February 24, 2025
Through the iron gate on St. Peter St. lies one of the world’s most respected music venues and the spiritual home of New Orleans jazz, Preservation Hall. It’s small and simple but a little magic happens there daily. The Preservation Hall Jazz Band is dedicated to preserving the traditions of New Orleans jazz as it was in its heyday a hundred years ago, and they play four white-hot, hour-long sets each day.
Situated in the heart of the French Quarter, Preservation Hall presents intimate, acoustic traditional jazz concerts by over fifty local master practitioners. On any given night, audiences bear joyful witness to the evolution of this venerable and living tradition. The story of Preservation Hall dates back to the 1950s at Associated Artists, a small art gallery at 726 St. Peter St. Upon opening the gallery, the proprietor Larry Borenstein found that it curtailed his ability to attend jazz concerts and began inviting musicians to perform “rehearsal sessions” in the gallery itself. These sessions featured living legends of New Orleans jazz … George Lewis, Punch Miller, Sweet Emma Barrett, Billie and De De Pierce, The Humphrey Brothers, and dozens more. During this period, traditional jazz had taken a backseat in popularity to rock n’ roll and bebop, leaving many of these players to work odd jobs. Although concerted efforts by aficionados such as William “Bill” Russell succeeded in recording and documenting this fading art form during the “New Orleans Jazz Revival” of the 1940s, venues that offered live traditional jazz were few and far between.
Before long, Borenstein’s sessions attracted enthusiasts of jazz to his gallery including a young couple from Pennsylvania named Allan and Sandra Jaffe. The Jaffes arrived here in 1960 on an extended honeymoon. During their visit, they conversed with a few jazz musicians in Jackson Square who were on their way to “Mr. Larry’s Gallery.” As avid fans of jazz, the honeymooners followed the musicians and were introduced to Borenstein along with a number of living jazz greats that had gathered that evening for a jam session. Needless to say, they were delighted by what they saw and heard! The music was pure and unaffected by the swaying of popular music. Most of the musicians were elderly; many were contemporaries of Buddy Bolden and other early jazz practitioners. The Jaffes knew they happened upon something special and soon after moved to New Orleans permanently. As jam sessions became more frequent, Borenstein moved his gallery to the building next door. Performances were held nightly for donations and were organized by The New Orleans Society for the Preservation of Traditional Jazz.
Shortly after the Jaffes returned to New Orleans, Borenstein passed the nightly operations of the hall to Allan Jaffe and Preservation Hall was born. Operating as a family business, Preservation Hall supported the unique culture of traditional jazz in New Orleans, which developed in the local melting pot of African, Caribbean, and European musical traditions at the turn of the 20th century. Preservation Hall was a rare space in the South where racially-integrated bands and audiences shared music together during the Jim Crow era. At the center of that family business, the Jaffe’s became involved in the southern Civil Rights Movement as heads of an integrated venue in a time of cruelly policed racial segregation.
The nightly jazz concerts at Preservation Hall gathered a significant amount of press interest from its inception, first from local media, then from national outlets such as The New York Times and the Brinkley News Hour. Allan believed the success of both the Hall and its mission of preservation would require the bands to tour. In 1963, he organized the newly minted Preservation Hall Jazz Band for a string of performances in the Midwest. The tour was a success and interest in the band and the rediscovery of New Orleans jazz stretched as far as Japan. Many charter members of the band had performed with the pioneers who invented jazz including Buddy Bolden, Jelly Roll Morton, and Louis Armstrong. The following decades found the band traveling and featured on a wide array of performances, from The Filmore West with the Grateful Dead to the palace of the King of Thailand who sat in on alto sax. Following Allan Jaffe’s untimely passing in 1987, Preservation Hall and The Preservation Hall Jazz Band now operate under the leadership of the Jaffe’s second son, Benjamin, who has lived his whole life with the rhythm of traditional jazz pulsing through his veins.
