Sunday mass at the famous St Augustine’s Church in New Orleans is everything you might expect it to be. A crowded building that only adds to the summer heat and humidity; a large choir that fills the remaining space; and preaching that elicits shouted comments from the congregation. I love the energy of the service that rolls on like a rock concert. This is about as gospel as I’ve ever seen before. This is a New Orleans tradition – “a jazz funeral with the body”. A brass band walks...

You don’t hear much about it anymore, but there was a time not so long ago that musicians walked to their gigs. The Grateful Dead walked when they played at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. Bob Dylan did it in Greenwich Village. And, I imagine, Louis Armstrong strutted to the smoky music clubs of “Black Storyville,” a four-block area in New Orleans’ former red light district where City Hall now stands. If there is one city where this tradition still exists, it’s likely New...