Inside a theatre just off of Bourbon Street, a jazz band grooves for an audience of excited second graders on a field trip. As the music fills the decades-old Preservation Hall, the kids laugh, dance and sing along.
In a break from the show, trumpeter Branden Lewis lifts a metal mute out from a crate.
“Anyone know what this is?,” Lewis asks the class.
“Nooo!” the students drone in unison.
“What if I put it like this?” Lewis asks, lifting the mute up to the instrument's mouth. As he plays through a descending trumpet line, the kids burst into laughter.
Scenes like this are a common sight at Preservation Hall, which is known for being one of New Orleans’ most iconic jazz venues. Its musicians play for thousands of music lovers and students each year — all in service of its mission to preserve and perpetuate jazz culture.
Now, the hall’s foundation is planning to grow its efforts through its largest expansion to date. The expansion includes new artist residency apartments, music practice rooms and an archive featuring a collection of personal records and memorabilia from the Jaffe family, who first opened the hall in 1961.
It’s being funded by a $25 million campaign called “Pass It On.” It’s designed to help create more opportunities for the city’s living jazz legends to share their decades of “living, breathing” knowledge with younger generations of artists, said Ben Jaffe, the hall’s artistic director and son of founders Allan and Sandra Jaffe.
“The basis for this whole new space is to recreate my childhood for generations, hopefully, to come,” Jaffe said.
A way to ‘stick our flag deeper in the ground’
Leaders plan to house the hall’s next chapter in a three-story, 7,000-square-foot building next door to the original venue. The building, located at 730 Saint Peter Street, has sat vacant in recent years.
“I’m convinced that [this new space] was always going to be part of the hall somehow,” Jaffe said. “It was just a matter of time.”
Much of what is planned for the new space is a continuation of what the hall is already known for, Jaffe said. Once it's renovated, the building will host young and aspiring musicians to come learn directly from veteran players, many of whom are employed by the hall.
For years, Jaffe has hosted jazz musicians from around the world in his personal home. Visiting artists will soon be able to stay in apartments at the hall as part of a more formal residency program.
And in a large room with stunning views of the French Quarter, visitors will be able to learn about New Orleans' jazz community through a public archive of historic materials. The hall’s foundation will also take up residence in the building.
“It’s all a way for us to stick our flag deeper in the ground,” Jaffe said.
Preservation Hall’s origin story dates back to the 1950s. As music genres like rock n’ roll and bebop soared in popularity, traditional jazz took a back seat.
Venues across the Crescent City offered fewer opportunities for jazz musicians to perform. Then legendary artists such as George Lewis and Sweet Emma Barrett started performing in an art gallery in the French Quarter, on 726 St. Peter Street.
The sessions attracted hordes of jazz enthusiasts, including Allan and Sandra Jaffe, a married couple from Pennsylvania. The Jaffes fell in love with the music and quickly moved to New Orleans to help run the venue.
Over the years, the nightly sessions have grown and evolved into a multi-pronged cultural institution. While the hall offers almost daily performances, a touring band travels the world to spread traditional jazz to the masses. And the hall’s foundation supports educational programming for students and aspiring musicians of all ages.
A chance to learn from local legends
This year, the hall started doubling down on music education. Leaders hope to create a space where students can learn about jazz from local legends organically while they’re still in New Orleans.
“We’re getting older,” said Rickie Monie, pianist and board member of the hall’s foundation. “These kids still have a chance to learn and react to the music that we present.”
And many are learning. Trumpet player Branden Lewis, 37, moved to New Orleans in 2012 to pursue a career as a musician. He worked his way up from playing on the streets to being booked in local venues and for private gigs — all while taking lessons from musicians at Preservation Hall.
After several years, he got a phone call from the hall, asking him to join their band.
“It changed my life,” Lewis said.
While playing with the band, he learned directly from veterans like Charlie Gabriel and other seasoned musicians who pushed him to memorize melodies and support other band members on stage.
“I have a huge amount of respect for them,” he said.
That curiosity is exactly what leaders at the hall want to see, said Wendell Brunious, the hall’s musical director and a lifelong jazz musician.
“To keep the music going, you have to give it to the young people,” he said. “They’re the future.”
Brunious, who is 79, grew up in the ‘70s, playing at Preservation Hall with his father and learning from local legends, like clarinetist George Lewis. He wants other kids to have the same communal learning experience.
“I want them to realize that they’ve been entertained rather than taught a lesson or spewed some stuff,” he said. “That’s very important to us.”
Educating the next generation
Another key part of the hall’s work is its Kids in the Hall program. It hosts over 8,000 students a year from schools in Louisiana and across the country to learn about New Orleans jazz. New Orleans metro area schools can come for free.
During the field trips, students are encouraged to dance and sing along to the music. For many, it’s their first time learning about jazz.
Micah Venable, 8, visited the hall with her classmates at Samuel J. Green Charter School.
“I usually listen to pop and country music,” she said. “But I like all of the things they sang. I’m surprised that I saw all the instruments that I would never see.”
The “Pass It On” campaign hopes to double the annual number of school-age students coming through the hall. And it’s growing the amount of online educational materials available to the public as well.
“My vision is for these things to continue in perpetuity,” said Ben Jaffe. “These traditions and aspects of New Orleans are so precious and they have to have a home here.”
Many students already feel at home.
Andrew Hennington, a 25-year-old trumpet player from Jefferson Parish, started coming to Preservation Hall on field trips as a teenager. Shortly after the visit, he started taking lessons and playing with the musicians in parades and at JazzFest sets.
“I like the music and it makes me feel good,” he said.
Andrew recently visited the hall with his classmates from the Raphael Village's Guild program for differently-abled adults, and the band asked him to join them on stage and play.
Sitting next to the band’s trumpet player, he launched into the melody of “When the Saints Go Marching In.” His classmates cheered his name as they danced and sang along to the familiar tune.
His mother, Susan was there, and said the hall’s support has opened up a lot of doors.
“We’ll walk through the Quarter, and there are people that I don’t know that are saying ‘hello’ to Andrew because they’ve seen him in here,” she said. “I think he’ll have a good future ahead of him and it’ll be something that’ll bring him pleasure.”
She said her family owes a lot to Preservation Hall. And her son Andrew is fulfilling the promise of its founders to keep jazz alive in New Orleans.
