Fritzel's European Jazz Pub has served up traditional jazz on Bourbon Street since 1969, operating out of a historic 1831 building in the heart of the French Quarter. Its house ensemble, Fritzel's All Star Band, draws on a rotating cast of the city's traditional-jazz players — WWOZ's listing ranges from vaunted drummer Gerald French and veteran clarinet virtuoso Tom Fischer to young trumpet player Catie Rodgers — all performing in the club's warm, intimate listening room.
The All Star Band anchors the club's nightly traditional-jazz programming, with featured leaders like Kevin Ray Clark and Jamil Sharif appearing alongside the house name across the weekly schedule. With no cover charge and live music running into the night, the room is known as an authentic alternative to the louder bars on the strip — preserving the classic Dixieland tradition a few steps off Bourbon's bustle.
The lineup changes night to night, which is the point: a standing invitation for the city's finest trad players to sit in and keep the New Orleans standards book alive.
