The Preservation Hall Jazz Band are among the most respected in the world, and they are set to perform at this year’s Newport Folk Festival. Tickets will no doubt be in short supply as folkies and blues fans join jazz lovers for an earful of some utterly awesome New Orleans sound. The Preservation Hall Jazz Band represent pure jazz history, being a half-century old and bristling with more distinction than almost any other. The Newport Festival’s long history of introducing non-local sounds to the region has provided color and passion, and a band from the heart of The Big Easy will embody that very spirit. Bostonian George Wein, 84 years old, will certainly remember the many unique and “foreign” acts and collaborations first unvieled at Newport, and he recently commented on the inclusion of the PHJB.

“It’s fantastic to have The Preservation Hall Jazz Band at the Newport Folk Festival again. They performed in Newport in the early 60’s when the band and the festival were first getting started,” Wein remembers. “I met the group’s founder, Allan Jaffe, when I first went to New Orleans, years before doing the Jazz & Heritage Festival. Allan was my mentor and guide around the city and through its magnificent cultural history. The band is very much a part of life in New Orleans and it reflects, not only what the city is all about, but what music is all about.”

The Preservation Hall Jazz Band have surprising tastes in their arrangements, given the age and distinction of the band. They champion the use of multi-generational musical crossovers, borrowing styles and collaborating with artists from several dynasties of jazz and conventional music. This culminated recently in their masterful collaboration album, Preservation. Preservation contains the music of many and varied musicians, including My Morning Jacket’s Yim Yames, another performer at the 2010 Newport Folk Festival. Others who appeared on Preservation are Pete Seeger, Richie Havens and Steve Earle.

Find those prized Newport Folk Festival tickets right here with no hassles, and be there to witness several generations of scintillating jazz-folk!

Newport Folk Festival 2010 from Mike Anderson on Vimeo.

Here is the somewhat psychedelic video released to celebrate George Wein’s Newport Folk Festival, 2010. If you’ve bought Newport Folk Festival tickets to the folk extravaganza, you’ll want to watch this crazy brilliant video to put you in the mood and remind yourself what it’s all about – having a blast, Newport style! The Newport Folk Festival is all set to be the high point of the summer for many, and if you’re even slightly into your fiddle, banjo, twangy guitar and triangle, then you should get down and get with it at Fort Adams State Park, Newport, Rhode Island, for some top class folk! Click on the video and enjoy the trip!

The Newport Festival has one of the most picturesque settings of any music festival in the world. If you’ve seen footage of Newport you’ll remember the gorgeous natural backdrop of Fort Adams State Park at the cusp of July and August – the best time of year to be in Newport. With the deep turquoise Atlantic spangling in all its midsummer glory, you’ll chill out with a cold drink and good people and – most importantly – the best folk music in the world.

Check out our Newport Festival schedule and feast your eyes on the planned events. Last year saw artists like Ramblin’ Jack Elliot and Billy Bragg create some of the best live folk music we’ve seen in a long time, and the 2010 Newport Festival is primed to be even better. Newport isn’t just the place Dylan goes electric, it’s a festival that took itself on the road, too. The Newport Folk Festival Tour has taken artists like folk vetaran Joan Baez, Lyle Lovett, Alison Krauss, Wilco, Suzanne Vega and Lucinda Williams on tour, and has been a resounding success. Make sure you buy your Newport Folk Festival tickets and are there for history being made in a beautiful New England coastal setting!