Preservation Hall is a small, shabby, slightly magical room on St Peter Street in the French Quarter where traditional New Orleans jazz has been performed every night since 1961. The room holds about a hundred people standing and seated on backless wooden benches; there is no bar, no air conditioning, and the acoustics are the original plaster walls. The music is pure: brass and rhythm, no amplification, the way jazz was played in the streets and clubs of New Orleans at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Shows run nightly and last about 45 minutes, with multiple shows per evening. The queue forms outside an hour before the first show; arriving early is the difference between getting in and waiting for the next slot. The experience inside is one of the most direct connections you can make with the origins of American music. The Preservation Hall Jazz Band also tours internationally and records prolifically, but the original context — this room, this city, this music — is irreplaceable.