Post 525: VISITORS TO NEW ORLEANS

In the last few months, I have received about a dozen emails from readers who had recently spent a week or two in New Orleans. For some of them, it was their first visit. Some were there for the French Quarter Festival; but others had opted for the quieter and less crowded weeks after the Festival.

Let me say straight away that they all reported having a great time and returned home exhilarated. Several had set out with the aim of catching favourite bands. They generally succeeded, and assured me that seeing the bands in person (and sometimes managing a chat with them) was even better than watching great YouTube videos.

Yet there were just a few grumbles too. These included complaints about time-keeping and punctuality. These points were made: sometimes a band is advertised to start playing at a certain time; but they spend so long chatting and setting up, that the concert actually begins almost half an hour late. Similarly, a band told a tourist it would be busking in a certain spot until 1pm, but when he turned up to hear them at 12.30pm, he found they were already packing up and leaving.

I fear such things are bound to happen. In New Orleans, as in many countries of my experience, people have a relaxed attitude to matters of time-keeping and punctuality.

However, the point was made that Tuba Skinny always started right on time (for example, at their dba concerts). There was always high praise for that particular band. Most people managed to catch them at least once busking in Royal Street.

Some of the lesser bands were criticised for poor discipline and a somewhat cavalier attitude to their audiences. Here's an extract from one correspondent:

Arriving at 7pm, I asked where the band was. I was told they were delayed by the non-arrival of one of their number. I chatted to a couple at the bar (2 of the only 3 attendees apart from myself). After that the sequence of events was as follows:

7.30 Band (less the missing one) started playing to about 5 spectators.

7.40-7.45 Trombonist arrived, placing his instrument by his seat on the stage, went to the bar, ordered a 'shot', downed it, ordered a pint and went outside to drink it with a cigarette.

7.55 Trombonist joined the band. Turned out he was also the vocalist.

8.15 1st set finished, the couple having left earlier. I left, leaving about 3 people in the audience.

I must admit having had a couple of similar experiences myself in the bars of Frenchmen Street. But I think such performers are their own worst enemies. They will not make a living and will be soon rejected.

But let us end positively: for an example of the sort of music recent visitors have enjoyed:

CLICK HERE.

Post 471: ADVICE FOR VISITORS TO NEW ORLEANS

You're planning a holiday in New Orleans? It will be your first time there? Great. You will love it.

The best way to get around in the French Quarter, where most of the jazz is to be heard, is on foot. The entire French Quarter is small - only about half a square mile in total. However, until you get used to it, be careful how you tread on those pavements (sidewalks), because - as at 2017 - there were still thousands of fractures and fragmentations awaiting repair.

My friend and keen video-maker James Sterling from Florida has visited New Orleans much more often than I have; and he has asked me to pass on his own recommendations. He says you should get out of the French Quarter occasionally, particularly by using the St. Charles Streetcar which will quickly take you to the Garden District, with its stately mansions, hotels and restaurants, as well as the fine Audubon Park and Zoo. Then there is Magazine Street. You can visit it while in the Garden District. It is lined with quirky shops, pubs and eateries and is just a five-block walk from the streetcar line. That is a very good tip - not one that many people would think of.

And James enjoyed the World War II Museum in the Warehouse District, just up-river from the French Quarter. In addition to the displays, it has a theatre with live revues of music from the WWII era.

James says he goes to New Orleans for the food as much as for the music. He says: 'There are too many excellent restaurants in NOLA to list but my favourite is Coquette on the corner of Magazine and Washington in the Garden District.' He also mentions Brennans for a great brunch, and Coop's Place, Johnny's Po-Boys, The Gumbo Shop, and The Central Grocery for excellent reasonably-priced food. Café Envie in Decatur Street is good for pastries, coffee and breakfasts.

For a place to stay, James likes the many bed-and-breakfast inns. He says: 'You will get a private room usually in an old mansion with personal service from the inn-keeper and will meet new friends around the breakfast table. For rooms at reasonable prices (for NOLA) I recommend The Richelieu, Hotel Provincial, LaMothe House, and The Frenchmen Hotel (get a room in the back away from the street noise).'

There are indeed plenty of hotels and other forms of accommodation. Imagine you stay at a hotel in Burgundy Street, somewhere near the junction with St. Ann Street. It will be a mere 5-minute walk to Preservation Hall, or 12 minutes to the Palm Court Jazz Café.

It will take you only a quarter hour to walk to Frenchmen Street, which is just beyond the French Quarter at its north-eastern edge; and there in the evenings (and some afternoons) you will find such great bars and clubs as the dba, The Maison and The Spotted Cat, where some wonderful bands regularly play.

From 11 a.m. daily, you will be able to hear great busking groups if you head to Royal Street (five minutes on foot from your hotel).

Buskers in Royal Street

You will of course enjoy sampling all the other amazing things the French Quarter has to offer, including, as Jim says, plenty of fine eating places. You must have a stroll by the Mississippi – maybe heading down to the Riverwalk Shopping Mall, which I like very much. On the way to it, you could visit the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas. On another day, head left alongside the river to a different kind of shopping experience – the famous and massive French Market.

