Preservation Hall Jazz Band is the name for numerous groups of Dixieland Jazz and traditional jazz bands at Preservation Hall in New Orleans, Louisiana, and on tours as organized by the Preservation Hall. The purpose of the Hall has been to preserve the heritage of both New Orleans traditional and Dixieland jazz music born in New Orleans and common to the Riverboats plying the Mississippi River, which spread throughout the South until the early 20th century.
The musicians in the groups have varied during the years since the founding of the hall in the early 1960s.
Bands of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band perform at Preservation Hall on 726 St. Peter Street in the French Quarter, and tour around the world for more than 150 days a year.
Hurricane Katrina, however, forced Preservation Hall to close through the fall and winter of 2005. Although the building remained shut until April 2006, the band continued to tour while the Hall was closed.
Music groups performing at Preservation Hall predated the name "Preservation Hall Jazz Band". The late Allan Jaffe, a young tuba player who had taken over running the hall, organized tours for the musicians who often performed there, naming the band after the venue. He often played tuba in the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. His son, Ben Jaffe, a double bass player and tubist, now leads and performs with the band.
The band has been touring the United States for more than twenty-five years. They seek to preserve the distinctive music that evolved in New Orleans and to bring it to contemporary audiences.
Although similar music sometimes is described now as "Dixieland Jazz", there are distinct characteristics of traditional New Orleans jazz that are not shared among performances often bearing the "Dixieland" label. The latter often is considered as commercial exploitation and distortion of a pure tradition and, therefore, a strict differentiation between the two is made by admirers of what they recognize as "New Orleans Jazz". One may find the term used among traditional New Orleans musicians prior to the change in perception.
The band made a brief appearance in the 1965 film The Cincinnati Kid, including a close-up of pianist and vocalist Emma Barrett.
In 2006, the band was awarded the National Medal of Arts. In 2007, the band accepted an invitation to participate in Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino, contributing their version of "When The Saints Go Marching In", with Theresa Andersson. On July 19, 2011 Preservation Hall Jazz Band performed "I'll Fly Away" live on Late Show with David Letterman with Del McCoury Band.

Lucien Barbarin - trombone
Mark Braud - trumpet
Frank Demond - trombone
Charlie Gabriel - clarinet and saxophone
Ben Jaffe - bass & tuba
Leroy Jones - trumpet
Joseph Lastie, Jr - drums
Carl Le Blanc - banjo
Freddie Lonzo - trombone
Clint Maedgen - vocalist
Rickie Monie - piano
Walter Payton - bass player
Shannon Powell - drums
Mari Watanabe - piano

The Del McCoury Band is a bluegrass band. Originally Del McCoury and the Dixie Pals with Del on guitar and his brother Jerry on bass, the band went through a number of changes until the 1980s when the band solidified its line-up, adding McCoury's sons, Ronnie and Robbie on mandolin and banjo, respectively. In 1988, the "Dixie Pals" name was dropped in favor of the current name. Fiddler Tad Marks and bass player Mike Brantley joined in the early 1990s while the band became a national touring act. In 2004 they were nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album for It's Just the Night, and in 2006 they won that category for The Company We Keep.
The band recorded with Steve Earle on his 1999 album The Mountain. The band has also often performed in recent years with The Lee Boys, with setlists mixing bluegrass, funk and gospel with extended jams on many songs.
The Travelin' McCourys are an offshoot of the Del McCoury Band, featuring all current (2009) members of the band minus Del, augmented by guitarist Cody Kilby on live performances. The Travelin' McCourys also often play joint concerts with The Lee Boys.

narod/link