I recently had a great trip to New Orleans and the slogan, “Louisiana Feeds the Soul” came true and it wasn’t the food that topped my list. It was the special style of music that poured out of every nook and cranny of the city into my very being.
After visiting Snug Harbor in the French Quarter to hear Jason Marsalis and a few other exciting music venues we decided to go to the New Orleans Jazz Museum which has moved all over New Orleans. In 1977 the entire collection of this museum was donated to the people of Louisiana and became the New Orleans Jazz Club Collections of the Louisiana State Museum. This jazz collection now is located on the second floor of the old U.S. Mint building.
The museum’s collection includes the world renowned New Orleans Jazz Club’s collection which was gathered over several decades by the New Orleans Jazz Club. The collection includes the world’s largest collection of jazz instruments, prized artifacts, photographs and ephemera. The trumpets of Louis Armstrong and instruments of Bix Beiderbecke, Sidney Bechet and many other greats are displayed. I even saw Fats Domino’s piano and galleries of information and photographs about Louis Armstrong…