You are There: The Louisiana Jazz Festival Special

Natchitoches - Most of us, when we think of jazz, connect it with New Orleans street corners and cafes. In Natchitoches jazz and the Cane swing together. Today they danced at the annual jazz festival, before an overflow crowd.

It’s April; it's spring, and Natchitoches celebrates the season with something special. The annual jazz festival brings visitors from all over the parish, and from places far beyond. It ushers in the start of a season of festivals, but none so anticipated as the jazz festival, rivaling the Natchitoches Christmas festival, well known for its spectacular displays. Slow and easy musical strains, upbeat notes and sophisticated rhythms flowed from two stages along the riverbank. Those with homes near the main section of downtown said it was impossible to sleep before midnight as the music bounced off those riverbanks on either side, reverberating into the surrounding neighborhoods. Folks could choose to sit on back porches and be happily entertained or join the throngs downtown.

Carol Forsloff

This is the annual jazz festival in Louisiana, this one in Natchitoches where the crowds were large this year.

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A journalist joined that crowd, enticed by sounds and songs so familiar and yet so new again. For those who revel in music, R & B, a bit of country and a whole lot of very good jazz, the festival is the time of year that brings the music man folks embrace with vigor. Today Natchitoches celebrated that jazz, even as New Orleans crowds reveled in the city several hours away. Jazz is part of the culture, the lifestyle and the lifeblood of Louisiana, and jazz festivals celebrated it from New Orleans to Shreveport and Natchitoches in between. .

Del Forsloff

New Orleans jazz festival crowd. Picture by Del Forsloff

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On festival weekend folks sat in the sunshine midday as the warm, soft air and river breeze brought new comforts from months of cold winter. Today jazz was King, and those in the crowd, its subjects, seemed royally amazed.

Del Forsloff

Here's the crowd all having fun at the Natchitoches jazz festival.

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As far as the eye could see on Front Street facing the river, musical groups brought the happy crowd to joyous claps and dancing with the rhythms they so loved.

Del Forsloff

Johnny Earthquake and the Moondogs are one of the best known groups in Natchitoches.

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Jazz brings people together from across Louisiana. Some choose the city and others Little New Orleans, or Natchitoches, complete with the river, the crowd and the fun. It brought musicians from across the state and as far away as California to entertain the crowd.

Carol Forsloff

These twins call themselves Day and Night and are R & B singers from California who came to entertain at the Natchitoches Jazz Festival.

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Natchitoches prides itself on turning on its charm during jazz festival weekend, as folks flocked in from everywhere to play in the afternoon sun. It included those who sat on folding chairs and those in the boats that sailed on the lake, listening to the music while the water lapped around..

Del Forsloff

The boats took people along Cane River Lake as jazz flooded the town.

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Friends and lovers strolled along the river. People danced in the crowd to the music that made toe-tapping and swaying something extra fun.

Del Forsloff

Friends and lovers alike enjoyed the sunshine and the jazz. Here a couple are getting their picture taken by DJ Carol Forsloff.

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The evening brought a crescendo, as the crowds grew larger, the music louder, the aromas and sounds of crawfish boiling, catfish sizzling, and beer cans popping, that make one hope, like any good thing, the day might never end. So folks declared as they walked away, enjoying again what Louisiana is known for worldwide, the music it calls jazz.

Carol Forsloff

People wandered along the river, coming and going in large and small groups from the crowd at the jazz festival.

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