The French Market

Of course you will dawdle among the artists in Jackson Square (where there is usually also some lively jazz busking).

And you may visit special events at The Mint, or take rides on the streetcars to the Garden District .

Or go to the huge City Park, or have a river trip on the Natchez. Or you might care to cross the River on the ferry to Algiers.

The Mississippi and New Orleans

Maybe you will go on one of those 'Bayou' tours or a 'Cemetery' tour (easily bookable - you will see them widely advertised. James particularly recommends the Lafayette Cemetery just one block south of St. Charles Avenue). This is well worth doing on your first visit.

My advice would be to give the garish and vulgar Bourbon Street only a few minutes of your time. I suppose it's worth seeing, if only to convince yourself that such a street really exists. And you will hardly be able to avoid it, as it's right there in the centre of the French Quarter. But if you are a serious traditional jazz fan, there are far better places to be.

But please don't take me as authoritative. I live 4500 miles from New Orleans and have been to the City only seven times during the last 30 years, so (even with help from James) I don't claim to be an expert. I am simply giving you a few personal impressions that may be of some use.

On my first visit, when I was about 50 years old, I spent most evenings at Preservation Hall. I heard such players as Harold Dejan, Milton Batiste, Narvin Kimball, Percy Humphrey, Willie Humphrey, Danny Barker, Frank Demond, Kid Sheik Colar and the very young Greg Stafford. But in recent years I have spent my evenings in the bars and clubs of Frenchmen Street to catch the exciting new generation of great bands that have evolved in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina.

A couple of further points:

1. Transport between the aerodrome and the City Centre (about 15 miles) is easy. There are plenty of taxis. And some hotels run shuttle services. Recently a taxi cost 40 dollars (including tip) for a single trip. But there is also a regular bus service (the Jefferson E.2 Transit) which is efficient and remarkably cheap (about a couple of dollars), which I have also used. Obviously get up-to-date timetables from the internet.

2. When is the best time to go? All the year round there is good jazz. However, bear this point in mind: in June, July and August it can be extremely hot – maybe too hot for comfort. Even some of the musicians make this the time of year when they head north and tour in cooler States, or fly to other continents to play at festivals. The French Quarter Festival (in April) is recommended as there is an organised programme with dozens of bands giving free concerts on temporary stages in many of the streets. However, bear in mind that the crowds can be huge and you may have the disappointment of not being able hear your favourite bands in the best possible conditions.

Jackson Square during the French Quarter Festival

Also, unsurprisingly, hotel prices tend to be quite a bit higher during festivals. So you may prefer to go at a 'quieter' time when you will be able to spend your evenings in the clubs, hearing your favourite bands in conditions that are acoustically better and less crowded.

Post 260: LUCKY JIM - A VISIT TO NEW ORLEANS

A September Night on Frenchmen Street

I had an email from Jim Sterling, an elderly Florida resident and regular reader of my articles. Jim shares my tastes in traditional jazz and also experiences the same joy as I do when witnessing the finest performances.

In mid-September, Jim undertook the long drive to New Orleans to spend a couple of days catching what he could of the music.

As I have never been in New Orleans at such a time of year, I was happy to learn from Jim how well the music is supported even when it is not 'festival' season. There was standing room only in such places as The Spotted Cat. Jim wrote: 'The amazing thing was that it was a Monday night in September, not the height of the tourist season and not a weekend night. But the street was packed with locals and tourists.'

Although, in such a short visit, Jim inevitably missed some of the performers he would have liked to catch, he was thrilled to meet and have good conversations with the reed player Earl Bonie, who was deputising for Aurora Nealand in The Royal Roses. Jim wrote 'Earl grew up in New Orleans and played for years on the steamboats and with the Dukes of Dixieland for about ten years. He also plays on large ocean-going cruise ship bands'.

Jim also enjoyed in Frenchmen Street 'an impromptu street performance by a brass band of mostly young black musicians so I had to stop and listen to their spirited playing'.

At The Spotted Cat, Jim caught The Jazz Vipers. 'I really enjoyed their playing, as well as the Royal Roses, though their style is not the same era of traditional jazz as Tuba Skinny. Both bands did more swing numbers, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Fletcher Henderson/Benny Goodman style. I have been a fan of that style since my college days. I actually got to see and hear both Ellington and Basie shortly before they died... The highlight of the Jazz Vipers was their performance of Basie's One O'Clock Jump. And JUMP it did! It brought down the house, along with a couple doing the Lindy Hop while they played. The dance floor cleared of other dancers when they got going and it seemed to inspire the band even more'.

Just as I would have been, Jim was thrilled to meet and speak with the musicians, including some who were passing by and looked in for a while. These included Jenavieve Cooke (who sang a song with the Vipers) and Haruka Kikuchi, back from her European tour and shortly heading to Japan for a festival.

Jim managed to video some numbers, so watch out for his YouTube offerings. This one (CLICK ON HERE TO VIEW) brilliantly captures the atmosphere in Frenchmen Street on a September night.

He says: 'If you can't tell,  I am still on Cloud Nine about the experience'. I know the feeling.