Joe
Lastie and The Lastie Family Gospel
“I wanted to record Joe's record
in the Hall,” said producer and Preservation Hall
creative director Ben Jaffe. “The Hall represents
purity to me.” But on the second day of recording,
Jaffe was taken by surprise when Joe Lastie’s family
showed up at the Hall and stepped into the driver’s
seat.
The solo project with Preservation Hall
Jazz Band drummer Joe Lastie, Jr., was
originally intended as a jazz session, with a few gospel
tracks thrown in. But as it tends to happen in New Orleans,
things didn’t work out exactly as planned – and
all for the better.
“His aunt Bettyann took over the
piano and Joe's close family friend [Rev. Leon Vaughn]
took over the organ,” Jaffe said. Lastie’s
cousin, the well-known jazz drummer Herlin Riley, also
joined the clan. “Before I could put microphones
in place, they began playing and singing and rejoicing.” Joe
and his family and friends played for one hour straight,
tearing into classics like “I’ll Fly Away” and “Just
A Closer Walk With Thee” – and when they
were done, they had an album.
The final result – JOSEPH
LASTIE, JR. AND THE LASTIE FAMILY GOSPEL -
is the kind of recording that could never have been
planned, arranged or rehearsed. Lastie and his family’s
stripped-down gospel sound has an intimacy and a purity
of spirit that – along with a roof-shaking organ,
courtesy of the Reverend Leon Vaughn – positively
feeds the soul. It’s the unmistakable sound of
family coming together for joy, praise and song, on
the hallowed musical ground of Preservation Hall. And
it’s a sound that can only come from the heart.
|
