Jan 21, 2025 7:54 PM
Southern California Fires Hit the Jazz Community
Roy McCurdy and his wife had just finished eating dinner and were relaxing over coffee in their Altadena home, when he…
Since hurricanes Katrina and Rita forced many musicians to flee New Orleans, the jazz and blues that was the city’s musical score have been harder to find, as have the musicians who seek to return, but, like so many, have no place to go.
“Music is as much a part of the fabric of life in New Orleans as the cuisine, the culture,” said Branford Marsalis, a native of New Orleans. “Katrina and Rita scattered musicians across the country, and shuttered many clubs and concert venues across the city.”
Habitat for Humanity and New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity, working with Harry Connick Jr., and Branford Marsalis announced a plan that will bring those scattered musicians and their music back home. Through a program called Operation Home Delivery, a “Musicians’ Village” will be built in the Crescent City.
The Musicians’ Village will consist of Habitat-constructed homes for displaced New Orleans musicians, and in its center will be the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music. The center will focus on celebrating the music and musicians of New Orleans, and will include performance rooms and classrooms.
Funding for the Musicians’ Village comes from proceeds of the “From the Big Apple To The Big Easy” benefit concerts, held in New York this past September. Funds raised through the CDs “Hurricane Relief: Come Together Now” and “Our New Orleans: A Benefit Album for the Gulf Coast,” will also benefit Musicians’ Village.
“This plan, this village, will help restore New Orleans’ musical heritage, and protect it for the next generation that will follow,” said Marsalis. To having the center named after him, Ellis Marsalis said, “I am humbled and proud to have a role in the rebirth of this great city.”
For more information please visit www.habitat-nola.org.
Gerald and John Clayton at the family home in Altadena during a photo shoot for the June 2022 cover of DownBeat. The house was lost during the Los Angeles fires.
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