MARDI GRAS COMES TO TOWNPublication: Richmond Times-DispatchByline: Joe SokohlDate: 02-02-1987Edition: CitySection: Art & TravelMemo: (lka) Music reviewA near sellout crowd at the Carpenter Center Saturday night clapped,cheered and danced to the Dixieland jazz of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.The music we now know as "jazz" first took root in New Orleans aroundthe turn of the century, as black musicians combined popular ballad and folkmusic with the rhythms of early blues, spirituals and marches played atfunerals.Melding all these styles with a unique syncopation, they created a uniquesound evoking emotional extremes ranging from bitter sorrow to jubilation.And the Richmond audience proved to be just as responsive as any MardiGras crowd could be.The group started the show with drummer Frank Parker, piano player James"Sing" Miller, trumpeter Percy Humphrey, James Prevost on bass and NarvinKimball playing banjo. Then Willie Humphrey sauntered in from stage left,his delicate clarinet playing fluid notes with the band. Completing thePreservation Hall Jazz Band, Frank Demond walked on from stage right playinggutsy trombone.This free-form fun continued for the entire two-hour show.The music mixed the familiar and the obscure. The blue tone of "MoodIndigo" (dedicated to the Red Cross) featured Kimball's vocals. Aninstrumental echoing "Frankie and Johnny" showcased Demond's `bone work andMiller's echoing of Pinetop Smith's classic "Boogie Woogie."The arrangements capitalized on expressive innovation. The music holdssnatches of this spiritual or that minstrel or another quadrille (an oldFrench square dance form). Even a blues such as "Down on Bourbon Street"featured a march tempo.Yet the Preservation Hall Jazz Band plays a type of music that isimmediately recognizable. This music is Dixieland, the music of New Orleans,the music of Mardi Gras, the music of bacchanalian revelry and somberreverence.The final two songs illustrated this. ' ' Just a Closer Walk with Thee" inits dirge mood evoked solemnity, as if a funeral passed by. Then, the bandpicked up the tempo, rousing everyone to the finale. For the encore, theband played the standard "When the Saints Go Marching In," and Demond led aparade of Richmonders snaking through the aisles and up onto the stage.Indeed it was a fitting end to a rousing show. The musicians' vigor beliestheir ages (the oldest is 86, the youngest is 53), proving that life doesnot end at 60.Keywords: MUSIC REVIEW