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Palm Springs International Jazz Festival

Preservation Hall Jazz Band

Preservation Hall Jazz Band

Jazz and Modernism: Architecture as Frozen Music. A Concert with Conversation

Over 55 years and 40 albums, including the Grammy nominated Concert for Garcia Lorca. Ben’s live repertoire has been a fluid collection of songs and stories. His performances are legendary for their mixture of swing, groove, and free-form philosophy, always infused with humor and hipster wisdom.

Writing music is one of the great joys in my life.  It’s amazing how you can take an event or a sentence or a phrase or an emotion or a tempo and build a whole song around it.  It’s beautiful to write a song from scratch.  It’s like painting on a blank canvas.  The possibilities are limitless.....
— Ben Jaffe

When asked in an interview to describe the difference between New Orleans jazz from other jazz music, Ben answered, "that’s like describing the difference between gumbo and soup–you’ll know it when you taste it!"

  • Friday, February 20, 2026
  • 8:00 pm
  • Plaza Theater
View full details

  • Legends Lead the Way

    While rooted in history the group embraces new sounds by collaborating with contemporary artists, including the Black Keys, Arcade Fire, and Jim James, while also exploring influences from Afro-Cuban music and Afrobeat.

  • Core member Charlie Gabriel

    The band's primary mission is to keep the art of traditional New Orleans jazz alive. The current Preservation Hall Jazz Band is led by creative director Ben Jaffe and features a rotating roster of musicians, including core members like Charlie Gabriel, Clint Maedgen, and Branden Lewis, alongside various guest vocalists and instrumentalists

SFJAZZ Singles: Preservation Hall Jazz Band

Lift Every Voice and Sing - Film MLK/FBI

Preservation Hall presents intimate, acoustic concerts featuring bands made up from a current collective of 60 masters of traditional New Orleans Jazz. These musicians have learned the traditional style from the greats who played before them, and are now working to pass it on themselves.

Current Players

  • Clint Maedgen

    Saxophone

    Clint Maedgen is a New Orleans-based singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and band leader with three decades of musical experience that spans rock ‘n’ roll, electronica and traditional jazz. Starting with the saxophone at the age of nine, Mr. Maedgen picked up a wide range of other instruments along the way, including flute, ther in, clarinet, bottle, guitar, and piano. Mr. Maedgen has been a full-time member of The Preservation Hall Jazz Band for seven years as a vocalist and saxophonist, touring the world 150 dates a year.

  • Branden Lewis

    Trumpet

    Branden Lewis was raised playing trumpet: in church, in his school marching bands, and one of the top youth orchestras in Los Angeles. “I have music in my heart and soul. I never planned on playing music for a living – I just always loved playing the trumpet.”

  • Wendell Brunious

    Trumpet
    Master Practitioner

    Trumpeter and vocalist Wendell Brunious boasts a towering musical family tree primarily flowered with trumpets. He is the son of trumpet master John “Picket” (or “Picky”) Brunious Sr. and Nazimova “Chinee” Santiago, the niece of guitarist/banjoist Willie Santiago.

    The talented and dedicated Wendell Brunious credits some of his early development to having worked with the Olympia Brass Band under the direction of his cousin, bandleader/saxophonist Harold Dejan.

  • Revon Andrews

    Trombone

  • Ronnel Johnsen

    Trombone

  • Joshua Starkman

    Guitar

  • Kyle Roussel

    Piano

  • Ben Jaffe

    Bass
    Creative Director

    As son of co-founders Allan and Sandra Jaffe, Ben has lived his whole life with the rhythm of the French Quarter pulsing through his veins. Raised in the company of New Orleans’ greatest musicians, Ben returned from his collegiate education at Oberlin College in Ohio to play with the group and assume his father’s duties as Director of Preservation Hall. Today he serves as Creative Director for both PHJB and the Hall itself, where he has spearheaded such programs as the New Orleans Musicians Hurricane Relief Fund.

  • Nick Salcido

    Upright bass

  • Peter Varnado

    Drums

  • Charlie Gabriel

    Clarinet, saxophone, flute
    Musical Director

    Gabriel is a fourth-generation jazz musician from New Orleans. Raised in a classically trained musical family that emigrated from Santo Domingo in the 1850s, Gabriel began playing clarinet professionally with the Eureka Brass Band when he was eleven years old. During World War II, his father, clarinetist and drummer Martin Manuel “Manny” Gabriel often sent his son as a substitute on gigs.

    In a career spanning countless genres, Gabriel has performed with Tony Bennett, Frankie Avalon, Brenda Lee, Mary Wells, Eddie Willis, Joe Hunter, and many other early Motown artists.

Tickets

  • Preservation Hall Jazz Band

    Preservation Hall Jazz Band
    Show - 8:00 pm
    Saturday, February 21, 2026
    Plaza Theatre

    Buy Preservation Hall Jazz Band Tickets (Plaza Theatre-ticketmaster) 

  • VIP ALL ACCESS 6 shows + Jazz Party

    INCLUDES:
    Reserved VIP section - front orchestra seating for all six shows + swag

    - Thu Feb 19
    VIP Jazz party at the historic Franz Alexander House

    - Fri Feb 20
    Ben Sidran
    Stanley Clarke + N4Ever
    - Sat Feb 21
    Eliane Elias
    Preservation Hall Jazz Band
    - Sun Feb 22
    Lisa Fischer + Grand Baton
    Esperanza Spalding

    $1,000 VIP ALL ACCESS Tickets 

Buy Tickets for Preservation HallBuy VIP ALL ACCESS Tickets