The Rhythms of New Orleans

The late New Orleans R&B legend Ernie K-Doe was once quoted as saying, "I'm not sure, but I think all music came from New Orleans." What might be a more accurate account -- and relatively hyperbole-free -- is that all music came to New Orleans. Any style you can name, from African field hollers to industrial techno-rock, has found its way to the Crescent City, where it's been blended, shaken, and stirred into a new, distinctive, and usually frothy concoction that, it seems, could have come from nowhere else.

"Yeah," you scoff, "but what about classical music?" Well, maybe you've never heard how pianist James Booker, an eye-patched eccentric even by New Orleans standards, could make a Bach chorale strut like a second-line umbrella twirler. Or maybe you're forgetting that Wynton Marsalis has Grammy Awards for both jazz and classical recordings, not to mention a 1997 Pulitzer Prize for his slavery-themed jazz oratorio Blood on the Fields.

On the other side of the spectrum, don't forget that Trent Reznor, the man behind the brutal sounds and imagery of the industrial act Nine Inch Nails, chose to live and record in New Orleans -- not because of the good property values, but because the aesthetics and atmosphere suit him. (His now-former studio is in a former funeral home, natch.)

Even more unusual is the New Orleans Klezmer All Stars ensemble, a group of musicians that plays the lively music of eastern European Jewish troubadours with a few New Orleans embellishments. You're not required to dance at their performances, but you'll probably find it impossible not to.

Of course, what you're most likely to experience is somewhere in the middle, music more truly rooted in the Crescent City -- the Storyville jazz descended from Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton, the bubbly R&B transmitted via Fats Domino and Professor Longhair, the Mardi Gras Indians, and the brass bands of the second lines that recently added exuberant, youthful infusions of funk and hip-hop.

Finding music in New Orleans is no trick. Walk anywhere in the vicinity of Bourbon Street and your ears will be assaulted by a variety of sounds. If you're really interested, it's worth a little effort to seek out the good stuff and avoid the tourist-oriented caricatures that will be thrust at you. Consult the free monthly Offbeat, available at many businesses in the French Quarter and elsewhere around town, for what's playing at such clubs as the Howlin' Wolf, Donna's, the Maple Leaf, Tipitina's, the clubs on Frenchmen Street, or the gotta-see-it-to-believe-it Mid City Lanes bowling alley, home of the famed Rock 'n' Bowl. Listen to public radio station WWOZ-FM (90.7 FM), which plays the best of New Orleans music and gives concert info.

Brass Bands

If your idea of New Orleans brass bands is merely the post-funeral "second line" parade of "When the Saints Go Marching In," you're in for some joyous surprises. In recent years young African-American kids have picked up the tradition and given it new life while also stimulating renewed interest in some of the veteran practitioners. At its roots it's primal jazz nonpareil, with group improvisations, unexpected turns, and spirit to burn.

The key act of the current revival was the ReBirth Brass Band, a gaggle of teens and preteens who in the late 1980s and early 1990s tossed pop-funk tunes like "Grazin' in the Grass" and the Doobie Brothers' "Takin' It to the Streets" into their mix of New Orleans standards. They even had a local hit with "Do Whatcha Wanna." The group's still around, though trumpeter Kermit Ruffins, who as a preteen Louis Armstrong look- and sound-alike was the centerpiece, left several years ago to form his own versatile jazz band, the Barbecue Swingers. Others working today in the same vein include New Birth and Olympia, while such newer arrivals as the Soul Rebels (perhaps the best of the new crop) and Hot 8 have explored hip-hop, reggae, and funk styles in the brass context, often with terrific results. And brothers Troy "Trombone Shorty" and James "Satchmo of the Ghetto" Andrews demonstrate their knowledge of and reverence for the past as well as their intent for the future, as they fall between traditional jazz, brass bands (they both have and continue to play with various combos), and new directions with funk and jazz, such as Troy's own Orleans Avenue.

At the same time, older ensembles like the Olympia Brass Band have gained from the interest, as well as the Treme Brass Band, headed by the venerable and supremely dapper "Uncle" Lionel Batiste. Look for brass bands at various venues around the city. ReBirth still plays every Tuesday night at the Maple Leaf, while the Soul Rebels have a regular weekly gig at Le Bon Temps Roulez and do regular weekend club gigs.

Cajun & Zydeco

Two of the music styles often associated with New Orleans are technically not from here at all. Both Cajun and zydeco really originated in the bayous of southwest Louisiana, a good 3 hours away. And while it's customary for the two to be named in the same breath, they are not the same thing -- though they are arguably two sides of the same coin.

