Yesterday, Preservation Hall Jazz Band’s Ben Jaffe was interviewed on CNN. Here’s a transcript of the interview:
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD: All this big rain, it’s not washing out the compassion and good music that’s going on in New Orleans today for the Gulf Aid Benefit Concert. All the artists are actually donating their time in hopes of raising awareness and money for the Gulf region as it deals with that massive oil leak.
Ben Jaffe with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band is with us now. Ben, good to see you.
BEN JAFFE, PRESERVATION HALL JAZZ BAND: Thank you for having me.
WHITFIELD: So no hesitation whatsoever that you wanted to be part of this huge event. It’s like 10 hours over two different stages there in New Orleans today. JAFFE: Absolutely. The most powerful voice that we have as musicians is our music, and this is a way to get out the message that we’re facing one of the largest catastrophes in – in our history.
WHITFIELD: So what will you all be performing today?
JAFFE: We’re actually going to be performing a song we recorded just two days ago with Lenny Kravitz and Mos Def and Trombone Shorty with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.
I – I woke up one morning and over coffee with a friend started talking about the hurricane and what we could do – not the hurricane but the –
WHITFIELD: Oil spill, yes.
JAFFE: — oil spill and what we could do, you know, and what we could do to get out there and make our voice a little louder, and I called Mos Def up and by 2:00 that afternoon we were shaking hands. And by 11:00 that night we were in Preservation Hall recording “It Ain’t My Fault” which will be released on Monday as part of our Gulf Aid projects.
WHITFIELD: So this really is very personal for you and very personal for other artists, too. You mentioned Lenny Kravitz, you know, he has a home there in New Orleans as well. This is hitting home for so many people, whether you are in the fishing industry or whether you simply live there, you appreciate the beautiful wetlands, et cetera.
With this compassion, does there also come some frustration about how the relief efforts in the gulf are going?
JAFFE: We’re – we’re definitely concerned about – about the future of our coastline and the environment, the lasting environmental impact that this spill’s going to have. It’s going to affect many people’s lives who are family members of ours, people who live down on the coastal region who are fishermen and – and who are involved in the – the restaurant industry. This is going to change our – our way of life down here. It’s going to have a huge impact on our environment.
We – we enjoy our coastline. This is what we do. This is where we live. We don’t – we don’t know how this is going to affect us. And – and we don’t know how it’s going to affect our culture. We’ve already been so – so affected by the aftermath of Katrina, rebuilding our city physically and culturally, just rebuilding our – our city, really, one brick at a time. We don’t know how this is going to affect our city.
And part of this project this weekend, Gulf Aid, is to bring attention to all of the different aspects that this – that this spill is going to have on our community, not just an economic and environmental impact, but also a huge social impact on our cultural community.
WHITFIELD: There is a lot of unknown here. What’s your hope, however, what or who will benefit directly from the money raised during today’s extravaganza?
JAFFE: This money is going directly to bring awareness to the issues that we’re facing along the Gulf Coast. It’s going directly to the fishermen who are going to be affected by this. It’s going to help with the cleanup of the gulf. And it’s going to be a voice, speaking directly to our government, for legislation to improve the regulation of offshore drilling, which for the better part of my life has gone unregulated.
WHITFIELD: Ben Jaffe, thanks so much, with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. You all are going to be performing not long from now as you take the stage with a host of artists.
There must – there must be a real feeling of camaraderie, too, that everyone has committed in such a short amount of time. This was all thrown together in about a week that everyone is committed for the very same reason. Does it feel that way?
JAFFE: Absolutely. We – we feel very passionately about our community and we feel very passionately about music. And, I mean, absolutely everybody we called not only wanted to perform but wanted to volunteer their time to perform, and that’s one of the most touching things that a musician could do is give – is give their voice for free.
And I – I applaud all of the musicians that came out today to give up their time and to raise money for this – and awareness for this very, very critical cause that is going on as we speak.
WHITFIELD: Ben Jaffe, thanks so much. Break a leg, as they say. We know that you’ll do a tremendous job in getting the attention of a whole lot of people. Thanks so much.
