Preservation Hall Jazz Band have safeguarded the heritage of New Orleans jazz by maintaining a continuous presence at their landmark French Quarter space beginning in the 1960s. Allan Jaffe, a tuba player, and his wife Sandra established the hall, which over time spotlighted an extensive roster of storied local players and released multiple recordings such as 1977's New Orleans, Vol.1, 1998's Because of You, and 2008's The Hurricane Sessions, each highlighting the ensemble's earthy, heartfelt approach to classic New Orleans jazz. Following Allan Jaffe's death in 1987, his son Ben Jaffe, also a tuba player, assumed direction and steered the group toward further development. Although the ensemble's foundation stays rooted in standards and the traditional New Orleans jazz canon, they have become a lively, genre-blending representative of the city's music. Later releases including 2011's American Legacies, 2013's That's It!, and 2017's So It Is incorporate fresh compositions, Afro-Cuban rhythms, and partnerships with musicians outside jazz circles.
In the 1950s, New Orleans art dealer and jazz enthusiast Larry Borenstein started hosting veteran players for informal sessions at his Peter Street gallery in the French Quarter. The rise of early rock & roll and the earlier emergence of bebop and modern jazz in the 1940s sharply reduced performance opportunities for traditional jazz artists. Borenstein's gatherings soon drew larger crowds than his artwork, prompting him to seek operational assistance. In 1961 that support came from tuba player and Wharton School of Business alumnus Allan Jaffe together with his wife Sandra. Devoted followers of traditional jazz, the Jaffes discovered the venue during their honeymoon and chose to relocate permanently to New Orleans. Borenstein shifted the performances to the adjacent building and transferred oversight of both the musicians and the space to the couple. They named the room Preservation Hall and focused on presenting veteran performers whose careers reached back to the origins of New Orleans jazz. Early participants included trumpeters Kid Thomas Valentine, Punch Miller, and De De Pierce; trombonists Louis Nelson and Jim Robinson; clarinetists George Lewis, Albert Burbank, and Willie Humphrey; and pianists Joseph Robichaux, Billie Pierce, and Sweet Emma Barrett. By the early 1970s the front line frequently featured trumpeter Percy Humphrey, his brother Willie on clarinet, and trombonist Jim Robinson, who was replaced after his 1976 death by Frank Demond. Though primarily recognized for live performances, the group issued several respected studio albums led by Barrett and the Pierces, among them 1964's Sweet Emma and Her Preservation Hall Jazz Band, 1971's New Orleans, Vol. 1, and 1982's When the Saints Go Marchin' In (New Orleans, Vol. 3). These sessions convey the lively, grounded spirit of the hall and its players.
After Percy and Willie Humphrey passed in the 1990s, along with other longtime members such as trumpeter Kid Sheik Colar, the band recruited fresh talent. John Brunious and his son Wendell Brunious alternated in the trumpet position. Around the same period bassist Ben Jaffe, son of founder Allan Jaffe and an Oberlin Conservatory of Music graduate, became creative director and the ensemble's principal bassist and tuba player. Under Ben Jaffe's leadership the group expanded its recording activity, issuing well-received projects such as 1996's gospel-themed In the Sweet Bye and Bye, 1998's Because of You, and 2004's Preservation Hall Hot 4 with Duke Dejan. While these recordings affirmed the band's dedication to traditional New Orleans jazz, they also displayed an increasing receptiveness to later developments, including bebop-inflected improvisations, funky R&B grooves, and assorted roots-music influences.
The band's growing catalog coincided with extensive international touring that built considerable goodwill. As a result the musicians stayed on the road for much of 2005 and early 2006 after Preservation Hall temporarily closed following Hurricane Katrina. Although the storm damaged the city, certain archival tapes survived, leading to the 2007 release of Made in New Orleans: The Hurricane Sessions. Three years afterward the ensemble issued the benefit album Preservation: An Album to Benefit Preservation Hall & the Preservation Hall Music Outreach Program, which included contributions from a wide array of guests such as Del McCoury, Steve Earle, Angélique Kidjo, and Terence Blanchard. The following year they reunited with McCoury for the jazz-meets-bluegrass project American Legacies.
Released in 2013, That's It! marked the first collection of entirely original material across the band's five-decade history. A prominent tour ensued, encompassing an appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and a 2014 Coachella performance alongside Arcade Fire. That same year the group also appeared on the Foo Fighters' Sonic Highways album. In 2017 Preservation Hall Jazz Band issued another set of original, crossover-oriented material with So It Is. Co-produced by bassist and bandleader Jaffe and TV on the Radio's Dave Sitek, the album merged the group's New Orleans jazz foundation with Afro-Cuban and R&B elements. They continued their Afro-Cuban explorations on 2019's A Tuba to Cuba, captured during a trip to Cuba that formed the basis of director T.G. Herrington's tour documentary about the band.
