Hear the Preservation Hall Jazz Band live on The Clayton Center stage on Saturday, Dec. 3, in its popular holiday presentation Creole Christmas.
This holiday season marks the eighth year the group has taken its holiday spirit on the road. Seasonal favorites to be performed will include “Blue Christmas,” “Swinging In a Winter Wonderland” and “Bells Will Be Ringin.”
The Preservation Hall Jazz Band derives its name from Preservation Hall, the historic music venue founded in 1961 in the heart of New Orleans’ French Quarter. The hall has remained the city’s premier venue for the performance of original, traditional New Orleans-style jazz and is a mecca for tourists who come to hear the authentic sounds of early New Orleans jazz in the city where the genre began.
Since opening its doors to the public, it has been the mission of Preservation Hall to showcase the national treasures of traditional New Orleans jazz music. Preservation Hall Jazz Band this year celebrates 50 years of traveling worldwide to continue that mission.
The band’s current roster represents a direct lineage from the earliest incarnations of New Orleans jazz, featuring some of the greatest and most historic musicians touring the globe today.
These include Ben Jaffe, son of Preservation Hall founders Allan and Sandra Jaffe, creative director and tuba; Mark Braud, trumpet and vocals; Charlie Gabriel, clarinet and vocals; Joseph Lastie Jr., drums; Freddie Lonzo, trombone; Rickie Monie, piano; and Clint Maedgen, tenor saxophone and vocals.
When not on the road, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band lends its time and talent to numerous projects. Recently, the band has collaborated with Mos Def, Lenny Kravitz and Trombone Shorty on a benefit single to aid the Gulf Coast in the wake of the oil catastrophe.
The band also released a benefit album featuring Tom Waits, Merle Haggard, Jim James, Richie Havens, Pete Seeger and others. Proceeds from the album continue to benefit the Preservation Hall venue as well as its educational outreach program.
The Clayton Center is a renovated and historic 600-seat auditorium at 111 E. Second St. in downtown Clayton, located about 15 miles east of Raleigh.
Tickets for the 8 p.m. Preservation Hall Jazz Band concert are $29 and are available by calling (919) 553-1737, at The Clayton Center Box Office weekdays from 10 a.m. until noon and from 1 until 5 p.m., or online at www.theclaytoncenter.com.
