Management: Moe Shalizi
moe@theshalizigroup.com

20 years before the emergence of STS9, NASA sent Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 on a mission to the farthest reaches of the solar system and beyond. Each of these probes was equipped with identical Golden Records, special messages attached to what Carl Sagan called “a bottle launched into the cosmic ocean.” They contained numerous images and sounds from throughout the world, pieces of music from various cultures, a map identifying the location of our planet, and other information for whomever, or whatever, might find them.

While the Golden Records included greetings in 59 languages, they made no mention of nations and borders, wars and rivalries, or anything else that divides us. What they did mention was life, love, peace, birth--the things that bind us to one another and to the planet we call home. 

The Universe Inside is a reflection of this message. It is a story about human identity and the magical truth of who we are, where we’re going, and our place in the Universe. It says we are one, made of stardust and the forces of nature that evolved over billions of years. Connected by the sun, moon and stars, we are the living, breathing conscience of the Universe. 

"We are one, made from dust of the stars / down here we bear the weight of the pain and the scars / just want to live with nothing to hide / every one of us a universe inside."

The Preservation Hall Jazz Band derives its name from Preservation Hall, the venerable music venue located in the heart of New Orleans’ French Quarter, founded in 1961 by Allan and Sandra Jaffe. The band has traveled worldwide spreading their mission to nurture and perpetuate the art form of New Orleans Jazz. Whether performing at Carnegie Hall or Lincoln Center, for British Royalty or the King of Thailand, this music embodies a joyful, timeless spirit. Under the auspices of current director, Ben Jaffe, the son of founders Allan and Sandra, Preservation Hall continues with a deep reverence and consciousness of its greatest attributes in the modern day as a venue, band, and record label. 
 
The PHJB began touring in 1963 and for many years there were several bands 
successfully touring under the name Preservation Hall. Many of the band's charter 
members performed with the pioneers who invented jazz in the early twentieth century including Buddy Bolden, Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, and Bunk Johnson. Band leaders over the band's history include the brothers Willie and Percy Humphrey, husband and wife Billie and De De Pierce, famed pianist Sweet Emma Barrett, and in the modern day Wendell and John Brunious. These founding artists and dozens of others passed on the lessons of their music to a younger generation who now follow in their footsteps like the current lineup. 
 
THE PRESERVATION HALL JAZZ BAND IS: 
 
Ben Jaffe/Creative Director & Tuba: 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. 
 
Mark Braud/Trumpet and Vocals: As nephew to two former PHJB leaders, Wendell and John Brunious, Jr., Mark is proud to further his family’s musical legacy in the company of so many historic players. Beginning his career playing with the Olympia Kids, a young players’ offshoot of the famous Olympia Brass Band, Mark has gone on to record, tour, and play with New Orleans legends of both traditional jazz and R&B, including Eddie Bo, Henry Butler, Harry Connick Jr., and Dr. Michael White. 
 
Charlie Gabriel/Clarinet and Vocals: The musical heritage of Charlie Gabriel can be 
traced back as far back as the 1850s. Great-grandson of New Orleans bass player 
Narcesse Gabriel, grandson of New Orleans cornet player Martin Joseph, and son of New Orleans drummer and clarinetist Martin Manuel Gabriel, Charlie is truly a living legend. A t eighty-one years old, the extensive list of musicians with whom he’s played includes well-known PHJB alumni Kid Howard, Kid Sheik, Jim Robinson, and George Lewis. 
 
Clint Maedgen/Saxophone and Vocals: Though Clint is best known as leader of 
multi-media alt.cabaret group The New Orleans Bingo! Show, he has been in love with the sound of traditional New Orleans jazz since he was a small child. After studying with clarinet innovator Alvin Batiste at Southern University in Baton Rouge, Clint returned to New Orleans’ French Quarter where he cemented his reputation as an artist and collaborator through an ongoing series of eclectic and experimental musical ensembles. As a full-time member of the PHJB, he brings an infectious passion to both his playing and singing. 
 
Joe Lastie, Jr./Drums: Born and raised in the Lower Ninth Ward, Joe comes from a long line of family members equally dedicated to music and the church. Having played his first job with a rhythm section backing the Desire Community Choir, he would go on to study jazz with Willie Metcalf at the Dryades Street YMCA with classmates Wynton and Branford Marsalis. After a brief move with his family to Queens, New York, Joe returned to New Orleans where he was invited to substitute on drums at Preservation Hall in 1989.He’s been a regular with the band ever since. 
 
