Presented by The Argyros

At a moment when musical streams are crossing with unprecedented frequency, it’s crucial to remember that throughout its history, New Orleans has been the point at which sounds and cultures from around the world converge, mingle, and resurface, transformed by the Crescent City’s inimitable spirit and joie de vivre. Nowhere is that idea more vividly embodied than in the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, which has held the torch of New Orleans music aloft for more than 60 years, all the while carrying it enthusiastically forward as a reminder that the history they were founded to preserve is a vibrantly living history.

PHJB marches that tradition forward once again on So It Is. The album redefines what New Orleans music means today by tapping into a sonic continuum that stretches back to 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 with whom the PHJB have shared festival stages from Coachella to Newport, including legends like Stevie Wonder, Elvis Costello and the Grateful Dead and modern giants like Beck, The Foo Fighters, My Morning Jacket, and the Black Keys.

The Argyros is thrilled to partner with our friends from “Pres Hall” for a unique three night musical journey, the likes of which you’d be hard pressed to find in New Orleans, New York, or anywhere else. The band will play three entirely different shows, and each night the Tierney Theater will be transformed to match the feel of that show’s musical mood. Night two, the theater will be converted into a cabaret-style jazz nightclub, and the song selection will match that more intimate setting.