New Orleans Music
fwiw, I insure the New Orleans Music Hall of Fame and they are in the process of renovating abuilding on S. Rampart to become a museum. Will be really nice.
http://www.nomhf.org/
That sounds like a great project, but their website alleges that the Smithsonian declared the Eagle Saloon as the birthplace of American Jazz, which is a pretty dubious statement. I believe it was one of a small group of clubs, bordering or just within the bounds of Storyville where some of the stars of the music scene in that era played with each other casually. It may have been an important part of the birth of jazz, but any statement beyond that is a pretty crazy stretch.
Still, the museum is a great idea, and I had always thought the Eagle Saloon was inside Storyville.
Frenchmen street is overrun with music, and even the Balcony Club on Eplanade and Decatur has loads of good acts in there, including guys like Kermit Ruffins.
Preservation Hall is in a pretty precarious position, from what I understand. There's till a lot of good music there--probably a wider range of music that has a broader popular appeal. But my understanding is that postK, they've lost about 2/3's of the traditional jazz guys that rotated in there. It seems like it's still going to be a great place, but not what the same thing that it was for the previous 35 years.