Preservation Hall
Jazz Band have announced the release of their new album, So It Is, the septet's
second release featuring all-new original music, coming April 21 via Legacy
Recordings. So It Is finds the classic PHJB sound invigorated by a number of
fresh influences, not least among them the band's 2015 life-changing trip to
Cuba.
"In Cuba, all of a sudden we were face to face with our
musical counterparts," says bandleader/composer/bassist Ben Jaffe.
"There's been a connection between Cuba and New Orleans since day one -
we're family. A gigantic light bulb went off and we realized that New Orleans
music is not just a thing by itself; it's part of something much bigger. It was
almost like having a religious epiphany."
Producer David Sitek, a founder of art rock innovators TV on
the Radio who has helmed projects by Kelis, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Santigold
among others, offered both a keen modern perspective and a profound respect for
the band's storied history. Upon arriving in New Orleans to meet with the band,
Sitek recalls he and Jaffe accidentally stumbling into one of the city's famed
second-line parades. "I was struck by the visceral energy of the live
music all around, this spontaneous joy, everything so immediate," he says.
"I knew I had to make sure that feeling came out of the studio. It needed
to be alive. It needed to sound dangerous."
The music on So It Is, penned largely by Jaffe and 84
year-old saxophonist Charlie Gabriel in collaboration with the entire PHJB,
stirs together that variety of influences like classic New Orleans cuisine.
Longtime members Jaffe, Gabriel, Clint Maedgen and Ronell Johnson have been
joined over the past 18 months by Walter Harris, Branden Lewis and Kyle
Roussel, and the new blood has hastened the journey into new musical territory.
Inspired by that journey and reinvigorated by the post-Katrina rebuilding of their
beloved home city, PHJB are redefining what New Orleans music means in 2017 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.
Preservation Hall Jazz Band:
BEN JAFFE – Bass (upright), Tuba, Percussion
CHARLIE GABRIEL – Saxophone (tenor), Clarinet
CLINT MAEDGEN – Saxophone (tenor), Percussion
RONELL JOHNSON – Trombone
WALTER HARRIS – Drums, Percussion
KYLE ROUSSEL – Piano, Wurlitzer, Organ
BRANDEN LEWIS – Trumpet
So It Is Tracklist:
1. So It Is
2. Santiago
3. Innocence
4. La Malanga
5. Convergence
6. One Hundred Fires
7. Mad
Preservation Hall Jazz Band Tour Dates:
4/13 – Solana Beach, CA – Belly Up Tavern
4/14 – Indio, CA – Coachella Music Festival
4/17 – Seattle, WA – Neptune Theatre
4/18 – Portland, OR – Aladdin Theater
4/21 – Indio, CA – Coachella Music Festival
4/23 - Asbury Park, NJ - Paramount Theatre
4/25 - New York, NY - Highline Ballroom
5/7 - New Orleans, LA - New Orleans Jazz & Heritage
Festival
6/9 - Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo
6/30-7/2 - Rothbury, MI - Electric Forest
8/5 - Kaslo, BC - Kaslo Jazz Festival
Pre-order So It Is here: https://phjb.lnk.to/SoItIs
Listen to the track "Santiago" here:
https://scache.vevo.com/assets/html/embed.html?video=USSM21700250&partnerId=346c2586-d3f8-4b75-ba0d-398fdb6e4c08&enableShare=0
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