 |
Ben Jaffe | |
|---|---|
 Jaffe playing sousaphone with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, 2007 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | January 26, 1971 |
| Genres | Jazz, New Orleans Jazz |
| Instrument(s) | Tuba, double bass |
| Website | preservationhalljazzband |
Benjamin Jaffe (born January 26, 1971) is the creative director of Preservation Hall and plays tuba and double bass with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. [1]
He is the son of Preservation Hall's former managers, Allan Jaffe and Sandra Jaffe. Jaffe grew up in New Orleans' French Quarter, two blocks from Preservation Hall. His father, Allan, in addition to managing the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Preservation Hall, played tuba with the band as well. From birth, Ben was brought on tour with the band during their international tours. Ben’s early musical memories are marching alongside his father in Mardi Gras Parades and jazz funeral processions. He began playing in grammar school at McDonogh 15 School for the Creative Arts in the French Quarter. During high school at NOCCA, he studied upright bass under Walter Payton. [2] After high school, Ben attended Oberlin College where he received a degree in bass performance in 1992.
Following his graduation, Ben returned to New Orleans, resumed his father's position as manager of the Preservation Hall venue and joined the Preservation Hall Jazz Band on tour playing bass. Benjamin produced a number of albums for the Preservation Hall band, and most recently co-produced the band's first album of original compositions "That's It," alongside My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James.
Benjamin serves as the Chairman of the Board of the Preservation Hall Foundation, the charitable non-profit that serves the mission to "protect, preserve and perpetuate New Orleans jazz music and culture."
In episode 6 of "Foo Fighters: Sonic Highways," Dave Grohl interviews Ben about his parents' role in preserving New Orleans jazz, the history of Preservation Hall and Jaffe's current role as director, operating the hall.
David Eric Grohl is an American musician. He is the founder of the rock band Foo Fighters, for which he is the lead singer, guitarist, and principal songwriter. Prior to forming Foo Fighters, he was the drummer of rock band Nirvana from 1990 to 1994.
Georg Albert Ruthenberg, better known by his stage name Pat Smear, is an American musician. He is best known for being the lead guitarist and co-founder of Los Angeles–based punk band The Germs and for being a rhythm guitarist for grunge band Nirvana, and Foo Fighters. After Nirvana disbanded following the suicide of its frontman Kurt Cobain, drummer Dave Grohl went on to become the frontman of rock band Foo Fighters with Smear joining on guitar. He left Foo Fighters in 1997—before rejoining as a touring guitarist in 2005—and has been a full-time member since 2010.
Foo Fighters is an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Founded initially as a one-man project by former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, the lineup now consists of Grohl, Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett (guitar), Pat Smear (guitar), Rami Jaffee (keyboards), and Josh Freese (drums).
Preservation Hall is a jazz venue in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. The building is associated with a house band, a record label, and a non-profit foundation.
Nicholas Payton is an American trumpet player and multi-instrumentalist. A Grammy Award winner, he is from New Orleans, Louisiana. He is also a prolific and provocative writer who comments on a multitude of subjects, including music, race, politics, and life in America.
The Preservation Hall Jazz Band is a New Orleans jazz band founded in New Orleans by tuba player Allan Jaffe in the early 1960s. The band derives its name from Preservation Hall in the French Quarter. In 2005, the Hall's doors were closed for a period of time due to Hurricane Katrina, but the band continued to tour.
Narvin Kimball was a jazz musician who played 4-string banjo and string bass and was also known for his fine singing voice.
Lucien Barbarin was an American trombone player. Barbarin toured internationally with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and with Harry Connick Jr.
Percy Gaston Humphrey was an American jazz trumpeter and bandleader in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Troy Andrews, also known by the stage name Trombone Shorty, is an American musician, producer, and philanthropist from New Orleans, Louisiana. He is best known as a trombone and trumpet player but also plays drums, organ, and tuba. He has worked with some of the biggest names in rock, pop, jazz, funk, and hip hop. Andrews is the younger brother of trumpeter and bandleader James Andrews III and the grandson of singer and songwriter Jessie Hill. Andrews began playing trombone at age four, and since 2009 has toured with his own band, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue.
The Olympia Brass Band is an American jazz brass band from New Orleans.
Allan Phillip Jaffe was an American jazz tubist and the entrepreneur who, along with his wife Sandra, developed Preservation Hall into a New Orleans jazz tradition.
Benjamin Jonah Wolfe is an American jazz bassist who has performed in groups with Wynton Marsalis, Harry Connick Jr., and Diana Krall. He is currently on the teaching faculty at The Juilliard School Jazz Division.
Branford Marsalis is an American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader. While primarily known for his work in jazz as the leader of the Branford Marsalis Quartet, he also performs frequently as a soloist with classical ensembles and has led the group Buckshot LeFonque. From 1992 to 1995 he led the Tonight Show Band.
Shannon Powell is an American jazz and ragtime drummer. He has toured internationally and played with Ellis Marsalis, Harry Connick, Jr., Danny Barker, Branford Marsalis, Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Diana Krall, Earl King, Dr. John, Preservation Hall, Marcus Roberts, John Scofield, Jason Marsalis, Leroy Jones, Nicholas Payton, and Donald Harrison Jr. Powell toured and recorded with fellow New Orleans native, Harry Connick Jr.
Sonic Highways is a 2014 American documentary miniseries directed by Dave Grohl and written by Mark Monroe. The documentary was made concurrently with Foo Fighters' eighth album, Sonic Highways, and was broadcast on HBO. Grohl described the project as "a love letter to the history of American music". Each of the eight episodes is presented as an exploration of the musical history of a different American city through a series of interviews by Grohl. The group is also shown incorporating what they learned from the interviews into the writing and recording of a new song in or near that city. The series debuted on October 17, 2014.
Carl LeBlanc is an American guitarist and four-string banjo player. LeBlanc is most striking for his work in both avant garde jazz and traditional jazz—being the only musician to work with famed afrofuturist keyboardist/bandleader Sun Ra and Preservation Hall.
So It Is is a studio album by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band of New Orleans, Louisiana. It was released on April 21, 2017 on Legacy Recordings, produced by TV On the Radio's Dave Sitek and Ben Jaffe, and recorded at Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, TX. Dave had the band record in the round so they could feed off of each other's energy.
A Tuba to Cuba is a 2018 American documentary film about the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. The leader of New Orleans' famed Preservation Hall Jazz Band seeks to fulfill his late father's dream of retracing their musical roots to the shores of Cuba in search of the indigenous music that gave birth to New Orleans jazz. A Tuba to Cuba celebrates the triumph of the human spirit expressed through the universal language of music and challenges us to resolve to build bridges, not walls. The film was directed by T. G. Herrington and Danny Clinch and narrated by Ben Jaffe whose parents founded Preservation Hall in a segregated 1961 New Orleans. The documentary had its world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas, where Michael King of the Austin Chronicle exclaimed that it is "very likely to become a classic of the music documentary genre."
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
