Photo Series: The Ritual

The musicians of Preservation Hall aren’t just playing New Orleans music. They’re preserving it.

Before every show at 726 St. Peter, musicians gather in the courtyard beyond the carriageway. They tune in, warm up, and prepare to take the stage. It’s a ritual passed down by generations of New Orleans musicians: and one that’s still being passed down today.

We hope you enjoy The Ritual: a photo series providing an intimate glance at some of the precious moments just before a performance at Preservation Hall.

"I always liked music. I used to follow the parades as far as I thought I could go because I knew my mom was watching me. It might be three or four blocks, but I knew she was watching me. You know: long eyes, long arms of your mother."

Freddie Lonzo, trombone

"You got to really feel it to play it. Every note connects. Just like speaking... You don't know what you're going to play until you start playing. You just feel it in your body."

Daniel “Weenie” Farrow, saxophone

"I'd go down to Preservation Hall and I'd hear the greats, you know, like Sweet Emma, Sing Miller, and Sadie Goodson. I've been influenced by many different musicians... but I didn't want to play like Sweet Emma; I didn't want to play like them. I wanted to develop a style of my own, just as they did."

Rickie Monie, piano

"I heard my daddy and my brother play. John used to carry his mouthpiece around in his back pocket. I wanted to be like John, so I used to carry a mouthpiece in my back pocket before I even played the trumpet."

Wendell Brunious, trumpet

"When I walk on stage, I'm standing on the shoulders of a lot of great men that I had the opportunity to share my life with. They live in me. That's what you feel coming through my instrument: all those old guys. I shared time with them, ate with them, sweated with them. That's what comes through the horn."

Gregg Stafford, trumpet

“I was blessed. I’ve been really, really fortunate. Everybody brought something different. Like Henry Butler. People used to ask us what we were going to play. I’d say, ‘I don’t know.’ He never called a tune. He would just start playing. Through his doodling, you would hear repetition and once that repetition started it would spell out what he was about to play. It was a musical voyage.”

Mark Brooks, bass

“Dad would always tell me that practice makes perfect, which is the cliché you always hear. He would just show and demonstrate. Every morning— we’re talking about eight o’clock in the morning—he did his practicing. He really didn’t have to say much of anything...I just had to observe.”

Louis Ford, clarinet

"Traditional New Orleans music is very soulful, in the sense that it embodies the spirit of the New Orleans people. People want to clap, tap their foot. It's a very happy music."

Lester Caliste, trombone