This recording was captured in 1972, 11 years after the orchestra was established and five years after they started doing road tours. Banjoist /singer Narvin Kimball, who performs on this recording, was the last living original member when he died at age 97 in 2006, after being safely evacuated from New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
This performance is part of a well celebrated U.S. tour, and featured spirited performances by barrelhouse pianist and singer, Billie Pierce, who, with her blind husband De De…entire summary
DeDe Pierce - cornet, vocals
Billie Pierce - piano, vocals
Jim Robinson - trombone
Josiah "Cie" Frazier - drums
Alan Jaffe - tuba
Willie Humphrey - Albert System clarinet
This recording was captured in 1972, 11 years after the orchestra was established and five years after they started doing road tours. Banjoist /singer Narvin Kimball, who performs on this recording, was the last living original member when he died at age 97 in 2006, after being safely evacuated from New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
This performance is part of a well celebrated U.S. tour, and featured spirited performances by barrelhouse pianist and singer, Billie Pierce, who, with her blind husband De De Pierce, remained on the jazz scene for over 60 years. The Humphrey brothers, Willie (clarinet) and Percy (trumpet), along with De De Pierce (trumpet) and group leader, Allan Jaffe (tuba) made up the front-line of the group, playing gloriously on such standards as "The Preservation Instrumental," "Bourbon Street Parade" and the freewheeling classic, "Ice Cream" ("I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream… rah rah rah"). They close the set with the soulful and bluesy, "St. James Infirmary," a standard for orchestras during the rag time era.
The group also does a remake of "Hello Dolly," the Broadway song that went to #1 in 1965 by trumpeter Louis Armstrong, and is largely credited with reviving the traditional jazz of 1920s New Orleans. Most music historians and fans recognize the Preservation Hall Band as not just a musical group, but a cultural phenomenon. The band was acclaimed for its wide range of musical styles that were able to be adapted into the New Orleans groove, among them Dixieland, Southern spirituals, and vintage pop songs from a bygone era.
The goodwill the Preservation Hall Jazz Band created for America and around the world was recognized in 2006, when the orchestra received the National Gold Medal of the Arts by President Bush in Washington, D.C. The hall was closed for a year to recover from Hurricane Katrina, and the group toured during this time trying to raise awareness and funds for struggling New Orleans musicians. Ironically, one of the songs recorded by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band in 1972 (although not performed during this show) is "Lord I Don't Want to be Buried in the Storm" originally written and released by Sister Gertrude Morgan after the deluge in Louisiana in 1927.
The Preservation Hall Jazz Band Web Site
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