Although New Orleans is sometimes called the "Cradle of Jazz," the music was born somewhere in West Africa, in the soul of its people. It journeyed with the slave trade into the deep South of America, to emerge as work songs on cotton fields, or spirituals in churches, or minstrels at road shows. Played often at black funerals, or strummed randomly on battered banjos and worn out guitars, jazz developed soon into organised music - ragtime.

From there it took off on an amazing flight into realms of harmony and melody, changing and evolving with inspired musicians and bewitched singers. Gutbucket grit to ethereal passion, jazz expresses all the emotions in an astounding range, from its early African tradition and European classical influence to bebop and cool blues.