PREVIEW: Ben Sollee @ Preservation Hall – 10/27/11

Ben Sollee Bike Tour @ Preservation Hall - 10/27

Editor’s Note: Ben Sollee will not be joined by Pres Hall Jazz Band as initially indicated, maybe next time!?

This Thursday in the Vieux Carre, an extra special show will be going down at 10:30 p.m. when singer-songwriter and cellist extraordinaire Ben Sollee will be appearing for an hour-and-a-half set in the hallowed Preservation Hall. The show will be an up-close-and-personal, intimate affair featuring Ben and his percussionist Jordon Ellis, as well as some possible special guests with Tao Seeger and Preservation Hall Jazz Band creative director / tuba player Ben Jaffe playing two earlier sets that evening (separate tickets required for those). The performance serves as the kickoff to Sollee’s 4th-ever bike tour, in which the musician will ditch the comforts of the tour van and travel between tour stops on a two-wheeler, hitting Gulfport, Mobile, Pensacola, Panama City and wrapping the fall cruise through the Southland all the way down in Orlando. According to his web site, Sollee embarks on these epic journeys periodically to temper the “the escalating pace of touring,” seeing them as “an unparalleled opportunity to slow things down and take in the scenery, meet new people, and experience the vastness of culture and environs most travelers bypass completely.”

Sollee’s connection to Pres Hall likely came about through his friend Yim Yames, who produced Sollee’s excellent latest album Inclusions. Fellow Kentuckian Yames’ connections to Pres Hall have been well-documented, ever since MMJ invited Preservation Hall Jazz Band along for their 2010 Spring Tour (including a midnight performance with by the band at Pres Hall during Jazz Fest) and most recently on-stage as guests at this years Bonnaroo and Austin City Limits festivals. In addition to periodic bike tours, Sollee has made a name for himself in recent years for his stunning, classically-tinged folk/pop arrangements (akin to Andrew Bird), and has been enjoying a current wave of critical acclaim for his latest effort. For tickets to this show, go here – if you have plans of attending this but haven’t pulled the trigger I’d get to it, chances our these will be gone well before the show.

Ben Sollee – Electrified