New Orleans plays all the right notes

Voodoo Guide Gomez starts belting out ‘I put a spell on you’ in Congo Square.

What an experience to be in a city where music can be heard everywhere.  This place where Jazz was invented – and that is also a center of blues, brass band, funk, creole music, and variations of all – is a feast for the ears. It had to be New Orleans, with its mélange of African, Caribbean, and European influences where this happened.

Yesterday alone…

Our Voodoo tour guide ended our tour with a LOUD version of ‘I put a spell on you’ and had us  follow him through Congo Square, the very birthplace of Jazz, as his second line (people who follow the musicians such as at a funeral procession).

New Orleans Jazz Museum concert with Cole Williams and accompanists.

Then, we accidentally stumbled upon the New Orleans Jazz museum where we spent an hour in the sun with Jamaican artist Cole Williams belting out heart warming tunes.

Last, we ended the evening at the Snug Harbor and listened to Don Vappie and his fabulous Creole Jazz band. Don V played a song called ‘yellow fever’ where he asked his lead bassist to start the song playing like he had yellow fever and danged if it didn’t just sound like the guy was feverish. As a the theme in the south, the slavery issue isn’t far from the surface and they played his version of “Down to the river to pray” which ends up being a slavery song about escaping using the river to hide the slaves scent.

Add in ubiquitus pop up bands on the street along with sounds coming out of most bars and restaurants as we walked by. Because the music scene is so at the roots of New Orleans culture, it is all somehow extremely authentic even when in the middle of the highly touristed French Quarter.