Freddie Lonzo/Trombone and Vocals: Born and raised in New Orleans’ Uptown 
neighborhoods, Freddie was exposed to the music of the streets at a very young age. Having cemented his desire to play New Orleans jazz, these early Second Line parades would later offer him his first professional gig with EG Gabon and Doc Paulin’s Band. A true master of every style of New Orleans music, from marching brass to modern jazz, Freddie’s first appearances with Preservation Hall date back to the mid-eighties when he toured and played with Percy Humphrey and Kid Sheik. 
 
Rickie Monie/Piano: Born and raised in New Orleans’ Ninth Ward to jazz loving church musicians, Rickie was inundated at an early age with the recordings of such great jazz and gospel pianists as Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, and Teddy Wilson. After majoring in woodwind instruments at Dillard University, Rickie turned back to the piano and picked up work in every style of music. In 1982, Monie got his first call from Preservation Hall, to substitute for the legendary resident pianist Sweet Emma Barret after she suffered a stroke. To the delight of audiences around the world, he’s stayed onboard ever since. 

Ronell Johnson/Tuba and Vocals: Born and raised in New Orleans, Ronell started on the trumpet and piano around the age of 6. He is from a musical family and was taught to play, in the beginning, by his three older brothers who are also professional musicians. Also, he and his brothers are the great-nephews of Joseph "Kid Twat" Butler, who was the string bass player with the legendary Kid Thomas Valentine and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Ronell is recognized around the world and in a host of magazines and journalsas one of New Orleans' prized musicians who adds a lot of energy, animation, humor, andfire to the band stand.

Faux Tales is the musical project of Swiss composer and producer Timo Loosli. Combining cinematic sound design, post-rock influences, and atmospheric electronica, he creates pieces that build from quiet introspection to powerful climaxes. Light piano motifs, suspended in clouds of electronic and neoclassical sonance, echo through a swelling tide of sound, blurring the boundary between serenity and storm.

Booking: Sam Hutchinson - sam@pivotal-agency.com
For your pleasure here is a Bio in the form of a fine dining menu. (For you insufferable traditionalists a distastefully bland Bio is available at the bottom, although I find it quite unpalatable) 

Apéritif: 
House Ballad // Tapas de Tap Tempo // Midi Milanese // Hoot Loops

Main Wavetable:
DrumBeat Bisque: Heirloom Samples, Found Sounds, Synth Drizzle, Tart Hats, Compression Jus

Strumento: String Weeze, Ethnic Mood, Rubbed Flub, Kontakt Buzz

Bass du jour: Seasonal wubs, Sub Grub Gumbo, Face Paste, Boss Sauce 

Synth Cakes: Modular Glaze, Cheese of Bleep, Soup of Bloop, Pad pâté, CV Sautée, Sequential Maradnade, 

Textures: Wav Shavings, Low Mid Reduction, Fizz Sizzle, Field Recording, Grain-Free Granulár, 

Dolce:
Candied Jams // Dream Cream // Toffee Clocks // Frequent Fondue

(Consuming raw unfiltered waveforms may increase your risk of soundbourne shrillness)

Kids Menu (“Normal” Bio):
EarthCry is Anthony Thogmartin’s solo music, serving as an outlet for his more "electronic" musical ideas, as well as a place to try experimental genre mashing, developmental frequency blending, and odd instrument combinations. Staying true to live roots, an EarthCry show can consist of any combination of live instruments, mixing, slicing, looping, and cutting overtop of arrangements that come out differently every time. All the while, electronic controls are always facing the crowd to encourage a deeper experience of interaction. His most recent release “Sun Path” “…emerges as an album meant for this moment. A soundtrack for the collective consciousness of today’s higher-level thinkers, intent on assimilating all of the old to push forth the new.” – Lost in Sound. Other notable musical outputs have been his debut album "Hear the Earth, Heal Yourself, Heal the Earth, Hear Yourself", a voyage into 6 solfeggio tones. He has also released 2 "Mother’s Mashups" which are combinations of 2 songs that mysteriously fit together in fun ways. As a beneficial operation, EarthCry also donates earnings to different ecological initiatives around the world.

Enjoy a tune! Some samples of RatDog Live.

Dave Debarth is following