The foundations of the two styles lie in the arrival of two different French-speaking peoples in the swamp country: the Acadians (French migrants who were booted out of Nova Scotia by the English in 1755) and the Creole people (who were jettisoned by or escaped from the Caribbean slave trade of the same era). Entwined by the pervasive poverty and hardship of the region and by their common status as underclass peoples -- the white Acadians, or Cajuns, as the name was eventually corrupted, were beaten by schoolteachers for speaking French well into the 20th century, while the Creoles suffered the same oppression as blacks elsewhere -- the cultures blended in many ways, nowhere more evidently than in their music.

Introduction of the button accordion and its folksy, diatonic scale was a key development. It added a richness and power to what had largely been fiddle and guitar music. Early recordings of such seminal figures as Joe Falcon (a white man) and Amede Ardoin (a Creole) reveal a rough-hewed music tied to ancient tunes rooted in France and elsewhere, with hints of influence from the sounds starting to arrive through the radio and recordings of popular tunes. Such acts as the Hackberry Ramblers, who up until recently continued to perform with a couple of more or less original members, played the dance-hall circuits from New Orleans into Texas through the 1930s. Many added drums and amplifiers and steel guitars as they became available to fill out the sound.

In the postwar era, the styles began to separate more, with the Cajuns gravitating toward country-and-western swing and Creole musicians heavily influenced by the urban blues. The purer music of the region was suppressed and nearly lost in the 1950s, though such figures as D. L. Menard (the Cajun Hank Williams) and Clifton Chenier (the King of Zydeco) pioneered exciting new strains in their respective directions. Chenier, at first performing with just his brother Cleveland on washboard percussion, was among those who took up the chromatic "piano"-style accordion, which suited the blues in ways the button accordion could not. Menard, as his nickname indicates, melded Cajun with the style of the country balladeer he idolized (and met once, providing a tale he's joyously told countless times). In 1959 Menard wrote "La Porte Den Arriere" (The Back Door), which, along with the traditional "Jolie Blon," is certainly the most-performed song in the Cajun repertoire.

The great folk music boom of the early 1960s spilled over to Cajun music, and such figures as the Balfa Brothers and fiddler Dennis McGee suddenly had the opportunity to perform at such folk festivals as the famed Newport gathering. A turning point came when a Cajun group received a standing ovation at the 1964 Newport Festival. It was a real boost for the form and for Cajun pride, both of which seemed on the verge of extinction. With such younger musicians as Marc Savoy, who had begun producing homemade accordions of fine quality, providing new energy and commitment, and such entrepreneurs as Floyd Soileau recording the styles of the region, Cajun music gained new life.

This spawned a new generation, proud of their Cajun musical legacy but also fueled by rock 'n' roll. Leading the way are fiddler Michael Doucet and his band, Beausoleil, now Cajun music's best-known band. Even if he hasn't always delighted the purists, Doucet has been a tireless ambassador for his heritage. And Marc's family continues his tradition, with son Wilson anchoring the critically acclaimed and Grammy-nominated Pine Leaf Boys.

In zydeco, Clifton Chenier led the way from the 1950s on, with a handful of others (the late Boozoo Chavis, John Delafose, Rockin' Sydney) adding their own embellishments. Chenier, recorded by Ville Platte's Floyd Soileau and Berkeley-based Chris Strackwitz's Arhoolie Records, became internationally famous, even playing the esteemed Montreaux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. His name loomed so large over the field that at his death in the mid-1980s, there seemed to be no one ready to step into his royal shoes.

But after a little drifting, zydeco has, arguably, grown stronger than ever. A new generation, including Chenier's son C. J. and Delafose's son Geno, is updating the old traditions, while such figures as Keith Frank, Nathan Williams, and the late Beau Jocque have added their own variations of funk, hip-hop, and blues.

Rhythm & Blues

Technically, the blues is not a New Orleans form, belonging more to the rural delta and, in its urban forms, Texas and Chicago. But rhythm and blues, with its gospel and African-Caribbean bloodlines, carries a Crescent City heartbeat. In the 1950s Fats Domino, along with his great producer-collaborator Dave Bartholomew, fused those elements into such seminal songs as "Blueberry Hill" and "Walkin' to New Orleans" -- music that still fuels much of the New Orleans R&B sound today. At the same time, such then-unheralded figures as Professor Longhair and "Champion" Jack Dupree developed earthier variations of the piano-based sound, contrasting mournful woe with party-time spirit.

The keepers of the flame today are the Neville Brothers, who in their various combinations and incarnations (the Meters, Aaron Neville's solo projects, and so on) have explored and expanded just about every direction of this music.

And if the Nevilles are the royal family of New Orleans music, Irma Thomas is its duchess of soul. (The Rolling Stones version of "Time Is on My Side" is note-for-note taken from Irma's!) Though she only had one national hit ("Wish Somebody Would Care"), her feel for a song and her magnanimous spirit have led devotees to make regular pilgrimages to her club, the Lion's Den, to hear her perform. Her club got swamped after Hurricane Katrina, but Miss Thomas has returned to the city she loves. Go see her if you have the lucky opportunity.