THROUGH THE LENS: Everything Everywhere All at Once for Roots Music Fans at the 2023 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival

May 17, 2023

I’m still drying out from the seven days of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in at least a few ways.  The 2023 edition really is best described as everything, everywhere, all at once for those who live for live music. The sheer breadth of the experience covering the best of close to 500 performances and interviews across 14 stages, tents and pavilions for No Depression and the Jazz & Heritage Archive took a very full tank and consistent hydration, not to mention sturdy rain gear and appropriate footwear (shrimp boots, anyone?). Sure, the gear is a year heavier and so am I, but it all held and I will be back every year as long as I am able bodied, because there is nothing like it on the planet.

And, once again I am proud to contribute to the Jazz & Heritage Archive, whose mission of documenting every Jazz Fest since Mahalia Jackson and a few hundred folks gathered in Congo Square in 1970, has resulted in one of the richest music and cultural collections in the world.

Selected images and a few deeper reflections are featured in this Through the Lens column for No Depression.