Editorial
New Orleans is the only city in the United States where the question of where to find live music is never a problem — the question is which live music to find, and that is considerably more difficult. The best live music bars in New Orleans are not the Bourbon Street clubs with the cover charges and the tourist-facing lineups. They are the rooms on Frenchmen Street, in the Tremé, in the Bywater, where the musicians are playing for the music rather than the photograph. This is where we send people.
Frenchmen Street is the single most concentrated live music corridor in the city, and possibly in the country. On a Friday or Saturday night after 10pm, every bar on this street has live music running simultaneously. The quality varies, but the best rooms here maintain a standard that rivals anything in the jazz world.
The Tremé is the oldest African American neighbourhood in the country and the birthplace of jazz as a performative tradition. The bars here do not need to explain their history. The Bywater has absorbed the more experimental wing of New Orleans' music culture as rents pushed musicians eastward. Both neighbourhoods reward the visitor who makes the walk.
The French Quarter's live music bars divide clearly between the tourist operations on Bourbon Street and the rooms that operate independently of that circuit. The ones worth finding are mostly off Bourbon, in the quieter streets that most visitors do not reach.
New Orleans' live music bar scene is the deepest in the United States, which means your choices are actually about what kind of experience you want rather than whether you will find something good. Snug Harbor is the essential stop for serious jazz. The Spotted Cat is the essential stop for an evening that starts with music and ends with dancing. The Candlelight Lounge on a Wednesday night is something you cannot find anywhere else in the world.
The correct New Orleans live music itinerary: one evening on Frenchmen Street starting at The Spotted Cat and ending at Snug Harbor, and one evening at the Candlelight Lounge in the Tremé. Everything else is a bonus.
James has been covering New Orleans' live music bar scene since 2007. He has a strong opinion about which Frenchmen Street bar is worth the cover charge on a Saturday night and will defend it.
Frenchmen Street in the Faubourg Marigny. Snug Harbor, The Spotted Cat, d.b.a. and The Maison run live sets nightly within two short blocks.
Preservation Hall and Fritzel's European Jazz Pub in the French Quarter keep to acoustic traditional jazz. Snug Harbor on Frenchmen leans modern and contemporary.
Some do. Preservation Hall and Snug Harbor sell tickets per set, while The Spotted Cat, d.b.a. and the Candlelight Lounge often pass a tip bucket instead.
The Candlelight Lounge in Treme remains the neighborhood room for brass, with regular sets from the Andrews family and other local players.