I hit the bars of New Orleans last night. When I woke up this morning I realised that they had hit me back. It all began at 6.00pm when I had the cab drop me off at the top of Frenchmen Street that borders the French Quarter. The locals tell me its where you find the real blues and jazz scene in New Orleans. Bourbon Street I am reliably informed just basically has cover bands doing 70's classic rock but I will tell you tomorrow.
I walked up and down the very small strip, three blocks at most and heard excellent music coming from at least three venues. This is a music scene that I would kill to be a part of. Nearly every venue had live music every night of the week and many have three acts playing. First act will come on at 4.00pm for happy hour, next one will start at 6.00pm and provide the dinner music, then the party band will come on at about 9.30pm and play till 3.30am. I was like a kid in a lolly shop I wanted to try them all.
First port of call was Mojito's Rum Bar & Grill. There are many killer mixed drinks available everywhere which being an old hand I avoided like the plague. These guys had a three piece band playing with a kick arse bass player who absolutely carved it up, stayed for three drinks and then went exploring.
My next place of excess was The Spotted Cat. This was very much the real deal. I was told this is where I would hear some truly authentic jazz and it was excellent advice. There was a five piece act playing. Trumpet, guitar, piano, double bass and clarinet/sax player. I grabbed a couple of glasses of wine here and couldn't beleive I was drinking Australian chardonnay. I would have happily stayed all night except there was too much else to see and hear.
It was time for dinner and found this excellent tapas place called The Three Muses. It had traditional Louisiana fare but with a modern twist. I had bacon wrapped blue cheese stuffed dates, tempura shrimp, seared scallops and falafel crusted fresh mozerella. I snuck in a glass of wine or two here and discovered I am developing a real liking for Pinot Grigio. There was also another excellent traditional four piece jazz band playing doing all original material (guitar, double bass, trumpet and trombone).
Right next door is The Blue Nile so it made perfect sense to go check it out. There was a fat six piece band on the stage playing hard core blues/rock. There was enormous guy on the piano absolutely shredding it. I would have stayed longer only they had a break so I couldn't wait for more, one glass of wine and I was gone to the next venue.
The next place I visited was called 30 by 90 Degrees. I can't even find it on a map or a website. They had a six piece band on stage with a traditional line up of two guitars, bass, drums, keys and sax. These guys were tight, they absolutely wailed. I don't beleive I have ever heard such a tight band performing live. These guys were world class and I wish I could remember their name. I may have even bought an album if I could. I had way too many glasses of wine here (as if thats possible) and its here when things started to get a little hazy. I watched a set and a half of the band and they just blew me away.
I had one last stop before I headed home, Maison. The band was excellent and I grabbed two more glasses of wine but I knew it was time to head out. My bed was calling so I answered. It was an amazing night but there was no way I was going to make 4.00am. There were plenty of Louisiana police about dealing with the drunks and the many many people who were passed out on the sidewalk. I have no doubt that they no longer had some of there belongings. You need to have your wits about you in these kind of places and they had clearly had too many speciality drinks and it had got the better of them. They will no doubt be a lot poorer, a little wiser and have a real rock and roll story to tell about theri time in The Big Easy.
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