 |
||
|
|
|
By Ben Mattison
22 Mar 2006
Banjo player and singer Narvin Kimball, the last surviving original member of New Orleans' Preservation Hall Jazz Band, died on March 17, the Associated Press reports. He was 97.
Kimball's career began in the 1920s, when he performed with the Fate Marable Band on riverboats on the Mississippi. He later led a local group called the Gentlemen of Jazz.
In 1961, Kimball joined the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, the resident group at the newly opened Preservation Hall, a center for the traditional polyphonic jazz invented in New Orleans. Ben Jaffe, the hall's director, told the AP that Kimball's vocal performances of "Georgia on My Mind" were a highlight of the group's performances, invariably prompting standing ovations.
Kimball last appeared with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band in 1999.
Send questions and comments to the Webmaster
Copyright © 2010 Playbill, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
