The Affluent Traveler

TOUR
SPOTLIGHT
“ If you have to ask
what jazz is, you’ll
never know.”
— louis armstrong
I
NEW ORLEANS
CULTURE
& THE BIRTH OF
JAZZ
written by
matthew schroeder
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think you’re really, really going to like this,” said
our group’s tour director, Jenée, as we walked up
the steps to an unassuming Creole cottage in New
Orleans’ historic Treme neighborhood. “Actually,
I know you will.”
Inside the house, better known as the Backstreet Cultural
Museum, were walls lined with brilliantly colored costumes and
suits decked out in billowy, dyed feathers and intricate beadwork.
“This is unbelievable!” I burst out, drawing the attention of
everyone in the room. “Elton John, Liberace, eat your heart out!”
Though I had already experienced a number of amazing
sights and sounds while on my five day cultural tour and jazz
odyssey of New Orleans with Tauck — seeing the Mardi Gras
Indian costumes up-close like this was an unexpected thrill.
Hypnotized by the kaleidoscope of over-the-top regalia, it
became apparent that no one in New Orleans — or any city for
that matter — dons more elaborate attire or takes costuming
more seriously than the Mardi Gras Indians. Tracing their roots
back to a time when American Indians helped shield runaway
slaves, the Mardi Gras Indians are among the most colorful
and mysterious of New Orleans’ cultural phenomena. Their
fantastic, one-of-a-king creations are designed with lots (and I
do mean lots) of feathers, mosaic beadwork and images which
rank among the nation’s most dramatic folk art. Worn just once,
the costumes take an entire year to create, with hundreds of
thousands of beads, brightly dyed ostrich plumes, sequins,
velvet and rhinestones sewn on by hand — some weighing as
much as 150 pounds.
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Of course, no visit to the French Quarter is
complete without a stroll down famous
(and infamous) Bourbon Street.
Of course, no visit to the French Quarter
is complete without a stroll down famous (and
infamous) Bourbon Street. Sure there’s plenty
of booze, bawdiness and beads along this
much beloved strip, but you’ll also find scores
of sophisticated restaurants, historic luxury
hotels, and specialty boutiques. The locale also
offers a fantastic collection of live music
venues, including Preservation Hall which
hosts live New Orleans jazz nearly every night
of the year.
A Little
Something Extra
During my tour of New Orleans, there was a
term I heard for the first time from Jenée that
just about sums up life here better than any
other — lagniappe.
Traditionally, a small gift or token of
gratitude given to a customer by a merchant at
the time of a purchase, a lagniappe, or lanyap,
simply means “a little something extra,” much
like when someone goes above and beyond
your expectations. It’s a surprise that’s thrown
in just for good measure. And when it came to
surprises, both the Big Easy and Tauck seemed
to have one waiting for us just about around
every corner and down every street.
Steeped in a history of influences from
Europe, the Caribbean, Africa and beyond,
New Orleans is home to brimming bowls
of gumbo and jambalaya, late night clubs
and historic neighborhoods. But it’s the city’s
most important contribution to the world as
the birthplace of jazz that I came to learn
more about.
To celebrate and share jazz’s dynamic
history with all lovers of great music, Tauck
partnered with award-winning documentary
filmmaker Ken Burns, of the PBS documentary,
Jazz, and his longtime collaborator, Dayton
Duncan, to create an unprecedented first-hand
travel experience. Part of Tauck’s Ken Burns
American Journeys series, this one-of-a-kind
jazz adventure and tour of the Crescent City
was an all-encompassing, non-stop celebration
of New Orleans culture, with exquisite food
and incredible live New Orleans-style jazz.
