What would Louis Armstrong think about Preservation Hall Jazz Band’s new album of original jazz compositions? No one can say for sure but with enough study, I think it’s safe to say that he would love it! Louis may be part of an established genre of traditional jazz (some say he invented it) but there was a time when jazz was as fresh in the culture of New Orleans and the United States as rap or hip-hop is today. Early critics such as Thomas Edison, inventor of the phonograph, ridiculed jazz, saying it sounded better played backwards.
But Louis was a musical innovator and the genre wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for the songs written and played in the style of jazz. New Orleans jazz blends the elements of brass band, the blues, and African spirituals. You can find these elements and fresh new songs in the Preservation Hall Jazz Band’s new album, released this week.
Wether you call it “hot” or “cool”, everyone knows that jazz is jazz, plain and simple. Whether new or old, jazz expresses the rainbow of human emotion. The album entitled That’s It has selections entitled “Dear Lord”, “Rattlin’ Bones” “August Nights” and “Yellow Moon”. So whatever you may think, know that the music knows no end. I suspect that Louis Armstrong would have liked that most of all.
Get the album here: http://www.preservationhall.com/