Jazz group keeps history alive at Gallo Center

When the word “preservation” starts off your name, odds are you know a thing or two about protecting history.

So for the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, keeping the musical history of New Orleans alive is in its blood. The group is led by second-generation director Ben Jaffe, the son of its co-founders, and carries on today spreading the distinctive sound and style of the region around the world.

The group, which has been going strong more than 50 years now, stops by the Gallo Center for the Arts for a Sunday afternoon show.

“One of the most important meanings of the world ‘preservation’ is to protect. That’s truly what I believe we’re doing at Preservation Hall, protecting and nurturing a way of life and a community that is an ecosystem,” Jaffe said in a phone interview from New Orleans. “Everyone who lives in New Orleans grew up in this great music world. You have an obligation to your community to be an active member of your community. In a beautiful way, I think New Orleans is a model for the way that other communities should interact.”

His parents, Allan and Sandra Jaffe, opened the jazz venue Preservation Hall in New Orleans’ French Quarter in 1961. Two years later, they formed the first Preservation Hall Jazz Band, which began touring and performing across the country. The younger Jaffe carries on that tradition, now leading and playing tuba in the group.

“Having been around for more than 50 years, to me that validates my parents’ philosophy and mission,” he said. “It means what you’ve spent your life working on was important and means something to people. That’s really meaningful.”

Still, following in his parents’ footsteps as creative director for the band and hall wasn’t so much a conscious decision for Jaffe as a way of life.

“I never came out and said it, but when I look back on my life, it was a life spent around music and surrounded by musicians,” he said. “I’m very blessed to be born into this world. That’s what is important to me and that’s something that is valuable to us to uphold that experience.”

Still, Jaffe took a break from the road in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. He spearheaded the New Orleans Musicians Hurricane Relief Fund to help rebuild the city and its arts scene. He has since returned to the tour and says the city is also returning to its old self.

“We’ll be commemorating the 10th anniversary of Katrina this year, which is remarkable and hard to believe. It has only been about three years now that we first started seeing a return to normalcy in New Orleans. It’s a return to something that reminded us of the way things were before the hurricane,” he said.

But the city isn’t just back to its old self, Jaffe said, it’s becoming something even stronger. He said the city of self-described underdogs has in some ways rebuilt itself into a model for the country in terms of business growth and arts appreciation.

“Ten years ago we didn’t know if New Orleans was going to come back or how it would come back. Those were very painful times. We all walk around with Katrina scars on our souls. Many of us lost homes, lost businesses, lost family members. It was a tragedy of unparalleled proportion by U.S. standards,” he said. “So to say we’ve not only recovered but surpassed expectations as a city is remarkable. It’s a new feeling for us.”

The band will embark on their own new adventure when it attends the Havana Jazz Festival this year thanks to a recent loosening of travel restrictions to Cuba. Jaffe said the group is looking forward to the experience.

“It’s very rare as a collective band to have a first-time experience together, particularly because of the nature of our group,” he said. “We have members in the band in their 80s, members in their 30s. That is a wide range of experience. It’s very rare we’ll all do something for the first time together. That’s very special to me. We truly get to go and do in the world what it is is most important to us as musicians. And that is bringing the incredible joy that we experience by playing New Orleans music to a new community.”

Over the years, the group has played the White House and Carnegie Hall and earned the National Medal of Arts. Recently the group was inducted into the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry. For the Modesto appearance, Jaffe promises an intimate show that will connect the audience to the very roots of jazz.

“In the Preservation Hall Jazz Band you get to hear people directly related through family members to the pioneers of jazz. To be able to celebrate that legacy is an incredible thing,” he said. “There are musicians whose families have played music in New Orleans for over 100 years. That’s an incredible tradition to celebrate. It’s something everyone can take away from the show.”

This story was originally published May 27, 2015 at 5:00 PM with the headline "Jazz group keeps history alive at Gallo Center."