Next Tuesday (10/13/2009) I will be taking my 16 year old daughter to New Orleans to make an official visit to Tulane University. After the visit we plan to spend the rest of the day hanging out and seeing the sights, riding the trolley through the Garden District, visiting the French Market, eating GREAT food, etc. My daughter is a trumpet player in her school band and would like to hear some REAL New Orleans-style jazz while we’re there, but I would like to avoid the skankier type places on Bourbon Street.
So, any NOLA dopers have any suggestions for a nice jazz club suitable for a below-drinking-age minor that would have live music on a Tuesday evening?
Snug Harbor is a nice, upscale jazz club with live music seven nights a week and open to all ages. I don’t think the quartet playing on 10/13 is New Orleans-style jazz, but you’ll still have a great time.
Haven’t lived in New Orleans for years so I don’t know current recommendations, though I would have said Snug Harbor had SaharaTea not beaten me to it.
Don’t know The Spotted Cat, but anything on Frenchman street is cooler than cool- on Frenchman St. we used to go to Cafe Brazil and Cafe Istanbul, from MapQuest it looks like The Spotted Cat may fill one of the locations that those older clubs used to occupy.
Just came in here to say . . .
in New Orleans the trolley is called the Streetcar. No one would ever go see a play called “A Trolley Named Desire”.
Incidentally, my first time in New Orleans was for the purpose of visiting colleges. I ended up going to Loyola, right next door to your precious Tulane. Will your trumpet playing daughter be studying music? If so, she should definitely check out Loyola- might suit her better than Tulane. Either way, they two schools are really so very much next door to one another than if it weren’t for the differing architecture you would think it was all just one big school. If you’re checking out Tulane might as well tour Loyola too.
The Maple Leaf is probably not “all ages”, but damn it SNEAK HER IN!!!
The best thing in the world you can possibly do for your brass playing daughter is to take her to see The Rebirth Brass Band.
And not just anywhere, this is The Rebirth Brass Band playing their Tuesday night show at The Maple Leaf. IF YOU LOVE YOUR DAUGHTER FIND A WAY TO GET HER TO THIS SHOW!!!
That is at 10pm (and will run into the wee small hours).
Thanks for the responses, all. After following SaharaTea’s link to Snug Harbor I started poking around on some of the related links and found some great info on other places as well. Looks like a stroll down Frenchmen’s St. is most definitely in order. I also looked at the Spotted Cat (renamed Jimbeaux’s) where the Pfister Sister’s were supposed to be playing that night, but apparently Jimbeaux’s has shutdown recently (according to the Sisters’ website. Oh, well!
I also found an events schedule that shows a regular event called Swinging in the Street at the Fair Grinds Coffeehouse which is quite a ways up Esplanade from the Faubourg Marigny district. It seems to be a sort of mini street party they do every Tuesday evening. Anyone know anything about that one?
And if all else fails, we may try to catch the Cottonmouth Kings of New Orleans at d.b.a., assuming they’ll let my daughter in. But keep those suggestions coming.
Oh, and bienville, she wants to go to a school that has a marching band (that accepts non-music majors), so that pretty much means there has to be a football team involved. Does Loyola play football?
I had heard the Spotted Cat was up for sale, but did not know it went through…
All the clubs on Frenchman St. are great, and there is generally no cover, so you can check them all out and choose which one you like the best.
Cottonmouth Kings at d.b.a. will be an upbeat party scene, but I think d.b.a. is either 18 or 21+ (though in New Orleans, that is often more a suggestion than a law that anyone actually follows.)
Finally, bienville knows what he is talking about re Dirty Dozen at Maple Leaf—This is one of the things that makes New Orleans so unique and vital. The Maple Leaf itself is nondescript, and in an off-the-beaten-track location, but it comes alive with musical energy and soul, and would be a great introduction to the true spirit of New Orleans,which is light years away in feeling from the Bourbon St. tawdry kitch.
Fritzel’s is a good place to hear traditional New Orleans jazz. Tom Fischer (a clarinetist) will be featured there at 9 PM that night. I don’t know whether they allow minors.
Jason Marsalis will be playing at the Jazz Playhouse in the Royal Sonesta Hotel at 8 PM on October 13.
OK, looks like a phone call to check age policies at the Maple Leaf is most definitely in order. Looks like we could catch an early show somewhere on Frenchman St. then still make it back over to the Maple Leaf in time for the 10:00 show. Looks like the agenda is shaping up nicely, but keep those suggestions coming.
Dont know if this will help or not, but I just heard form an old N.O. friend that the Spotted Cat will re-open under its original management on 10/8/09.
Its a great spot, and draws some top-notch talent…
Fritzel’s was out favorite place on a recent trip to NO. Tom was also playing one night while we were there - delightful.
No cover, but there is a drink order minimum - which can be a soda or something else non-alcoholic for an underage patron. Good place to escape Bourbon St. - which won’t be too bad on a Tuesday night…
Cool beans! Thanks for the info, and we’ll definitely be checking it out. Along with as many of the other places suggested as we can fit in to the time allotted.