The Fridays at Five sessions from SFJAZZ continue to delight enthusiasts. This series of weekly pre-recorded concerts aims to keep jazz alive during the current pandemic, and connect jazz lovers to the music and musicians who continue to draw them to SFJAZZ.
This Friday’s concert is an exclusive, world premiere broadcast of a concert filmed at the JAZZ Center in November 2014, featuring previously unseen footage of the late Allen Toussaint, with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.
Toussaint – award-winning solo artist, writer, singer, producer, songwriter, arranger and session pianist – is regarded as a legend of the New Orleans R&B sound, having played an important part in many of the greatest hits to emerge from the Crescent City from the 1950s onwards. As a musician he collaborated with artists such as Dr John, The Meters, The Pointer Sisters, The Neville Brothers and Elvis Costello, and as a composer he produced a number of works which have since become R&B standards, earning him an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 in the non-performer category.
The Preservation Hall Jazz Band – which takes its name from the venue on St Peter Street, known as ‘the cornerstone of New Orleans music and culture’ in the heart of the French Quarter of the city – plays host to ensembles from a current collective of more than 50 local master musicians, on more than 350 nights a year, keeping the tradition of New Orleans jazz alive. Rolling Stone refers to the group as “The past and promise of American music”, and it’s considered to be the ensemble which defines the tradition of Crescent City music.
The Preservation Hall Jazz Band also has a philanthropic mission, the group’s Foundation engaging with educational and social programming in New Orleans. It also supports local institutions through disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil spill, and continues to do so during the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Contributions to the Fridays at Five Tip-Jar this week will be split 50/50 by SFJAZZ and the Preservation Hall Foundation.
The Allen Toussaint and Preservation Hall Jazz Band concert can be viewed online tomorrow, July 3, at 5.00 pm PT. It costs just $5 a month to subscribe to these sessions – well worth it when you look at the line-up. More information, and the link, can be found on the SFJAZZ website.
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