Preservation Hall Jazz Band, "That's It" | Talks At Google

ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. [APPLAUSE] [MUSIC - PRESERVATION HALL JAZZ BAND, "I THINK I LOVE YOU"] [APPLAUSE] [MUSIC - PRESERVATION HALL JAZZ BAND] [APPLAUSE] [MUSIC - PRESERVATION HALL JAZZ BAND, "THAT'S IT"] CLINT MAEDGEN: Mark Braud. [APPLAUSE] [MUSIC - PRESERVATION HALL JAZZ BAND, "THAT'S IT"] [APPLAUSE] CLINT MAEDGEN: Mark Braud, y'all. [APPLAUSE] CLINT MAEDGEN: And I'd be sorely remiss not to point out Joe Lastie on the drums, y'all. [MUSIC - PRESERVATION HALL JAZZ BAND, "DEAR LORD (GIVE ME STRENGTH)"] ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen-- MARK BRAUD: Rondell Johnson. ANNOUNCER: --Preservation Hall Jazz Band. One more round of applause, please. [APPLASE] MARK BRAUD: One more time, y'all. Rondell Johnson on the tuba, come on. Freddie Lonzo on trombone. Little Joe Lastie, on the drums. Ben Jaffe, on the tuba. Ricky Monie, on the piano. Clint Maedgen on tenor saxophone. Today is his 81st birthday. Charlie Gabriel. Thank you so much, y'all. On trumpet, my mother's favorite trumpet player, Mark Braud, thank you. Preservation Hall Jazz Band. [MUSIC - PRESERVATION HALL JAZZ BAND] [APPLAUSE] ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen, give it up one more time for Preservation Hall Jazz Band. BEN JAFFE: Yeah, last year we celebrated our 50th anniversary, and we actually celebrated here at Carnegie Hall. And we're back again this year. It's a different celebration for us. It's not just a celebration of our incredible history, but it's a celebration of our future. This is the first time in 50 years that we've made a recording entirely of our own compositions. And actually, most of them we played for you today, and it looked like you liked them. So they like them. That last song, that was Rondell Johnson from New Orleans, Louisiana. From a great musical family. His great uncle-- RONDELL JOHNSON: My great uncle, yeah. BEN JAFFE: Great uncle, Kid Joseph, was a bass player at Preservation Hall. This is Freddie Lonzo, he played with my father many years ago in the Olympia Brass Band. Joe comes from one of the great musical families in our city, the Lastie family, just about everybody in his family is one of our city's great musicians. Mark and I have known each other since high school. We went to the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts in New Orleans together. And both of his uncles, Wendell Brunious and the late great John Brunious, have both been leaders of the Preservation Hall Band. And now it's a fourth generation? Fourth generation New Orleans musician, Mark Braud, is up there in that chair. And sitting next to him, the scoundrel. [LAUGHTER] BEN JAFFE: He keeps telling us that this is his 81st birthday. We don't believe him because none of us have actually ever seen his birth date. But we'll believe you, Charlie. Because last year we celebrated his 80th birthday here. That's right, last year we celebrated his 80th birthday in New York and we're back this year. Today is actually Charlie's 81st birthday. CHARLIE GABRIEL: 18 years old, man. BEN JAFFE: 18. 18! [APPLAUSE] CHARLIE GABRIEL: Don't do this. BEN JAFFE: And Charlie comes from, again, one of our great musical families in New Orleans. He's also a fourth generation New Orleans musician and he has three generations of musicians that are continuing to play in New Orleans. Down there at the end, on the piano. Known this gentleman for many, many years. He's been a member of the Preservation Hall on and off since 1982. And he knew my father real well back in the day. And that's the professor, one of the most talented musicians I know. That's Rickie Monie on the piano. [APPLAUSE] BEN JAFFE: And then, all the way down there on the end, the saxophone and vocals. This is one of our dear friends. That's Mr. Clint Maedgen down there. [APPLAUSE] BEN JAFFE: And yeah, we became friends. I don't know if you all are familiar with this gentleman Jim James and this band My Morning Jacket. If you're not, they're incredible and they've become part of our life. They're from Louisville, Kentucky, and we met them down in New Orleans. Jim came and did a recording with us for a benefit project post-Katrina. And out of that first recording, I mean, the moment we met we immediately struck up a friendship. And he invited us to go out on tour with My Morning Jacket. So a New Orleans jazz band touring with a rock and roll band. And it was amazing. It was awesome. It was a great experience for us and it opened up a whole new world to our music. And it has led us to here, today, to me and Jim producing our newest project, "That's It!", which I think they have some copies back there for y'all too. Yeah, it's unbelievable that after 50 years of playing repertoire from the greats, from Jelly Roll Morton, from Louis Armstrong, from King Oliver and all the greats, we're now having an opportunity to create a new book of standards. And that's something that we're real proud of. We all cherish our history and our traditions. And for those of you that have been to New Orleans, you know how important that is to us. It's almost-- without music there wouldn't be a New Orleans, really, you know. And it's because of these gentlemen's family that we're all up here on stage today. So if you don't mind, with that being said, Charlie, would you mind if we all sang you a happy birthday song right now man? Oh, I'm singing it? I'm singing. MARK BRAUD: I can lead it if you want. BEN JAFFE: Lead, you lead it. Yeah, you lead it. [MUSIC - PRESERVATION HALL JAZZ BAND, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY"] [APPLAUSE] CHARLIE GABRIEL: I've been trying to tell friends here that I'm a recycled teenager. [INAUDIBLE] CHARLIE GABRIEL: I am a recycled teenager. ANNOUNCER: All right, one big round of applause, guys. [APPLAUSE] BEN JAFFE: This is supposed to be a Q&A. So I've been giving a lot of answers, no questions. Public forum, should we open it for-- ANNOUNCER: Yeah, do you guys have any questions for them? BEN JAFFE: Or do you just want to say how awesome we are? [APPLAUSE] BEN JAFFE: I think they probably want more music, is actually what they-- ANNOUNCER: What do you say? BEN JAFFE: Yeah, I mean, you guys, you don't have to go back to work, right? Well, you're at work, what am I saying. This is work. ANNOUNCER: Thanks. [MUSIC - PRESERVATION HALL JAZZ BAND] [APPLAUSE]