The National Concert Hall begins its annual Summer Jazz Party on a joyous note with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, which takes to the stage tonight in Taipei.
The group plays traditional New Orleans jazz, one of the major roots of modern jazz and popular American music, and commonly associated with exuberant, classic sounds generated by a chorus of tubas, saxophones, trombones, trumpets and clarinets.
The band’s name reflects both its mission, to nurture and promote the jazz art form, and its locale. A centuries-old building in New Orleans’ French Quarter, Preservation Hall was founded in the early 1960s by Allan and Sandra Jaffe with the goal of providing a venue for traditional New Orleans jazz musicians at a time when the genre was being eclipsed by modern jazz and rock ’n’ roll.
The musicians who appeared regularly at Preservation Hall began touring as a band in 1963, and the group’s members were at the heart of the jazz revolution, having performed with jazz pioneers such as Buddy Bolden, Jelly Roll Morton and Louis Armstrong.
The band, whose musicians span several generations, continues today as part family affair, part musical mentorship. The founders’ son, 39-year-old Ben Jaffe, plays tuba and serves as creative director for both the band and Preservation Hall. Jaffe’s music teacher in school was Walter Payton, 67, who plays bass for the group. Thirty-six-year-old trumpeter Mark Braud is the nephew of two former Preservation Hall bandleaders, Wendell and John Brunious Jr, both accomplished and highly regarded New Orleans musicians.
The Preservation Hall Jazz Band is holding a workshop for musicians tomorrow at 4pm at the Dream Community (夢想社區), 95 Minzu 2nd St, Shijr City, Taipei County (台北縣汐止市民族二街95號). For details, call (02) 2695-9393.
The Summer Jazz Party, running every weekend until Sept. 25, continues tomorrow with a free outdoor event, which includes a performance by the Ralph Peterson Jr Quintet.
Peterson, a drummer and composer, began his career in Art Blakey’s Jazz Messenger Big Band when he was just a college student, and today serves as a professor at the Berklee College of Music. He performs at 8:45pm in front of the National Theater (國家戲劇院), outside corridor No. 6 (六號門迴廊). Local acts will also perform throughout the day, beginning at 4pm.
Other headlining artists slated to perform next month include Japanese fusion band T-Square, American vocalist and Grammy nominee Stacey Kent and legendary guitarist John Scofield, who will be featured in a Taipei Times interview next Friday.
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