saxcat photography blog

New Orleans, Louisiana—wow, what a city!! I went down in April, 2012 to attend the French Quarter Festival, and had an amazing time. The festival always kicks off with a terrific “New Orleans” parade on Bourbon Street, with many great groups performing, numerous floats, people walking, people on bicycles, in vehicles, and pretty much any form of transportation that you can imagine. Marching bands, Dixieland bands, jazz combos, come from all over the world to participate in the parade, as well as perform at numerous venues throughout the festival.

This year I saw numerous groups as always, including, “Leroy Jones and New Orleans’ Finest,” “Bonerama,” “Doreen Ketchens,”(the female Louis Armstrong), “Duke Heitger,” “Bob Havens,” (lead trombonist for Lawrence Welk for many years), “ The Dukes of Dixieland,” “Kid Simmons’ New Orleans Jazz Band,” “Rick Trolsen & the New Orleans PO-Boys,” “New Orleans Classic Jazz Orchestra,” “Irvin Mayfield Big-Band,” “Leon ‘Kid Chocolate’ Brown, the original “Treme Band,” (that is featured in the hit HBO series, “Treme,” and the legendary clarinetist, “Pete Fountain.”

At Woldenberg Park, which is situated along the Mississippi River, there are several stages that feature continuous live music and there is also several food vendors set up along the Mississippi that feature some of the finest New Orleans cuisine.

My favourite club to visit in New Orleans is located at the “Royal Sonesta Hotel,”on “Bourbon Street,” and is called, “Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse.” It is a well-decorated place, and features some of the finest world-class talent that you will ever see. For more information on Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse, check out the following link: http://www.sonesta.com/RoyalNewOrleans/index.cfm?fa=restaurant2.home

The French Quarter Festival is becoming bigger, better, and busier every year, and is one of those festivals that you should definitely check out. For more information about the festival, check out: “http://www.fqfi.org/frenchquarterfest”>

That’s all for now…see you next time!! To view more images from the festival, click on the image of Leroy Jones.