((PKG)) NEW ORLEANS JAZZ
((Banner: The Big Hard))
((Reporter: Elena Wolf))
((Camera: Artyom Kokhan))
((Adapted by: Martin Secrest))
((Map: New Orleans, Louisiana))
((NATS))
((Craig Adams, Street Musician))
So, New Orleans was really the cheapest place to live before Katrina. It was easy to make a living down here, you know? That’s why they called it the ‘Big Easy’. But now, it’s the ‘Big Hard.’
((NATS))
((Greg Lambousy, Director, New Orleans Jazz Museum))
I think we’re lucky in that, you know, many people thought that with Katrina that the city, it was dead, and it shouldn’t be rebuilt. The city’s been through so many hurricanes and other devastating events and rebuilt. It’s a resilient city and really the music right now here is, I think, stronger than it’s maybe ever been.
((NATS))
((Greg Lambousy, Director, New Orleans Jazz Museum))
Our place here as a museum is to collect and preserve, but also to help be a platform for that evolving tradition to continue. You know, you had this Latin influence from Europe. You had the French, the Spanish, the mixing of all these things is the biggest component I think, but the African element is primary.
((NATS))
((BANNER: The New Orleans Jazz Museum has over 20,000 artifacts))
((Greg Lambousy, Director, New Orleans Jazz Museum))
This is one of the largest, if not the largest, in the world and related to New Orleans jazz. And you can see this wonderful drum right here that was Minor ‘Ram’ Hall’s drum when he was part of Kid Ory’s band.
((NATS))
((Greg Lambousy, Director, Orleans Jazz Museum))
So, this is the coronet that Louis Armstrong learned to play on, in large measure. He made these little notches in it too. He thought as a small child, that it would help him to get a better grip on the mouthpiece and you can see the notches on here right now.
((NATS))
Well, we’re going to do one more, and then we’re going to take a break.
((NATS))
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