young Philadelphia couple, soon took over. The small hall still stands--a plain, dingy room with wooden benches--and many of the same rules apply today.
Emphasis is on listening. There is no dancing and liquor is not sold. Admission once was free, with listeners expected to contribute to a kitty; now there is a small charge. The musicians are paid just above union scale. For many it is the first time their musical ability has provided them with a living income. The Jaffes sell recordings of the groups and book trips for them, such as this engament.
