Preservation Hall
Jazz Band

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Learn more

At a moment when musical streams are crossing with unprecedented frequency, it’s crucial to remember that throughout its history, New Orleans has been the point at which sounds and cultures from around the world converge, mingle, and resurface, transformed by the Crescent City’s inimitable spirit and joie de vivre. Nowhere is that idea more vividly embodied than in the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, which has held the torch of New Orleans music aloft for more than 50 years, all the while carrying it enthusiastically forward as a reminder that the history they were founded to preserve is a vibrantly living history.

PHJB marches that tradition forward once again on So It Is, the septet’s second release featuring all-new original music. The album redefines what New Orleans music means today by tapping into a sonic continuum that stretches back to the city’s Afro-Cuban roots, through its common ancestry with the Afrobeat of Fela Kuti and the Fire Music of Pharoah Sanders and John Coltrane, and forward to cutting-edge artists with whom the PHJB have shared festival stages from Coachella to Newport, including legends like Stevie Wonder, Elvis Costello, and the Grateful Dead and modern giants like My Morning Jacket, Arcade Fire, and the Black Keys.

In its purest form, Kind Neighbours aims to blend the traditional singer/songwriter genre with the linguistic nuances of jazz.

Composer and arranger Sean Irvine's contemporary project reimagines works from classic and emerging singer-songwriters, orchestrating them for a five-piece ensemble. Featured compositions include songs by Lisa Hannigan, John Mayer, Olivia Kramer, Emily Elbert, Joni Mitchell, and Sufjan Stevens, among others. Audiences are certain to find home with the sounds of this newly established project.

Erin Propp's vibrant vocals infuse the lyrics with depth, while pianist Kevin Curtis, bassist Karl Kohut, and percussionist Paul Klassen collaborate in real-time to reimagine folk and singer-songwriter classics.