(Ed note-we have a new guest writer! Welcome to Joy Childs)
By Joy Childs
Perfect night. Perfect backdrop. Add in the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, The Dustbowl Revival band, the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre on Sat., July 5, and nighttime weather in the seventies and you have the great summer concert. That it was a celebration of all things New Orleans made it perfect.
In case you haven’t heard of Revival, you may not know that The LA Weekly deemed them “Best Live Band in L.A.” It’s a well-deserved accolade: Their blend of old school bluegrass, gospel, jug-band, swamp blues, and 1930’s swing makes them one of the most fun-to-watch bands around.
The eight-piece band, which, interestingly enough, hails from L.A., was the brainchild of lead singer/guitarist and harmonica player Zach Lupetin, who said he was inspired to fuse a brass band with a string band based on such a pairing he saw at a UCLA concert. This night, each multi-talented musician as well as the two lead singers skillfully played a combination of instruments as diverse as the fiddle, mandolin, trombone, clarinet, trumpet, banjo, accordion, tuba, pedal steel, drums, guitars, harmonica, washboard, kazoo, and a bass made out of a canoe oar (!)—whew!
After a rollicking Dixieland opener, the group, especially the banjo and trumpet players, aptly moaned and groaned on traditional gospel-blues call-and-response “John the Revelator” from their latest album, “Carry Me Home.”
Another standout came from their 2011 album “Holy Ghost Station.” Titled “Western Passage,” the tune combined Spanish melodies in a blues framework, with a killer violin solo thrown in for good measure.
Then, as if readying the crowd for the headliners, Revival launched into a rousing New Orleans-style interpretation of the standard “Down By the Riverside” (variously known as “Ain’t Gonna Study War No More” and “Gonna Lay Down My Burden”). And just like that, the audience was transported from hoedowns and get-up-and-dance tunes to the music of a deep South church service.
All in all, The Dustbowl Revival righteously demonstrated a love of its own infectious music—which inspired one fearless couple to square dance up and down the aisles for a good portion of this opening act.
For several years now, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band has regularly brought its New Orleans-style jazz to the Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl, causing white handkerchief-wavers throughout that venue to joyously celebrate their music as if they were in the Crescent City itself. And so it was at the Ford.
Since its start more than fifty years ago, the Band has epitomized the best in its genre and has spread the gospel of this timeless music. Leader/double bassist Ben Jaffe, son of Preservation Hall founders Allan and Sandra, has made it clear that the band has a responsibility to not only carry on the traditions, musical and cultural, that were handed down to generations that came before but to also contribute their voices and experiences to the New Orleans musical tradition.
Currently comprised of eight members playing clarinet, tuba, string bass, piano, drums, sax, trombone, trumpet, each member hails from his own rich musical history, a fact that definitely adds to the group’s rich spirit. Members range in age from the 40’s to the 80’s. Perhaps the most joyous performer to watch on any given night is tuba player Ronell Johnson. Though he’s a very big dude, he typically dances nonstop through the entire set, side to side, with tuba in hand. Quite a feat!
The highlight of show featured a surprisingly good choice: Robby Krieger, guitarist and songwriter of The Doors back in 1967. That group’s “People Are Strange” was sung flawlessly by saxman Clint Maedgen, who blended the song’s European cabaret style with Creole intonations. Krieger provided a rocked-out solo that cemented the classic tune.
Much of the set came from the PHJB’s latest effort, “That’s It,” including “Rattlin’ Bones,” the melody of which evokes another New Orleans staple: Louisana Creole voodoo.
Preservation Hall Jazz Band and The Dustbowl Revival made for a nice little musical gumbo.
Photos by Gennia Cui, The Future Collection
www.fordtheatres.org