Friday, July 1, 2011

New Orleans Independent Music CDs!

The Music & Media Center is home to thousands of CDs (34,205 as of June 22, to be exact!). New Orleans being the nexus of jazz, zydeco, and blues that it is, it goes without saying that our CD collection includes hundreds of recordings by local jazz musicians. You'll find Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, Professor Longhair, Jacques Delany, Ellis Marsalis, Kermit Ruffins, The Preservation Hall Jazz Band... the list goes on.

New Orleans, though, is more than just jazz. It's punk, it's rock, it's classical, it's so wholly independent it's unclassifiable. The city is home to a wide variety of artists and even wider forms of musical expression, all created from the cultural, social, and political faces of the city and all contributing back to these faces. Recognizing the importance of these voices and musics to represent the New Orleans way, the Music & Media Center has been actively collecting the CDs of these behind the scenes groups.

Conduct a search for sound recordings on the phrase "New Orleans Independent Music" to find the 300+ CDs by indy New Orleans musicians waiting for you in the collection. My favorites of the moment include the Morning 40 Federation, The New Orleans Oneironauts, Silent Cinema, and Jim O. - what are your favorites?