Reserve your tickets online at Preservationhall.com and bring the family! Dress casually with light clothing because there’s no air conditioning and you will want to dance! Bring your own drinks and enjoy a slice of magical traditional jazz.
Situated in the heart of the French Quarter, Preservation Hall presents intimate, acoustic traditional jazz concerts by over fifty local master practitioners. On any given night, audiences bear joyful witness to the evolution of this venerable and living tradition. The story of Preservation Hall dates back to the 1950s at Associated Artists, a small art gallery at 726 St. Peter St. Upon opening the gallery, the proprietor Larry Borenstein found that it curtailed his ability to attend jazz concerts and began inviting musicians to perform “rehearsal sessions” in the gallery itself. These sessions featured living legends of New Orleans jazz … George Lewis, Punch Miller, Sweet Emma Barrett, Billie and De De Pierce, The Humphrey Brothers, and dozens more. During this period, traditional jazz had taken a backseat in popularity to rock n’ roll and bebop, leaving many of these players to work odd jobs. Although concerted efforts by aficionados such as William “Bill” Russell succeeded in recording and documenting this fading art form during the “New Orleans Jazz Revival” of the 1940s, venues that offered live traditional jazz were few and far between.
Before long, Borenstein’s sessions attracted enthusiasts of jazz to his gallery including a young couple from Pennsylvania named Allan and Sandra Jaffe. The Jaffes arrived here in 1960 on an extended honeymoon. During their visit, they conversed with a few jazz musicians in Jackson Square who were on their way to “Mr. Larry’s Gallery.” As avid fans of jazz, the honeymooners followed the musicians and were introduced to Borenstein along with a number of living jazz greats that had gathered that evening for a jam session. Needless to say, they were delighted by what they saw and heard! The music was pure and unaffected by the swaying of popular music. Most of the musicians were elderly; many were contemporaries of Buddy Bolden and other early jazz practitioners. The Jaffes knew they happened upon something special and soon after moved to New Orleans permanently. As jam sessions became more frequent, Borenstein moved his gallery to the building next door. Performances were held nightly for donations and were organized by The New Orleans Society for the Preservation of Traditional Jazz.
Shortly after the Jaffes returned to New Orleans, Borenstein passed the nightly operations of the hall to Allan Jaffe and Preservation Hall was born. Operating as a family business, Preservation Hall supported the unique culture of traditional jazz in New Orleans, which developed in the local melting pot of African, Caribbean, and European musical traditions at the turn of the 20th century. Preservation Hall was a rare space in the South where racially-integrated bands and audiences shared music together during the Jim Crow era. At the center of that family business, the Jaffe’s became involved in the southern Civil Rights Movement as heads of an integrated venue in a time of cruelly policed racial segregation.
The nightly jazz concerts at Preservation Hall gathered a significant amount of press interest from its inception, first from local media, then from national outlets such as The New York Times and the Brinkley News Hour. Allan believed the success of both the Hall and its mission of preservation would require the bands to tour. In 1963, he organized the newly minted Preservation Hall Jazz Band for a string of performances in the Midwest. The tour was a success and interest in the band and the rediscovery of New Orleans jazz stretched as far as Japan. Many charter members of the band had performed with the pioneers who invented jazz including Buddy Bolden, Jelly Roll Morton, and Louis Armstrong. The following decades found the band traveling and featured on a wide array of performances, from The Filmore West with the Grateful Dead to the palace of the King of Thailand who sat in on alto sax. Following Allan Jaffe’s untimely passing in 1987, Preservation Hall and The Preservation Hall Jazz Band now operate under the leadership of the Jaffe’s second son, Benjamin, who has lived his whole life with the rhythm of traditional jazz pulsing through his veins.
Reserve your tickets online at Preservationhall.com and bring the family! Dress casually with light clothing because there’s no air conditioning and you will want to dance! Bring your own drinks and enjoy a slice of magical traditional jazz.