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To celebrate and share jazz’s
dynamic history with all lovers of
great music, Tauck partnered
with award-winning documentary
filmmaker Ken Burns
Le Vieux Carré
Defined by its offbeat character, unconventional
treasures and charming neighborhoods, New
Orleans squeezes in more history, culture, and
nightlife than most cities double its size. It’s
these facets that not only draw visitors to the
Crescent City, but also why so many choose
to call it home. From Treme to the French
Quarter to the quiet tree-lined streets of the
Garden District — and many other points in
between — if you want to get a good taste of
what daily life is like in New Orleans, a guided
tour will provide you with up-close experiences
that you couldn’t create on your own.
My home-away-from-home during my
stay was none other than the sumptuous RitzCarlton New Orleans. Conveniently located on
Canal Street, along the western edge of Le
Vieux Carré — the French Quarter — the
decadent hotel holds a prime location in the
city and is within walking distance to much of
the French Quarter and beyond. This was a
good thing considering we had plenty of
free time each day to go out on our own to
explore the city. For me that often meant
grabbing an afternoon Hurricane at Pat
O’Briens and heading to either Acme Oyster
House or Johnny’s Po-Boys for a snack.
No matter where you’re at in New
Orleans, you’re never far from great food
— in fact, there are now more restaurants in
the city than existed before Hurricane Katrina.
Whether its sitting down to a dish of
beignets and a café au lait at Café du Monde
on Decatur Street, or grabbing a muffuletta
(a regional sandwich made with layers of
capicola, salami, mortadella, emmetaler, and
provolone) at Central Grocery, dinning out in
the Big Easy is hard to beat. And the French
Quarter has some of the city’s best restaurants
and cafes.
The Epicenter
of Jazz
As Ken Burns tells it: “Somewhere in the
late 19th century, something happens, where
you know it isn’t the blues…you know it isn’t
all these other slave hymns and complex
African polyrhythms that the slaves brought…
it isn’t the Scotch-Irish Protestant hymns or
the folksongs…the Viennese waltzes, or even
the syncopation of ragtime…it is a gumbo, a
mixture of all these different things…born in
the most cosmopolitan city in the United
States, New Orleans.”
“It” was jazz.
Like a “gumbo” that was blended,
brought to a simmer and seasoned throughout
the early decades of the 20th century, jazz
came forth from the different areas of New
Orleans, each contributing to the dish with its
own unique music forms from across the
globe. Because New Orleans was the only
place in the New World where slaves were
allowed to own drums, it was here and only
here where the bright flash of European horns
ran into the dark rumble of African drums.
Put this sound together with the music played
in churches and barrooms, and you had a wild
new jubilant music. The music made people
feel free and alive. Most importantly it made
people want to dance, regardless of race and
economic status.
Rebellious in its very nature, jazz is often
called America’s only original art form, and in
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TOUR
SPOTLIGHT
many ways it’s the country’s classical music.
And while the roots of it can be found in the
musical traditions of both Africa and Europe,
it was in New Orleans where everything came
together and changed how we played and
listened to music, even today.
To learn more about how this “gumbo”
was cooked up, our group headed to Basin
Street Station one morning where local guides
told stories of Basin Street, the Storyville
red-light district and homegrown jazz pioneers
including Louis Armstrong and Sidney Bechet.
Afterwards we made our way to see some of
the actual instruments played by these and
other giants of jazz — along with other
artifacts from jazz history — on a backstage
tour of the Louisiana State Museum Jazz
Collection at the Old U.S. Mint. This was an
exclusive opportunity that only Tauck makes
possible — and it was certainly one of my
favorite lagniappes of my tour as the collection
is not open to the public.
After an elegant lunch at Commander’s
Palace in the beautiful Garden District, we
further explored the roots of jazz with a
presentation by Dr. Bruce Boyd Raeburn,
Curator and jazz historian of Tulane University’s
Hogan Jazz Archive. Tulane University’s vast
holdings include thousands of sound recordings,
oral histories, photographs, graphics and other
items pertaining to New Orleans jazz as played
by New Orleans musicians. A writer and
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specialist on the history of New Orleans jazz,
Dr. Raeburn appeared in Ken Burns’s Jazz a
nd on various NPR radio programs, and has
worked as a drummer in New Orleans for the
past 40 years.
