Oakland Grit Meets French Quarter Swing: Tower of Power and Preservation Hall Jazz Band Lit Up the Hollywood Bowl
Last night, the Hollywood Bowl played host to a double bill that bridged two of America’s richest musical traditions: East Bay funk and French Quarter jazz. Tower of Power and Preservation Hall Jazz Band shared the stage on Wednesday, July 29, in a concert presented in association with PBS SoCal, drawing a crowd ready to move under the
summer night sky. It was the kind of pairing that only a venue like the Bowl can pull off with ease — two bands from opposite coasts, separated by nearly three thousand miles and two entirely different musical lineages, sharing one stage and, for a few hours, one
audience.
Before the music even started on the main stage, the evening got underway early. As is tradition on Wednesdays and Sundays at the Bowl, the Plaza Marketplace hosted a pre-concert wine and beer tasting starting at 5 p.m., with attendees sampling selections curated by James Beard Award winner Caroline Styne, the venue’s sommelier and
wine director. Picnic blankets went down on the lawn, wine glasses came out of tote bags, and the grounds slowly filled with the low hum of a crowd settling in for what has become one of the more reliable rituals of an L.A. summer: an evening at the Bowl.
Preservation Hall Jazz Band opened the night, bringing the hot, brassysound that has defined their home venue in New Orleans’ French Quarter since the early 1960s. The band carries the weight of that history lightly, treating each performance less like a museum piece and more like a living, breathing party. Known for the kind of joyous, second-line energy that turns any room into a parade, the band’s set gave the Bowl’s amphitheater a taste of Bourbon Street, all brass swells and rolling rhythm-section grooves built for dancing rather than sitting still. Trumpets and trombones traded phrases back and
forth, tubas anchored the low end in place of a traditional bass, and the overall effect was less a concert than an invitation — the kind of music that makes it difficult to stay seated even in a venue built for nine thousand people.
Then came Tower of Power, the Oakland-born outfit that has been one of funk and soul’s most respected working bands for over five decades. Anchored by their unmistakable horn section — long considered one of the tightest and most influential in the genre — the group leaned into the deep catalog that has kept them touring the world since the early
1970s. Songs like “So Very Hard to Go,” “You’re Still a Young Man,” and “What Is Hip?” remain the backbone of their live shows, staples that have followed the band through five decades of lineup changes, still arriving with the same punch and precision that built their
reputation in the first place. The band’s rhythm section locked in with the kind of chemistry that only comes from decades on the road together, while the horns cut through the open-air acoustics of the Bowl with a clarity that outdoor venues don’t always allow.
What made the evening work wasn’t just two strong sets back to back — it was the way the pairing let two distinct but complementary lineages of American music sit side by side. Preservation Hall’s take on jazz descends from the brass bands and funeral processions of early twentieth-century New Orleans, built on collective improvisation and a looseness that invites musicians to wander and find their way back together. Tower of Power’s funk, by contrast, is built on discipline: airtight horn charts, a rhythm section that treats the pocket like scripture, and arrangements polished over thousands of shows. Hearing both in one night was a reminder that American popular music, whatever form it takes, tends to trace back to the same handful of sources — the blues, the church, and the brass band — even when the results sound worlds apart.
For longtime fans, the night carried an extra layer of meaning. Both acts are led by musicians who’ve spent the better part of their careers keeping specific regional traditions alive on stages far from home, and the audience response throughout the evening suggested the material still resonates as strongly today as it did decades ago.
There’s a particular kind of loyalty that builds around bands like these — audiences who grew up on the records showing up decades later, often with their own kids in tow, to hear the songs played live.
As the sun set behind the Bowl’s iconic band shell, the evening wrapped up what has become a familiar summer ritual for Los Angeles audiences: warm nights, great wine, and world-class live music under the stars. Wednesday’s bill didn’t try to blend its two halves into something seamless — it let Oakland be Oakland and New Orleans be New Orleans, and trusted that the contrast itself would be the draw.
Judging by the crowd still humming horn lines on the walk back to the
parking lots, that trust paid off.
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