The Music of New Orleans
From the jazz that started everything to the bounce that defines today — twelve ways New Orleans has shaped the sound of the world.
No city in America has contributed more distinct musical forms to the national culture than New Orleans. Jazz, R&B, funk, brass band, zydeco, bounce — each of these is a genre unto itself, with deep roots in the city's specific history, geography, and community life. Each page below explores one of these traditions: its origins, its essential recordings, the artists who defined it, and the venues where you can still hear it live.
"New Orleans is the only place in America where music is truly part of the air. Every tradition here grew out of real life — out of joy and grief and community."
— Allen Toussaint
The Music New Orleans Gave the World
→The Root of Everything
→The Sound That Shook America
→The Groove That Changed Everything
→Music That Marches and Mourns and Celebrates
→The Creole Sound of Southwest Louisiana
→New Orleans Has Always Had a Rock Underground
→The Sacred Roots of New Orleans Sound
→New Orleans Hip-Hop on Its Own Terms
→The Parade That Never Stops
→Where the Personal Meets the City
→When New Orleans Absorbs the World
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