To make sure that jazz and the arts
remain a vital part of the NOLA community,
The New Orleans Center for Creative Arts
(NOCCA) offers students intensive instruction
in the arts, including music and the culinary
arts. NOCCA was founded in 1973 by a
diverse coalition of artists, educators, business
leaders, and community activists who saw the
need for an institution devoted to the region’s
burgeoning young talent. Alumi include
Wynton and Branford Marsalis (sons of Ellis
Marsalis), Harry Connick, Jr., Terence Blanchard,
Nicholas Payton, Jeanne-Michele Charbonnet,
Wendell Pierce, and Saints former cornerback
Ashley Ambrose.
As we learned one evening, NOCCA is
also a fantastic place to hear jazz. Inside the
center’s Lupin Theater, we were treated to a
keynote speech by Burns on the vitality of jazz,
and then with a private performance given by
legendary jazz pianist Ellis Marsalis (father of
Wynton and Brandford Marsalis).
Being a great fan of Burns’ documentaries
as well as a devout listener of Ellis Marsalis, it
seemed the night couldn’t possibly get better.
Or could it? As we mingled, wined and dined
later that evening beneath the stars, listening to
more great music, Mr. Burns was kind to stop
by each table and introduce himself, shaking
hands and posing with everyone for photos.
Talk about a lagniappe!
The Mighty
Mississippi
To understand exactly what makes daily life in
New Orleans tick, you have to turn to the river
— the mighty Mississippi. After all, it’s what
gives the city it’s nickname, “The Crescent City,”
and how directions are given — in the French
Quarter and throughout the city, directions
are given in relation to the French Quarter,
Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain.
You are either lakeside or riverside, upriver
or down river.
There no doubt that few rivers in the
world can match the power and grace of
the Mississippi River. So if you want to truly
experience the beauty and majesty of this
magnificent river, spending some leisurely time
walking or sitting along its banks is a must.
A great place to start is directly across
from Jackson Square where you’ll likely hear
street musicians playing traditional New
Orleans-style jazz. On any day of the week
you’ll find plenty of river activity as dredgers
and massive taker ships slowly make their way
up and down stream. There are many pocket
parks, benches and shady areas along the way
for you to relax in and enjoy the city’s slower
pace of life.
On the final evening of my tour, I was
fortunate to have the opportunity to spend it
on the river onboard the Steamboat Natchez
for a private farewell dinner cruise. As the sun
set over the Mississippi, we boarded the ship as
the city’s own Dukes of Dixieland and Doreen’s
Jazz New Orleans began blowing Dixieland
music and traditional jazz. The atmosphere
was unbelievable. Over the course of the next
couple hours we all enjoyed a splendid dinner
and danced well into the evening.
...the band instantaneously
brought everyone in the room to
their feet to dance and cheer them
on as they marched their way in
…One Last
Lagniappe
On our final morning together, before everyone
in our group bid each other, the excellent Tauck
staff and New Orleans goodbye, we enjoy a
farewell breakfast in the Ritz-Carlton ballroom.
During breakfast we sat back for an informative
presentation by Lolis Eric Elie, writer and coproducer of the PBS documentary Faubourg
Tremé: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans,
and staff writer for the TV series Tremé. Just as
we thought our time here had the come to a
close, we were then surprised with one last
lagniappe, one that we wouldn’t soon forget.
Following Elie’s talk, a massive brass band
entered the ballroom. Consisting of 30-plus
local music students, the band instantaneously
brought everyone in the room to their feet to
dance and cheer them on as they marched their
way in. The thundering sound was incredible.
Interestingly, it’s often far more important to
students in New Orleans to play an instrument
in a band than it is to play a sport. In fact,
it holds more social prominence than being
on the football or basketball team. And after
hearing them play with such passion, I can
understand why.
Tauck will once again be offering this very
special jazz event in spring 2013. For more
information, contact your Affluent Traveler
Collection luxury travel advisor.
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