AUGUST 13, 2012
Preservation Hall Jazz Band Announce New Live Album
St. Peter And 57th St. To Be Released On September 25th
New Orleans' legendary conservators of traditional jazz, The Preservation Hall Jazz Band, are scheduled to return with a brand new album, recorded live at New York's equally legendary Carnegie Hall, this fall.
The new album, St. Peter and 57th St. was recorded in Jarnuary 2012, in celebration of Preservation Hall's 50th anniversary, and features an unusual roster of musical guests including Steve Earle, My Morning Jacket, Yasiin Bey (aka Mos Def) and Merrill Garbus of tUnE-yArDs, as well as New Orleans stalwarts like Trombone Shorty and Allen Toussaint.
St. Peter and 57th St will be released domestically on September 25th on Rounder Records, with international release dates still TBA.
The full press release for the album is reprinted below.
In commemoration and celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the iconic venue Preservation Hall, the prolific New Orleans jazz legends Preservation Hall Jazz Band are set to release a live recording of the band's acclaimed January 7th performance at Carnegie Hall. Entitled St. Peter and 57th (September 25, Rounder Records), the album will feature a number of special guests from an assortment of genres including, George Wein, Del McCoury Band, Allen Toussaint, Ed Helms, GIVERS, Steve Earle, Tao Seeger, My Morning Jacket, Trombone Shorty, Yasiin Bey (aka Mos Def), King Britt, Blind Boys of Alabama, and Merrill Garbus of tUnE-yArDs. This performance was a family reunion in many ways, as Preservation Hall Jazz Band have previously worked with each of their guest musicians over the course of the past 7 years, continuing their mission to preserve and perpetuate traditional New Orleans-Style Jazz. The concert was orchestrated to benefit the Preservation Hall Music Outreach Program, directly supporting the passing of the musical and cultural traditions of New Orleans to the city's next generation of musicians. A portion of the proceeds from the album will also benefit the program. The band is also sharing "St. James Infirmary, Part 1" featuring My Morning Jacket's Jim James, which just premiered on Pitchfork.
The Preservation Hall Jazz Band has been carrying the distinctive sound of New Orleans jazz around the world on behalf of Preservation Hall, a unique venue that embodies the city's musical legacy. With a cast of musicians schooled through first-hand experience and apprenticeship into the music's historic traditions, the PHJB has served as an irreplaceable, vital link to the earliest days of one of America's most beloved forms of popular music.