Preservation Hall

The Preservation Hall Foundation serves to protect, preserve and perpetuate traditional New Orleans jazz music and culture through education, outreach and archives programming. The Foundation launched in 2011 as the philanthropic arm of the five decade old music venue and touring band based out of Preservation Hall, at 726 Saint Peter Street in the heart of the historic French Quarter. The Foundation has partnered with Music Rising to provide digital content for educators, students and the general public.

The content below includes video oral histories with the master practitioners of Preservation Hall. Each member of the collective has a multi-generational link to the traditional culture-bearers of New Orleans musical heritage dating back to the turn of the 20th Century. The twenty initial interviews are insightful first person accounts of their personal histories and memories about learning and living in this unique music tradition. Preservation Hall will expand the video series to include all senior performers at the Hall in the future.

Beyond the oral histories, Preservation Hall Foundation provides the Brass BandBook, an online resource for educators and students to deepen their understanding in the traditional forms of brass band repertoire common at second lines and funeral marches. Sheet music for individual instruments as well as narrative descriptions by Preservation Hall Jazz Band trumpet player and band leader Mark Braud. Interactive video content in partnership with Tutti Dynamics will be added to the resource in the future.

Preservation Hall Foundation also provides schools located in or visiting New Orleans with subsidized field trips as well as masterclasses, private concerts and other experiential activities to bring traditional jazz to life. For more information or to schedule an event, please contact info@preshallfoundation.org.