NPS Website; Local Website; New Orleans Jazz Commission
WHAT IS IT?
The National Park Site dedicated to a purely American art form: jazz music.
BEAUTY (3/10)The Site is nothing more than a small room in a tucked away courtyard of buildings adjacent to the French Market. Rows of folding chairs face a small stage where Ranger talks and performances take place. A projection screen is pulled out to show films. The current Site is just anonymous commercial building space.
HISTORICAL INTEREST (5/10)
Jazz began here. Its birth and story illuminate the American experience and the artistry that results when many disparate cultures clash. Does the Site do a good job in telling this story? Not at all. There is no museum, no exhibits and no way to understand the immensity of the jazz history. This rating should be higher. We cannot extrapolate a guess on historical interest based on what the Park Service does not tell us.
The Park’s pamphlet explains that the Site is planning for the future with a new facility in nearby Louis Armstrong Park that will include four structures, a museum and performance venues. Nonetheless, a dejected sounding Ranger admitted that the future is far away. Years after the proposal was accepted, the move still lies in planning stages. The Rangers know their mission, realize the park’s deficiencies but understand the limited possibilities that their current location and funding afford. This is a common National Parks story.
CROWDS (5/10)
Few people made there way into the small building during our short visit. The two we did see were dutifully staid while watching the lifeless Ken Burns documentary segment on Charlie Parker. Does that make any sense at all? The Jazz NHP strangely transports the visitor away from the energetic spirit of the city and into a lifeless pall. Suddenly the music that plays up and down the streets is replaced by a silence. Yes, there is no music playing in the background at the Jazz NHP. Inside the site, Jazz feels dead, objectified and unexciting but be brave, once you go back onto the streets, the thrill returns.
EASE OF USE/ACCESS (3/5)If you have a hotel in the Central Business District or in the French Quarter, the Site is not hard to find. It is between Café Du Monde and the French Market tucked back along North Peters Street and away from the action. You can easily walk here. Driving and finding a parking space could be difficult.
CONCESSIONS/BOOKSTORE (3/5)
Not nearly as many books as would be expected. The Site sells a number of CD’s that looked to be mainly compilations rather than seminal jazz classics.
COSTS (4/5)
The Site is free.
RANGER/GUIDE TO TOURIST RATIO (3/5)
Two Rangers at the site – one to man the front desk, another to do any required set up for the film or afternoon performance. We found one Ranger to be much more knowledgeable than the other. Not surprisingly, this Ranger is also one of the afternoon musical performers. We appreciated his frank responses as to the future of the site. He said he was just grateful they could continue the afternoon shows. We have to admit, we opted for the livelier, open-air version of jazz playing all around us; we didn’t attend the 3 pm performance.
TOURS/CLASSES (4/10)
The Site does its best with what it has. Because there is no space for a museum and few staff on hand, the Jazz NHP schedules daily a showing of a jazz-related documentary and either a Ranger talk or a jazz performance. You can request that a certain film on their ample list be played. We balked at watching the Tuesday 11:00am film when we learned that it was an episode in the Ken Burns jazz documentary series. No need to be bored inside when the vibrant madness of New Orleans is outside, which, sadly, might be the Jazz NHP’s overriding theme.
Every Friday from 11:00am to noon, the Site offers a Ranger talk to Jazz-related Sites in the French Quarter. This sounds exactly like what the Jazz NHP should be: a professionally led understanding of the places where jazz began. We could not go on this tour because New Orleans hotel rates on Friday and Saturday jump exorbitantly. How about a Ranger led jazz tour sometime earlier in the week?
The Jazz NHP does offer a wide array of pamphlets that will aid in your journey’s around the City. Be sure to grab the six done by the New Orleans Jazz Commission that provide walking tours through the French Quarter, Storyville, Decatur Street, the Business District, Canal Street and Lafayette Square. The Park Service provides there own mimeographed sheet regarding-related structures and resources and another showing where to find jazz in New Orleans, which is sort of like their pamphlets showing where to find wildlife at Yellowstone; helpful but not really necessary.
FUN (3/10)The Park Site itself is not much fun. It is tough to see a place that has seemingly been stuck in the idea stage for ten years. But jazz in New Orleans is tons of fun. Walk anywhere and Dixieland Jazz emanates. Finding great jazz bands is easy. One night we listened to two incredible sets of Afro-Cuban jazz at the Spotted Cat.
We could have gone to any of the six surrounding Frenchman Street bars and heard excellent music. It was a Wednesday. After which we wandered down Decatur Street to our hotel. We passed Margaritaville where, believe it or not, Jimmy Buffett himself was playing a few unplanned songs. Not actually jazz but an amazing time.
WOULD WE RECOMMEND? (3/10)
Jazz music is a vital American treasure and its celebration and place as a National Park Site necessary. The city of New Orleans is a perfect place for this site; jazz music is tangible here bellowing out of all windows at all times of the day. If you travel to New Orleans, you will undoubtedly be touched by this living breathing art form whether you stumble down Bourbon Street, take in one of the many nightly shows on Frenchmen Street or are just serenaded on the street while eating beignets at Café Du Monde. There are more jazz clubs in New Orleans than anywhere in the world. The music is the city.
Does your trip warrant a visit to the current incarnation of the Jazz NHP? Probably not, unless it is to pick up the many helpful jazz-related pamphlets they distribute. When and if the new Site in Louis Armstrong Park opens, the Jazz NHP holds great promise. It is a perfect location, there is a willing audience and the city’s historical resources are unmatched. Until then, you need to experience Jazz on your own which is not really such a bad or even difficult proposition.
TOTAL 36/80
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