NEW ORLEANS | There is no street in the world like Frenchman Street, just off the French Quarter (in fact, Royal turns into Frenchman as it enters Marigny neighborhood), especially during Jazz Fest.
About 20 years ago the Snug Harbor contemporary jazz bar and restaurant opened and began to attract other music bars -- Cafe Brazil, dba, Blue Nile, the Apple Barrel, etc. -- to the three or four block long street until critical mass was achieved five or six years ago.
Now it's an all night street/bar party every night until dawn.
You can hear young guys playing trad jazz in one hole in the wall, reggae nest door, avant garde down the street and any number of street musicians busking up and down Frenchman.
Last night, when Lucinda Williams finished her set at the House of Blues shortly after 11 p.
m., we had no definite plans for the rest of the evening (Marianne has a rule against returning to the hotel before 2 a.m.
), so it was off to Frenchman, where we wandered into Ray's Boom Boom Room, a brand new establishment, featuring much appreciated balcony seating, where we caught a set from some young guys on sax, trumpet, keyboard, standup bass and drums playint a mixture of Monk and Mardi Gras Indian music. Nice.
We then hung out on the street awhile, listening to a trad band with a knocked out female singer (see first picture) playing sitting in on some steps and in the street.
Their open guitar case was full of bills.
Then it was on to the St. Charles Tavern for a late night/early morning breakfast and we were back at the hotel at a quarter to 3.
Another successful evening.
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