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What’s the first word that comes to mind when you hear the name, “New Orleans”?
If JAZZ wasn’t the first word you thought of, we’d bet it was a close second or third. New Orleans and jazz are inseparable. The city is widely regarded as the birthplace of jazz not to mention Louis Armstrong, a jazz icon. The streets of New Orleans are riddled with jazz bars and clubs of varying caliber and vibe. We’ve seen dive clubs to classy lounges to live performances in the middle of Bourbon Street. If you really wanted to, you could enjoy jazz every second of the day.
But what if you’re looking for a high-quality jazz or other musical experience in New Orleans for a bargain? I bet we have just the place for you, and it will be a place you won’t likely come across while looking at “top 10 jazz spot” lists online.
Allow us to introduce you to the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park (address: 419 Decatur St, New Orleans; please be sure to check their hours of operation online before planning a visit).
Located in the French Quarter, 2 or 3 blocks from Jackson Square, this park doubles as a live music venue, jazz education center and a national historic site. That’s right, this site – affectionately referred to as the National Park for Jazz – is run by the National Park Service (NPS) and serves up some great musical experiences. Throughout the year you can find performances by brass bands, pianists, a 2nd line, jazz singers and more. The caveat here is, you will have to do your research in advance and purchase tickets (if required) for performances and programs of your choosing, but you won’t break the bank purchasing tickets and you’re sure to learn a thing or two about New Orleans Jazz and culture along the way. This is also a great place to stop and ask for music venue/performance recommendations.
If catching a jazz performance isn’t on your New Orleans must-do list, this park is still worth a visit. You won’t come here for an epic hike or to see stellar scenery. Instead, the superstar here is the visitor center which is designed to educate, entertain and preserve. The center was equipped with excellent, multimedia displays that dug into the history and culture of the city and state of Louisiana. Along with information about the origins of jazz we learned a lot about the Bayou and Mississippi Delta regions.
Here’s an interesting fact we learned on our recent visit that we can’t resist sharing:
Here’s another interesting fact: the visitor center (address: 419 Decatur St.) is also the park headquarters/main visitor center for the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve which is made up of six separate sites located at different spots across southern Louisiana:
1. Eunice
2. Lafayette
3. Thibodaux
4. French Quarter (New Orleans Area)
5. Barataria
6. Chalmette
If you’re looking for a more “traditional” national park experience in Louisiana then, you have options. You’ll just have to leave city lines and escape to the surrounding bayous and prairies. If you do indeed set out for the bayou, be sure to make a stop or two at gas stations along the way. We hear you can find dried shrimp at almost any gas station or grocery store along the bayou and they’re an excellent, local road trip snack (some say better than potato chips).
The Look-See: Other things that caught our eye/attention while visiting the park:
~ There is no entrance fee to enjoy the visitors center or the park.
~ Besides live jazz performances, the center also periodically offers cooking demonstrations and walking tours of the French Quarter (call or check the website out in advance for the most up to date programming schedule before you visit).
~ Inside the visitor’s center, we found a table with complimentary Junior Ranger program materials– a common and popular children’s activity at NPS sites. During our visit they had a CD, “song for junior rangers” available for free.
~ The visitor’s center also had Civil War trading cards available for free (a great souvenir for a history lover in your life and at the right price).
When you find yourself in the French Quarter, in need of a change of pace or an extra dose of New Orleans culture, you’ll get that and so much more at this historic site!
Also, we hope you’ll get to experience an actual 2nd Line when you visit because that would be cool, and we would be super jealous.
~Justin + Alyssa
