Everyone is out this spring at the many festivals offered and the choices for music and food are mind-boggling! While you are out and about, be sure to dip into an explosive set of zydeco music and you won’t be able to resist the urge to dance! Zydeco music is a bubbling, melodic gumbo concocted from Cajun and Acadian music stirred together with Afro-Caribbean rhythms and call-and-response songcraft. “The only way you could be more funky is if you’d been born a skunk,” claims local music icon Cyril Neville of The Neville Brothers.
Music
Connecting Cultures through Music
December 07, 2021
The French Academy in Rome was founded in 1666 by Louis XIV and served from the 17th to 19th centuries as the pinnacle of study for select French artists who, having won the prestigious Prix de Rome (Rome Prize), were honored with a scholarship in the Eternal City for the purpose of the study of art and architecture. In 1803, Napoleon Bonaparte moved it to the Villa Medici with the intention of providing young French artists the opportunity to see and copy the masterpieces of the Antiquity and the Renaissance and send back to Paris the results of the inspiration they had gained in Rome.
Illuminating Our Jazz and Riverfront Legacies
September 29, 2021
On Saturday, October 23rd, the New Orleans Jazz Museum’s NOLA River Fest will celebrate the cultural, economic, environmental, and inspirational impacts and contributions of the Mississippi River to the Crescent City. For centuries, Old Man River has been an important route for trade and travel, has sustained livelihoods, offered opportunities for recreation, and has had a significant role in the culture, health and livelihoods of people along its long route.
New Orleans Music Observed
January 29, 2020
The New Orleans Jazz Museum will debut a new exhibition entitled, “New Orleans Music Observed: The Art of Noel Rockmore and Emilie Rhys.” Visitors are invited to the free opening reception on Thursday, January 30, 2020, from 6-8 pm featuring live music and light refreshments. This new exhibition brings together for the first time the musical portraits of acclaimed artists, Noel Rockmore and Emilie Rhys.
Illuminating Our Jazz Legacy
November 01, 2019
As Louis Armstrong aptly claimed, “To jazz or not to jazz, there is no question!” The New Orleans Jazz Museum is dedicated to preserving and celebrating the origin, evolution, and legacy of jazz and its continuing relevance. Plans to originate the museum began in the 1950s by a collaborative group of New Orleans collectors and enthusiasts of the New Orleans Jazz Club. The original site opened in 1961 but relocated to various French Quarter buildings over the years. In 1977, the entire collection was donated to the people of Louisiana.
Jazz, From Funky Butt Hall to Carnegie Hall
November 01, 2019
George Gershwin said, "Jazz I regard as an American folk music; not the only one but a very powerful one which is probably in the blood and feeling of the American people more than any other style."
What a Wonderful World!
July 30, 2019
Well, Hello Dolly! It’s that time again, time to celebrate our favorite native son! The 19th Annual Satchmo SummerFest at the New Orleans Jazz Museum at the Mint on August 2nd through 4th will feature contemporary and traditional jazz and brass bands. Satchmo SummerFest began in 2001 as a way to commemorate “Satchmo’s” 100th August 4th birthday. This premier festival is dedicated to the life, legacy, and music of Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong.
Louis Prima, The King of Swing
May 01, 2019
A tireless showman and a talented trumpeter, singer, songwriter and performer, Louis Prima swang his way to icon status thanks to his irresistible, infectious sound that appealed to several generations. In the Louis Prima exhibit opening on May 1st at the New Orleans Jazz Museum, visitors will find an assortment of artifacts including his Grammy for best vocal performance in 1958 for “That Old Black Magic,” his trumpet, and a couple of his suits which are almost as loud as his personality.
Samba Your Way Into Carnival
February 05, 2019
As an avid traveler, I have many places I want to visit on my bucket list. Among them, I have always wanted to spend Carnival in the largely Catholic city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Rio is home to the world's most famous Carnival celebration and what many people consider to be the world's biggest and best party. The basis of Rio's Carnival is the samba school, which is a social club named after the famous Brazilian dance. Samba schools are based in different neighborhoods of Rio de Janeiro, and rivalry among them is fierce.
Get Versed in Jazz and More in the Vieux Carré
November 05, 2018
No trip to the Crescent City would be complete without delectable seafood, great music, sweeping views of the Mississippi River and the wonderful architecture surrounding it, including the New Orleans Jazz Museum where the music New Orleans made famous is explored in all its forms in the very place it was born. The museum is housed in the historic Old U.S. Mint located at 400 Esplanade Avenue, strategically located at the intersection of the French Quarter and the Frenchmen Street live music corridor, the heart of the city’s vibrant music scene.
The Professor Longhair Centennial "Me Got Fiyo" Sponsored By The New Orleans Jazz Museum
July 27, 2018
Professor Longhair at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in 1977 by Michael P. Smith, New Orleans Jazz Museum Collection, 2003.003.63.
© The Historic New Orleans Collection
Henry Roeland Byrd, better known to the world as Professor Longhair or “Fess,” for short, stands as the foremost exponent of New Orleans piano style. As a vocalist, he was a classic blues shouter, and his idiosyncratic style is a rhythmic jambalaya reflecting the freewheeling, good-time spirit of the Crescent City. Urban legend suggests that The New Orleans Jazz Fest was begun to showcase his piano and vocal talents.
