Credit: Photo by John Anderson

Preservation Hall Jazz Band & the Del McCoury Band

Zilker Park, Sept. 17

To most people’s ears, jazz and bluegrass couldn’t be more dissimilar. New Orleans’ Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Tennesseans the Del McCoury Band proved that the genres intersect at more points than you might imagine. While on their recent American Legacies collaboration the jazz side seemed to dominate, onstage the mesh was seamless. When McCoury’s “Banjo Frisco” took on a second-line beat, the connection became obvious. There were lots of crowd-pleasing moments, like a horn-fueled version of Hank Williams’ “Jambalaya (On the Bayou)” and the McCoury’s standalone, a high-revved rendition of Richard Thompson’s “1952 Vincent Black Lightning.” The audience’s frenzy became more pronounced during the sing-song “Ice Cream” as band members actually took to tossing cups of the frosty treat into the crowd. The Dixieland and bluegrass gospel traditions merged consummately on “I’ll Fly Away,” a joyful end to a stellar celebration of traditional American music.

This article appears in September 23 • 2011.

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