Opening tonight’s show are two from Louis Armstrong, followed by Henry Red Allen Jr., George Lewis, and an encore for Henry Red Allen Jr. Set #2 features James Booker, Irma Thomas, and Johnny Adams. In Set #3, it’s Ingrid Lucia, Robin Barnes, and Stephanie Jordon. Listen  

Opening tonight’s show are two from Joe King Oliver, followed by Kid Ory, and Louis Armstrong. In Set #2, it’s Smiley Lewis, The Meters, and Henry Butler. Set #3: A salute to the 2025 Grammy Award winners with strong ties to New Orleans and southwest Louisiana, featuring select tracks from the Best Regional Roots category, the album A Tribute to the King of Zydeco, and two tracks from the Grammy Award-winning Best Gospel Album, Heart of Mine, with Darrell Walls and PJ Morton. Listen 

We open tonight’s show with Jelly Roll Morton, then it’s George Lewis, Freddie Keppart, Israel Gorman, and Louis Armstrong. Set # 2 features Fats Domino, Tuts Washington, Professor Longhair, Marva Wright andWalter “Wolfman” Washington. In Set #3 it’s Big Sam’s Funky Nation, Dumpstaphunk, Galactic, and 

Donald Harrison Jr., along with Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah (now Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah). Listen

Opening tonight’s show is A.J. Piron, followed by Jimmie Noone, then it’s Sidney Bechet, Ernest “Punch” Miller, and Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. In our 2nd set: Luther Kent, Alvin Batiste, Allen Toussaint, and Dr. John. Set #3 features Jon Batiste and Idris Muhammad. Listen

Mahalia Jackson opens tonight’s show, followed by Louis Armstrong, Emma Barrett, and Lonnie Johnson. Then in Set #2, it’s Edgar Big Boy Miles, Huey Piano Smith, Walter Wolfman Washington, Dr. John, and Allen Toussaint. And in Set #3: Dumpstaphunk, The Rumble, James Andrews, Dr. John, and Donald Harrison Jr., and Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. Listen

Our Carnival celebration continues! Opening the show tonight, Jimmie Noone’s Apex Club Orchestra, followed by Louis Armstrong with the Mills Brothers, Danny Barker, Sidney Bechet, and Pete Fountain. In Set #2, it’s Professor Longhair, Art Neville, Prince La La, Ernie K-Doe, Earl King, and The Meters. Set #3: Jon Batiste, Nicholas Payton, Donald Harrison Jr., and Harry Connick Jr. Listen

Happy New Year!    

For one hour each week for the past five years, starting in 2021, we’ve discovered, listened to, and learned about New Orleans-born or near New Orleans-born artists and a wide variety of music genres. 

There is absolutely no other city in the world that has produced more musicians-- jazz, blues, R&B, Rock n’ Roll, and that has and continues to have more influence on music than New Orleans, bar none. 

Over the past 5 years, I’ve stayed true, with a couple of exceptions, to only feature New Orleans-born or near New Orleans-born artists on the NORMS. Those exceptions were for Jazz Fest shows and a couple of other specialty shows. The reason we can stay so true to our New Orleans-born or near New Orleans-born artists, well, there are so, so many. 

Tonight, an accounting of sorts, we attempt to share the long list of New Orleans-born or near New Orleans-born artists that have been and will continue to be featured on the NORMS. 

The music featured on the show in Set #1 includes the Original Dixieland Jass Band, Joe King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, and Louis Armstrong. In Set #2 it’s Fats Domino, James Sugarboy Crawford, Earl King, The Meters, Irma Thomas, and Professor Longhair. Set #3: Ellis Marsalis Jr., Wynton Marsalis, Harry Connick Jr., and Donald Harrison, Jr.

On World Cities Day 2025, observed on 31 Oct 2025, UNESCO (The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) designated 58 cities as new members of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN), including New Orleans. 

New Orleans has officially been recognized as a UNESCO Creative City of Music, a distinction that honors its profound cultural legacy and far-reaching impact on global sound—from jazz and blues to bounce and rock and roll.

For New Orleans, the designation ensures that its unmistakable rhythm—its sound, soul, and spirit—will continue to resonate with future generations around the world.

On tonight’s show Ernest Punch Miller, Sweet Emma Barrett, Bunk Johnson, Jelly Roll Morton, Geroge Lewis, AND Louis Armstrong. Set #2 is dedicated to Marcia Ball and in Set #3: PJ Morton and Jon Batiste. 

Tonight’s show is all about the Zydeco. Honoring the Festival de Musique Acadienne A Creole, the annual three-day FREE Cajun and Zydeco music festival, in Lafayette, LA with a select group of artists that performed or were honoring at this year’s fest, starting with Zachary Richard, followed by Wayne Toups, CJ Chenier & the Red Hot Louisiana Band, Kevin Naquin & the Ossun Playboys, and Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys. Then it’s a brief tribute to CJ Chenier and Buckwheat Zydeco, then it’s on to Corey Ledet Zydeco, Lil’ Nathan & The Zydeco Big Timers, Cedric Watson et Bijou Créole, and Geno Delafose & French Rockin’ Boogie closes the show.

On tonight’s show a playlist that captures and reflects on the City of New Orleans, and the devastating impact of Hurricane Katrina, then moves on to celebrate the city and along the way I’ll share with you a little of what I was both reminded and learned about the storm, twenty years after the storm; it’s impact, the, still ongoing recovery, and where New Orleans is today. Artists include: Terence Blanchard, Harry Connick Jr., Dr. John, Elis Costello and Allen Toussaint, Louis Armstrong, Delfeayo Marsalis, The Soul Rebels, and Lil Queenie and the Percolators

 Tonight, it’s The Marsalis’ . . . again, a rebroadcast  from 7 July 2025.  Father Ellis, and sons Branford, Wynton, Delfeayo, and Jason, a taste of each of their genius, starting with Father Ellis, the patriate of this incredibly talented musical family. The Marsalis family, together and individually, has made significant contributions to the preservation of jazz, the furthering of the art form, and the education of students of the music, leaving an important and distinctive mark on the world of jazz and this nation’s culture.