Music History Hall Foundation launches with visit from Preservation Hall Musical Director on October 3

Music History Hall Foundation kicks off in Laguna Beach with a mission to educate about the cultural history of American music. The nonprofit foundation’s inaugural event welcomes to Laguna Beach the esteemed New Orleans musician and culture bearer, Wendell Brunious, musical director for the legendary Preservation Hall in New Orleans.

Brunious will educate about the history of New Orleans jazz music and display his exceptional storytelling skills via in-school programs and a not-to-be-missed concert performance for the Laguna Beach community on Tuesday, Oct. 3, at the Woman’s Club of Laguna Beach.

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Courtesy of Music History Hall Foundation

Music Director for Preservation Hall in New Orleans, Wendell Brunious, will be featured at the inaugural event of the Music History Hall Foundation on October 3 at the Woman’s Club

Honored as the inaugural Musical Director of Preservation Hall – master practitioner, trumpeter, vocalist and bandleader Brunious boasts a towering New Orleans musical family tree stretching back generations. He is the son of the Julliard-educated trumpet master John “Picket” Brunious Sr. and credits some of his early development to having worked with the Olympia Brass Band during its heyday under the direction of his legendary cousin, bandleader and saxophonist Harold Dejan.

Extremely knowledgeable about the tradition and history of New Orleans music, Brunious enjoys sprinkling his conversation with quotes from legendary musicians who have crossed his musical path through his decades-long career. As Musical Director of Preservation Hall in New Orleans, Brunious leads the Preservation Hall band and acts as the storied venue’s ambassador to the world. He possesses the intangible qualities that make him entirely unique as a musician and elder statesman carrying on the sacred traditions of New Orleans music.

Brunious has worked with a long list of esteemed artists through the years including the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Wynton Marsalis and Harry Connick Jr.

Music History Hall Founder and Executive Director and Laguna Beach local Patti Compton has spent the past decade dedicated to the preservation of American music. As the communications director for Omega Events (producer of the Doheny Blues Festival), host of a music history radio show on KX FM 104.7 called Play Something Sweet, and president and co-founder of a music foundation in Dana Point – Music Preserves Foundation – Compton has built a reputation for deeply caring about the history and cultural significance of American music. As executive director of the newly formed Music History Hall Foundation, Compton will expand efforts to preserve and perpetuate the history of American music with a laser focus on education.

“The history of American music is important cultural history and an engaging outlet to expand cultural knowledge and critical thinking,” Compton said.

Taking its name from a combination of a music/concert hall and an educational hall of learning, Music History Hall Foundation is dedicated to educating students and has developed vibrant music history courses. University of California, Davis Professor and Department Chair Julia Simon serves as an advisor for Music History Hall Foundation and enthusiastically supports its American Music History course for California students. “This work is so important. The course is fantastic and vital for the curriculum of California schools.”

While visiting New Orleans, you can catch Brunious leading the band each evening at Preservation Hall on St. Peter Street. However, if you can’t make the trip to New Orleans, you won’t want to miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see him performing and educating about the traditions of New Orleans jazz in Laguna Beach at the Woman’s Club at 286 St. Ann’s Drive on Tuesday, Oct. 3.

To learn more and purchase tickets to the October 3 event, visit www.musichistoryhall.org.