Jamming with Disaster: New Orleans Jazz in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina

Abstract

While storms such as the Hurricane of 1915 and Betsy (1965) occasioned major damage and dislocations for many New Orleans residents, Hurricane Katrina in 2005 was the first such event to receive international media coverage as it was happening. Televised reports emphasized the misery of black refugees massed at the Convention Center and Superdome: depictions of New Orleans as “third world,” deviant, and unworthy of salvation revealed the negative underside of the exoticism that had fueled the city’s cultural tourism industry for centuries. Yet, the resilience of jazz musicians and concomitant festival traditions (Carnival, “second lines,” “jazz funerals,” and New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival) became the city’s barometer for recovery. Seven years later, one can offer some tentative conclusions about the impact of Hurricane Katrina on the fortunes of New Orleans jazz musicians. In time, positive media coverage surfaced in Spike Lee’s film “When the Levees Broke” and David Simon’s HBO series “Treme,” providing New Orleans musicians with national exposure and, in some cases, substantial revenue. Moreover, an amelioration of the factionalism that had plagued the New Orleans brass band scene for at least three decades prior to Katrina has led to a renewed sense of community among these musicians. Fears that the city’s jazz culture would not survive have abated. Increased visibility, combined with the psychic and material impact of private sector aid to musicians, has given New Orleans jazz musicians new opportunities for growth and hope for a better future. In fact, many writers now feel that Katrina has ushered in a renaissance for New Orleans jazz, an awakening based in catharsis and a renewed commitment to a cultural environment that posits music as necessary to existence.