preservation hall jazz band

Tom Holtz · Post by **Tom Holtz** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 8:42 pm

bloke wrote:bloke "If helicon and white guy, then Buescher played by Jaffe (owner of Pres. Hall)"

Unless I'm mistaken, Al Jaffe passed away several years ago. Please correct me if that's in error, I'd love to be wrong on this point.

MichaelDenney · Post by **MichaelDenney** » Sat Feb 05, 2005 8:33 am

We hit Preservation Hall every time we go back to New Orleans too. It's a different group most every night of the week. When we were last there in September I spoke with a young black man named Jeffries, who sounds like the sousaphone player a previous poster saw on tour. He has a great improv style with a percussive, rhythmic line and a dramatic use of silence.

He is a big strong young man, but it hurt me to watch him struggle with that heavy horn and no shoulder pad. If I could find a good one like I had in high school and college, I would send it to him but no luck so far.

Tom · Post by **Tom** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 12:07 am

Al died quite a few years ago - at a young age ('50's)...

...but I believe his wife and son still own it - and the son plays the Buescher helicon sometimes..

This is correct...

Sandra (Al's wife) and Ben (Al's son and current bass player) own Preservation Hall.

Ben plays mostly accoustic bass, but still owns the helicon in question...I've asked him about it. There have been other tubas/sousaphones/helicons used in the group over the years, by the way.

7 guys make up "Preservation Hall Jazz Band," with Ben Jaffe on bass, but there is a regular rotation of "extras" that play with the band on various occasions and under various circumstances. At any given show you may or may not see the "regular line up."

Going to Preservation Hall doesn't always mean that you're going to see the Preservation Hall Jazz Band either. The nightly acts vary, with several different groups of players being billed as the "Preservation Hall Jazz Band."

And yes...they are good...very good...I'm a big fan of their stuff.

MichaelDenney · Post by **MichaelDenney** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 8:11 am

TUBACHRIS85 wrote:Youmay have seen the same guy that I had. I did buy a CD of the preservation hall band, and the people I saw at the concert were the same guys on the CD. So maybeif you have the same CD you could look it up to see who played sousaphone.

-tubachris

Sorry, TubaChris, I don't have a CD with any of that group on it. Wish I did. Clarnetist Michael White almost brought tears to a tough old (although still prematurely gray) tubist's eyes with "Summertime", and the banjo player and drummer were fabulous. We usually stay for only a set or two, but that evening they were so "on" that I lost count.