Led by Matt Lemmler, the NOLA Jazz Revival band's mission is to share the distinctly diverse New Orleans culture with the world, and to ensure its legacy among future generations via collaborative mentorship and education grounded in world class musicianship. The New Orleans Jazz Revival Band has presented master classes, educational shows, and workshops for Loyola University, the University of New Orleans, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, the National Jazz Historical Park and Ridgeview Charter Middle School from Atlanta, GA. Under the direction of Lemmler, the New Orleans Jazz Revival Band has collaborated with 265 middle school musicians—choir, band, and string orchestra all were able to perform alongside the New Orleans Jazz Revival Band as one ensemble—UBUNTU Education. This unique name, UBUNTU, comes from the African humanist philosophy that speaks about interconnectedness in creativity and the fact that you can't exist as a human being in isolation.
"Any time we play, it's a religious experience, regardless of whether it's a second-line or a hymn. Music makes people dance, sing, clap, jump up and down. That is a very religious, spiritual experience, whether they know it or not, and its been part of our culture in New Orleans for 300 years." - Matt Lemmler
It’s the spirit of Ubuntu that has brought together Matt Lemmler's spiritually moving New Orleans Jazz Revival Band to tell this 300 year story of New Orleans music. From African melodies and rhythms, to classical etudes, to gospel chants (Wade in the Water), to New Orleans dirges (St.James Infirmary Blues). Matt Lemmler's New Orleans Jazz Revival Band will add a chapter to the long history of New Orleans music!