The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival

What began in 1969 as a small gathering in a public park to celebrate the music of New Orleans now ranks as one of the best attended, most respected, and most musically comprehensive festivals in the world. Although people call it Jazz Fest, the full name is New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and the heritage is about as broad as it can get. Stand in the right place and, depending on which way the wind's blowing, you can catch as many as 10 musical styles from several continents, smell the tantalizing aromas of a dozen or so different food offerings, and meet a UN-like spectrum of fellow fest-goers all at once.

In the days following Katrina, one of the things lovers of the city wondered about was the fate of Fest. It seems like a trivial thing to focus on, but it wasn't. The music festival is one of the city's two largest draws (Mardi Gras being the other one), and much of the local economy (particularly hotels and restaurants) relies on it. But it goes deeper than that: Over more than 35 years, Jazz Fest has come to encompass everything the city has to offer, in terms of music, food, and culture. That, and it's a hell of a party. When its return was announced (thanks in part to Shell Oil, the festival's first corporate underwriters -- a necessary step under the circumstances), it was seen as a sign that the city really would survive after all. Jazz Fest 2006 was a moment of resurrection for the city, as crowded as any year, with virtually the same amount of music and food, and highlighted by an emotional and resonant set by Bruce Springsteen and his Seeger Sessions band. The traditional songs about hard times and hope, coupled with Springsteen's own ire about the state of a city he loved, in front of tens of thousands who had endured much in the previous months, was a confluence of artist, material, time, and place like no other.

And yet, you don't need a star to have musical and emotional epiphanies at Fest. While such headliners as Van Morrison, Dave Matthews, Bob Dylan, Sting, and Paul Simon have drawn record-setting crowds in recent years, serious Jazz Fest aficionados savor the lesser-known acts. They range from Mardi Gras Indians to old-time bluesmen who have never played outside the Delta, from Dixieland to avant-garde, from African artists making rare U.S. appearances to the top names in Cajun, zydeco, and, of course, jazz.

Gone are the days when the event was held in Congo Square and only a few hundred people came. Now filling the infield of the Fair Grounds horse-racing track up near City Park, the festival covers the last weekend in April and the first in May. It's set up about as well as such an event can be. When the crowds get big, though -- the second Saturday, traditionally, is the busiest -- it can be tough to move around, especially if the grounds are muddy from rain. And the lines at the most popular of the several dozen food booths can be frustratingly long. However, the crowds are remarkably well behaved -- to make a sweeping generalization, these are not the same types who come for Mardi Gras. Tellingly, there are few, if any, arrests during Jazz Fest.

Attending Jazz Fest means making a few decisions. Hotel and restaurant reservations, not to mention choice plane flights, fill up months (if not a year) in advance, but the schedule is not announced until a couple of months before the event. That may mean scheduling your visit around your own availability, not an appearance by a particular band (unless you go each weekend). Just about every day at Jazz Fest is a good day, however, so this is not a hardship.

The second Saturday does attract some of the top acts, and each year it sets a record for single-day attendance. But we feel the fun tends to diminish with that many people. The Thursday before the second weekend is traditionally targeted to locals, with more local bands and generally smaller crowds because fewer tourists are around than on the weekends. It's a great time to hit the best food booths and to check out the crafts areas. The day has been left off the schedule post-Katrina as part of hard choices needed to make Fest viable, but it may be added back at some point. Whenever you decide to go, contact New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, 1205 N. Rampart St., New Orleans, LA 70116 (tel. 504/522-4786; www.nojazzfest.com), to get the schedule for each weekend and information about other Jazz Fest-related shows around town.

Jazz Fest Pointers

Of course, going to Jazz Fest means marathon endurance. With so many stages and musical choices, your mind can almost freeze. The festival's main feature, the Louisiana Heritage Fair, offers music on as many as 12 stages. You can plot out your day or just wander from stage to stage, catching a few songs by just about everyone. There is something to be said for the latter approach; some of the best Jazz Fest experiences come from discovering a hitherto unknown (at least to you) band or otherwise stumbling across a gem of a musical moment. Or you can camp out at just one stage -- from the big ones, which feature famous headliners, to the gospel tent, where magical moments seem to happen several times a day.

Regardless, a typical Jazz Fest day has you arriving sometime after the gates open at 11am and staying until you are pooped or until they close at around 7pm (incredibly the whole thing usually runs as efficiently as a Swiss train). After you leave the Fair Grounds for the day, get some dinner, and then hit the clubs. Every club in the city has Jazz Fest-related bookings (of special note is the Ponderosa Stomp, an event featuring "unsung heroes" of the blues, rockabilly, Swamp Pop, and New Orleans R&B). Bouncing from one club to another can keep you out until dawn. Then you get up and start all over again. This is part of the reason we think Jazz Fest is so fun.

There are also many nonmusical aspects of Jazz Fest to distract you, particularly the crafts. Local craftspeople and imported artisans fill a sizable section of the Fair Grounds with displays of their products during the festival. Many of them offer demonstrations. You might get to see Louisiana Native American basket making; Cajun accordion, fiddle, and triangle making; and/or Mardi Gras Indian beading and costume making. Contemporary arts and crafts -- such as jewelry, handblown glass, and painting -- are also featured. In addition, you'll find an open marketplace at Congo Square filled with contemporary and traditional African (and African-influenced) crafts and performing artists.

