I recently took Mac Corbin’s New Orleans Jazz tour offered through The Friends of The Cabildo. It was an exhilarating experience. Whether you are an aficionado of Jazz or just interested in one of the unique cultural contributions New Orleans has given to the world, Mac’s 2 hour tour is a “bucket list” experience.
His tour begins at the Jazz Museum in the Old US Mint. Mac begins by defining Jazz: happy music you can dance to. He quickly traces the origins of Jazz in slave work songs, gospel and through ragtime. Inside the Mint, we view Louis Armstrong’s first coronet. Then, literally strolling through the French Quarter, Mac develops the course of Jazz through the nineteen teens, 20’s, 30’s 40’s. 50’s and 60’s, the advent of Preservation Hall and the rebirth of traditional Jazz here in New Orleans.
At each of his stops he plays Jazz excerpts to illustrate the evolution of Jazz and introduce you to the musicians; both those who left New Orleans in the 20’s, those who stayed and those who returned to foster a new Jazz tradition here.
Perhaps because Mac is not a musician himself but rather a passionate lover of traditional Jazz, Jazz history and the current music scene in New Orleans, I found the information he proffered easily accessible. His love for his subject and enthusiasm is infectious. His tour never lags and the two hours fly by. He loves questions and, as a New Orleans tour guide, he is knowledgeable about most facets of French Quarter history and architecture.
Mac only offers his tour a couple of times a week but if your schedule doesn’t fit with his, call the Friends of The Cabildo to see if you can arrange something. New Orleans without Mac’s tour is like an elegant dinner without and entré.