Preservation Hall Jazz Band and The Rascals Come To MPAC In November

New Orleans fixture Preservation Hall Jazz Band presents "Pass It On - 60th Anniversary Musical Celebration," at Mayo Performing Arts Center on Thursday, November 10, 2022 at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $29-$69.

Preservation Hall is a humble, much-loved room dedicated to keeping the past and future of jazz alive. It's a well-worn, well-loved space that's physically small but spiritually huge. People from around the globe make pilgrimages to it. This fall, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band is embarking on a pilgrimage of its own: a nationwide tour to celebrate the Hall's 60th anniversary.

At a moment when musical streams are crossing with unprecedented frequency, it's crucial to remember that New Orleans has been where sounds and cultures from around the world converse, mingle and resurface. Nowhere is that idea more embodied than in the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, which has held the torch of New Orleans music aloft for 60 years, all while carrying it enthusiastically forward as a reminder that the history that they were founded to preserve is vibrant living history.

The band's mission remains focused on initiating audiences into the ineffable, almost religious experience of channeling their ancestors through the music and culture they've inherited from them.

"Touring is a part of our ritual," Ben Jaffe, creative director of Preservation Hall, adds. "It's our tradition. When my parents began touring with the band in the early 60s, they were bringing something that most people didn't even know existed to stages all over the world. It was this magnificent revelation to people that something so beautiful could even exist. People come to Preservation Hall and have transformative experiences, and that's part of our mission: to go out in the world and make that experience available to people."