And then, as always in New Orleans, there's the food. The heck with the music -- when we dream of Jazz Fest, we are often thinking more about those 50-plus food booths filled with some of the best goodies we've ever tasted. We have friends who, at the end of every Jazz Fest, buy tickets for the very popular soft-shell crab po' boy stand for next year so they won't suffer a moment's delay in getting their mouths around one of the best sandwiches they've ever tasted.

The food ranges from local standbys -- red beans and rice, jambalaya, étouffée, and gumbo -- to more interesting choices such as oyster sacks, the hugely popular sausage bread, cochon de lait (a mouthwatering roast-pig sandwich), andouille calas, and quail and pheasant gumbo. There's crawfish every way including crawfish sushi, crawfish beignets, and the divine crawfish Monica (a white cream sauce over pasta). And that's not even discussing the various Caribbean, African, Spanish, and even vegetarian dishes available. And how about dessert? Fresh strawberry shortbread, Italian ice cream, Key lime tarts, chocolate snoballs with condensed milk on them -- oh, my! There's plenty of cold beer available, too, although you'll have to wait in some mighty long lines to get to it.

But there is even more to the Fest than food, music, and crafts. A number of cultural presentations on a wealth of topics (for starters, folklore or local food, complete with tastes!) are held daily throughout the fairgrounds. These little jewels are easily overlooked or missed altogether. We encourage you to either buy a program (which lists everything being offered) or drop by one of the information booths scattered around the grounds to look over the listings.

Experienced Fest-goers also know that the Grandstand (damaged in the storm but largely repaired in time for Fest 2006) is the best-kept secret; it's air-conditioned, for one thing, and full of art and photography exhibits, cooking demonstrations by the city's best chefs. Currently, the Heritage Stage, which features interviews and short performances by some of the acts, is in a position outside of the grandstand rather than its long-running spot inside This is a chance to perhaps see someone very popular in a more intimate setting, with often unpredictable and wild results -- recently, we saw Elvis Costello and Allan Toussaint with only a handful of people, compared with the thousands who struggled to see their full set later in the day.

Try to purchase tickets as early as February if possible, when they are the cheapest. They're available by mail through Ticketmaster (tel. 504/522-5555; www.ticketmaster.com). To order tickets by phone or to get ticket information, call New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (tel. 800/488-5252, the toll-free number outside Louisiana, or 504/522-4786; fax 504/379-3291; www.nojazzfest.com). Admission for adults is $20 to $30, depending on when you buy them in advance (Ticketmaster charges a large per-ticket handling fee) and $45 at the gate; $5 for children. Evening events and concerts (order tickets in advance for these events as well) may be attended at an additional cost -- usually between $20 and $30, depending on the concert. The good news is that Fest tickets are always available at the gate (there is no sell-out). The bad news is that tickets are always available at the gate, which can lead to severe overcrowding.

Note: No outside beverages (apart from water) are allowed at Jazz Fest. Though there are seats at some of the stages (two jazz tents and the gospel tent, and some at Fais Do Do) and some bleachers at another stage, people either sit on the ground, stand, or bring folding chairs or small blankets.

Jazz Fest Parking & Transportation -- Parking at the Fair Grounds is next to impossible. The few available spaces cost $10 a day. We strongly recommend that you take public transportation or one of the available shuttles. The Regional Transit Authority operates bus routes from various pickup points to the Fair Grounds. For schedules, contact tel. 504/827-7802 (www.norta.com). Taxis, though probably scarce, will also take you to the Fair Grounds at a special-event rate of $3 per person (or the meter reading if it's higher). We recommend United Cabs (tel. 504/524-9606). New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (tel. 800/488-5252 for Ticketmaster outside Louisiana, or 504/522-4786; www.nojazzfest.com) has information about shuttle transportation, which is not included in the ticket price.

Note: The Canal Street streetcar line runs up Canal from the Quarter all the way to City Park Avenue (right to the cemeteries there), with a branch going down Carrollton to close by the City Park entrance at the top of Esplanade.

Package Deals

Festival Tours International, 15237 Sunset Blvd., Suite 17, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272 (tel. 310/454-4080; www.gumbopages.com/festivaltours), designs tour packages that include not just accommodations and tickets for Jazz Fest but also a visit to Cajun Country for unique personal encounters with local musicians.

If you're flying to New Orleans specifically for the Jazz & Heritage Festival, visit www.nojazzfest.com to get a Jazz Fest promotional code from a list of airlines that offer special fares during the event.

More Fun on the Bayou

A possible alternative to Jazz Fest is the Festival International de Louisiane. This multi-day celebration of the music and art of southern Louisiana and its French-speaking cousins around the world is held on the blocked-off streets of Lafayette. It usually runs through the last weekend in April. Between the considerably smaller crowds and even smaller price (it's free!), it makes for a nice change of pace from Jazz Fest, with which it overlaps. For information, call or write the Festival International de Louisiane, 735 Jefferson St., Suite 205, Lafayette, LA 70501 (tel. 337/232-8086; www.festivalinternational.com).