“New Orleans’ Preservation Hall Jazz Band debuts its holiday program Creole Christmas” and plays tunes from its standard repertoire at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Admiral Theatre in downtown Bremerton. Tickets are $22 for main floor reserved, with reserved loge and balcony seats $10, $15 and $18. To make reservations, call (360) 373-6743. The concert is sponsored by Parker Lumber, Ike and Dianne Parker and the National Endowment for the Arts. Formed in 1961, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band plays vibrant turn-of-the-20th-century New Orleans jazz. The band’s signature tune is When the Saints Go Marchin’ In.” Other songs in the repertoire include Basin Street Blues,” His Eye is on the Sparrow,” Tiger Rag,” Hurry Down Sunshine,” Bill Bailey,” Bourbon Street Parade,” I Get the Blues When it Rains” and Goin’ to the Mardi Gras.” The musicians don’t know what they’ll play at a specific show, aside from the opening and closing number. As the evening progresses, the musicians pick the tunes by sizing up the crowd. The band’s sound shouldn’t be confused with two-beat Dixieland style. The tempo is a little slower than other jazz forms, and the melody is always clearly heard, with improvisation at its heart. Unobscured by complicated arrangements, its greatness lies in its simplicity. The band features five to seven players, with the trumpeter usually the musical leader. The band has recorded seven albums since 1977. The band is based out of New Orleans’ historic Preservation Hall, built as a home in the heart of the French Quarter about 1750. It served as a tavern during the War of 1812, and was a home to creative artists and an art gallery before it became the band’s home base when it’s not touring the world. At a recent concert in Syracuse, N.Y., a newspaper music reviewer noted that the band instantly dispatched notions that the music sounds like a wheezing of a clumsy old musical dinosaur … The sheer joy of the music had patrons and players clapping and acting downright giddy throughout the performance.” A concert reviewer in San Bernadino, Calif. wrote, `When the Saints Go Marchin’ In,” the grand finale, was made even grander by many of the audience members joining in. If the old saying is true that audience reaction is the best indication of quality of performance, then this was one of Preservation Hall’s best.” WHO: The Preservation Hall Jazz Band WHAT: Holiday concert Creole Christmas” WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Thursday WHERE: Admiral Theatre, 5th and Pacific, downtown Bremerton ADMISSION: $10-$22 RESERVATIONS: (360) 373-6743 “