New Orleans, Louisiana (Top40 Charts/ Preservation Hall Announcement) - We recently sat down with Ben Jaffe, Creative
Director of the New Orleans Preservation Hall (and son of PH founders Allan and
Sandra Jaffe), as he talked about the new 'Made In New Orleans' boxed set on Preservation Hall Recordings. The sets were produced and manufactured in New Orleans, and lovingly assembled at Preservation Hall. Each set contains reproductions of over twenty artifacts from the Preservation Hall Archives as well as never before released music and video footage. No two sets are alike and every piece tells an incredible story. Here's a sampling:
'The Hurricane Sessions' is a disc of rare, unreleased and new recordings assembled by Jaffe. Some of the tracks were found on salvaged master tapes of early PHJB recordings. Jaffe found the tapes in Allen Toussaint's legendary Sea-Saint studios. After Hurricane Katrina there was about 6 feet of water in the studios destroying masters by the likes of Ray Charles, Fats Domino, The Meters, Dr. John and others. Miraculously, Jaffe found the PHJB masters 6 inches above the waterline untouched and undamaged by the rising waters.
Particularly moving was a story about a photo from the 1970's of an original PHJB banjoist, Narvin Kimball on tour in London. Jaffe explained how the day before the Hurricane Katrina, he evacuated the 96 year old musician and his wife from their Uptown home bringing with him only his banjo and some family photos. The home was destroyed by the flood waters.
Another cool artifact in the set is the stationary featuring a picture of original PHJB singer Sweet Emma Barrett. After the singer suffered a stroke leaving her left arm paralyzed, the Jaffe's used the stationary to send to fans who wrote in requesting her autograph.
Each box includes a copy of the first contract from the American Federation Of Musicians signed by Sandra Jaffe and original members of the PHJB (band leader John Casimir, Jim Robinson, Emanuel Sayles, Alferd Williams and Wilbert Tillman) on September 14, 1961.
The Jaffe's were frugal, and in an effort to cut back on unnecessary expenses, when damaged LP's were returned to the Hall, they would cut out the photos from the album cover and use the images as press photographs. Reproductions of the record cover images, printed on the same material as the original record sleeve, is included as well.
