Music

Preservation Hall Jazz Band has held the torch of New Orleans music—with its inimitable spirit and joie de vivre—aloft for more than 50 years. The septet marches that tradition forward at MetroTech, fresh off the heels of the release of So It Is, their second release featuring all-new original music. The album redefines New Orleans music in 2017, tapping into the city’s Afro-Cuban roots, through its common ancestry with the Afrobeat of Fela Kuti and the Fire Music of Pharoah Sanders and John Coltrane, and forward to cutting-edge artists like Stevie Wonder, Elvis Costello, My Morning Jacket, Arcade Fire, and the Black Keys, with whom the ensemble has shared the stage.