Allan Jaffe, Preservation Hall Jazz leader, to get Pennsylvania Historical Marker in Pottsville

Dec. 27—Newlyweds Allan and Sandra Jaffe stopped off in New Orleans after a Mexican honeymoon in 1960.

It would be a fateful visit that would alter the course of their lives.

In 1961, Pottsville native Allan Jaffe established Preservation Hall in the city's French Quarter, and played Sousaphone in the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.

Under Jaffe's tutelage, Preservation Hall would become a leading force in the revival of traditional New Orleans jazz popularized by Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton and others.

The Preservation Hall Jazz Band was an ambassador of New Orleans jazz, introducing it to audiences around the world.

For his profound contribution to the nation's musical heritage, the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission recently approved a historical marker commemorating Jaffe as "an internationally renowned musician and entrepreneur" credited with reviving early American jazz.

While a decision has not yet been finalized, the proposed site of the marker is in front of the former Nathan's furniture store at 316 N. Centre Street.

Harry Jaffe, Allan's father, ran Jaffe's Wallpaper and Paint Store at that location, and the family lived above the store at one time.

'Where my dad's from'

Joseph Stolarick, a digital archivist at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation, spearheaded the effort to obtain a historical marker for Jaffe.

A Schuylkill County native who lives in New Orleans, Stolarick is the son of the late Kenneth and Sandra Stolarick, of Pine Grove.

He was initially unaware of Jaffe's connection to Preservation Hall, Stolarick said.

It was only when Ben Jaffe, Allan's son, made a remark about Stolarick's Yuengling beer T-shirt at a crawfish boil that he discovered the connection.

"That's where my dad's from," Ben Jaffe said of Pottsville.

The revelation sparked Stolarick's interest and, over several years, he did the research that led to filing the application for the historical marker in June.

The son of Harry and Fannie Jaffe, Allan Philip Jaffe was born into a Pottsville musical family in 1935.

His grandfather played French horn in the Russian Imperial Army and his father taught mandolin.

"He started playing piano and coronet before eventually choosing the tuba in junior high school," the Pottsville Republican reported.

Jaffe played Sousaphone, a variation on the tuba, in school bands, the Pennsylvania All-State Band and Pottsville's Third Brigade Band. While still in high school, he received a musical scholarship to Valley Forge Military Academy, from which he graduated in 1953.

"Pottsville is more than just a backdrop for Allan's childhood," Stolarick wrote in a December article in OffBeat Magazine, where he announced the awarding of the historical marker. "It was where he built his musical foundation."

In Schuylkill County's ethnically diverse mining culture, Jaffe learned to appreciate the functional role of music in everyday life.

He later claimed that it was the thing that drew him to New Orleans music, according to Stolarick.

Jaffe's coal region roots, including lessons learned while working in his father's wallpaper store, laid the groundwork for his success at Preservation Hall.

"Just as Allan anchored and propelled the band with his horn, he was the guiding force behind Preservation Hall's success," Stolarick said. "Shaped by his Pennsylvania upbringing and education, Allan wrote a new chapter in American music."

The Preservation Hall Jazz Band has entertained U.S. presidents and performed in Europe, Japan and Central and South America.

The band also played at the Newport and American jazz festivals and performed with the Grateful Dead at The Filmore West, according to its website.

In March 1971, during a performance in Israel, the band received a State of Israel medallion, the Pottsville Republican reported.

The National Endowment for the Arts gave the band its Medal of Arts, the highest award given artists by the government, in 2006. It was presented by President George W. and first lady Laura Bush in the White House.

Coming home

Allan Jaffe would visit his parents in Pottsville many times over the years, on occasion accompanied by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.

In a concert arranged by the Pottsville Chapter of Hadassah, the band performed at the Capitol Theater in September 1968. Mayor Michael A. Close presented Allan and Sandra Jaffe with a key to the city.

The Pottsville Republican said the 60 members of Preservation Hall Jazz Band performed with "the agility and foot-stomping energy of a group of teenie-boppers."

During the visit, blind trumpeter DeDe Pierce, a band member, performed at the Jaffe home, 1742 W. Market St., Pottsville. A Republican photograph showed Billie Pierce, Cie Frazier, Jim Robinson and Willie Humphrey — New Orleans jazz royalty — in the Jaffe home.

The Preservation Hall Jazz Band also performed at Pottsville Area High School in April 1972.

Allan Jaffe graduated from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in economics.

He made a triumphant return to his alma mater with the Olympia Brass Band, a New Orleans-based marching band, in February 1981. He played Sousaphone and helicon, another variation of the tuba, with the band.

"When we got to New Orleans in 1960, we started looking for the old traditional music," Jaffe told the Philadelphia Inquirer. "It had all but disappeared, so we went out and found it."

Allan P. Jaffe died of cancer in a New Orleans hospital on March 9, 1987, at the age of 51.

His son, Ben, continues the Jaffe legacy with leadership of Preservation Hall and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, according to the organization's website.

Contact the writer: rdevlin@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6007