New Orleans: The place for anything ‘jazz’

New Orleans sounds like no other place in the world. And one of the most amazing things about the city is its native music—jazz.

Image Source: theguardian.com

Also known as “Dixieland music,” New Orleans jazz is markedly one of the major elements that define the “Old South.” New Orleans is considered to be the birthplace of the genre, where jazz developed at the beginning of the 20th century, which soon branched out to other cities, including New York and Chicago in the 1920s.

Image Source: wikipedia.org

Contributing to the genre’s evolution, the Creole people of New Orleans and Buddy Bolden are credited for jazz’s development, along with icons such as Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, and Jelly Roll Morton.

Image Source: worldfestivaldirectory.com

Today, the gift of jazz music lives on in the region. New Orleans holds the largest traditional jazz festival in the United States, celebrated annually on Memorial Day weekend. The event is attended by approximately 100,000 visitors annually, with more or less than 150 bands from different parts of the globe.

In other smaller venues and locations, the Old South is known for having the greatest jazz clubs in the country. An example of this is the historic Preservation Hall, located in the French Quarter, and Fritzel's, which is renowned for its neighborhood pub atmosphere and local musicians.

Lou S. Habash is a dance teacher who is passionately in love with anything jazz. For links of her other blog articles about the genre, follow her on Twitter.