(jazz music)

- Tonight we're letting the music be our guide.

We're taking a Jazz Tour around the French Quarter.

The perfect introduction to The Big Easy!

(jazz music)

- Now jazz is the gumbo of music.

So we take this African beat and

eventually add it to military brass band

and eventually add elements of the French Opera House.

(jazz music)

- All right, here's our first stop.

(jazz music)

Thank you.

You just can't beat live music.

You don't need to finish your drink,

you can take it with you.

(jazz music)

^Now we're walking down Bourbon Street

^and it's pretty crazy, you can totally feel the energy

^and it's not even that late yet.

- One of the things that influence jazz

and influence Bourbon Street is Storyville,

the only area of legalized prostitution in America.

And it would open in the late 1800s

and it would stay open until 1917.

And then in 1919 the great French Opera house,

which had been built in the 1850s burned to the ground.

This was where social life of the entire city came together.

^- Right now we're going to the Music Legends Park

^for a little bit of live Jazz.

(live jazz music)

- I'm Steamboat Willie

and I play jazz for a living here in New Orleans.

We start at 6 o'clock every night and we play til midnight.

The music, the food, the people

are the essence of New Orleans.

New Orleans Jazz being the whole base

that holds everything up.

- New Orleans is the birthplace of Jazz.

So tonight has been such a treat to really see

the musicians doing what they do.

It's been just amazing.

All right, so they're just about to start another set

and I've got a lot more exploring to do so

let the good times roll!

(jazz music)