Music's greatest legends re-enact the birth of jazz in this song-filled tribute to the town where it all began: New Orleans! Arturo de Cordova stars as Nick, the proprietor of a Bourbon Street gambling joint, and artistic haven for African-American musicians. When he falls for an opera-singing socialite, Nick realizes that only through music will he gain respectability, and launches a campaign to bring jazz to the highbrow American stage. A refreshing rediscovery, New Orleans is especially noteworthy for its lack of racial stereotypes, as well as the high caliber of performances delivered by its stellar cast, including Louis Armstrong, Woody Herman, Kid Ory, Meade Lux Lewis and more. Perhaps the film's most memorable number is "Farewell to Storyville", a haunting blues melody sung by Billie Holiday as she leads a procession of black musicians exiled from the city -- a sequence that beautifully captures the melancholy and grace of Holiday's inimitable performance style. Other musical highlights include Holiday's rendition of "New Orleans", Armstrong's "Endie" and "Where The Blues Were Born", and their duet "The Blues Are Brewin". Also included in this DVD are two musical shorts from Paramount Studios (A Rhapsody In Black And Blue featuring Armstrong and Symphony In Black with Holiday and Duke Ellington) as well as an essay on the making of New Orleans, which originated as a project for Orson Welles.

Average Customer Review: ( 7 customer reviews )
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The musical footage of Holiday and Armstrong (seen in solos and duets) is worth the price of admission, and the entirety of the movie is fairly entertaining if you don't expect too much....

Amid the cliched plot threads... fortunately the racial stereotypes are quite inoffensive by 1947 standards (albeit Billie is cast as a maid). Due to the lack of available Billie Holiday footage alone, this movie approaches essential status, at least among jazz fans.

The DVD includes two bonus shorts: a young Louis Armstrong sings and plays in the 1932 A RHAPSODY IN BLACK AND BLUE, and Duke Ellington teams up with a VERY young Billie Holiday in the priceless 1935 short SYMPHONY IN BLACK.

15 of 15 found the following review helpful:

Great footage of many early jazz legendsApr 05, 2003
By Stephen Cannon
I have always found jazz performances much more captivating live rather than recorded, and although I can't travel back in time and see Louis Armstrong play during his prime, this video is the next best thing.

The makers of New Orleans did not waste the talents of the musicians, and a good chunk of the movie is concert footage of many of the giants from the golden age of Jazz including Kid Ory, Woody Herman and Billie Holiday doing old standards such as Basin Street Blues and Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans.

These performances truly convey the joy that enrapt the musicians as they played, and Armstrong in particular, is irresistably charming and funny as usual and appears for much of the film.

Unfortunately, Holiday is possibly the most wooden actress I have ever seen, but since for most of her comparatively short screen time is spent singing, it isn't a problem.

I strongly recommended this one to all fans of early jazz.

13 of 14 found the following review helpful:

Silly plot, fantastic musicAug 04, 2001
By M. McCabe
I bought this DVD blindly just because I'm such a fan of Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday and of New Orleans in general. The plot (what there is of it) is clichŽd and uninteresting, but the music is fantastic, and I ended up playing the musical pieces over and over. The entire movie is filmed on a Hollywood soundstage; if you're looking for shots of old New Orleans, look elsewhere.

4 of 4 found the following review helpful:

Forget the story!Jan 24, 2005
By nom-de-nick "nom-de-nick"
The film itself it trite and inconsequential. Buy this for the music alone. It's a delight to see Louis Armstrong in such a casual environment, with so many jazz legends, not to mention one of Billie Holiday's rare movie appearances. This DVD is honestly a treasure.

2 of 2 found the following review helpful:

Great music and star-studded performanceJan 01, 2007
By Classic Movie watcher
The movie showcased the ascent of New Orleans ragtime music versus the uptown music. Miralee Smith (Dorothy Patrick) was the young opera singer who, together with her conductor, was attracted to ragtime music, against the wish of her mother and many. Mrs. Smith, to keep her daughter away from ragtime music and its staunch supporter, Mr. Duquesne (Arturo de Cordova), made sure New Orleans had no place for either of them. And in Chicago Mr. Duquesne popularized the music as jazz.

The real draw, of course, lies in the jazz music as epitomized by Louis Armstrong and his Band, Woody Herman and his Orchestra, and the beautiful voice of Billie Holiday, plus the professional musicians playing the cornet, trombone, clarinet, double bass ... . Billie Holiday exuberates a cool confidence with her unique rich voice and her swaying along the melody. Her rendition of Ms New Orleans was impressive, but the most outstanding moment was when she sang fairwell to Storyville and later joined by the chorus of the black folks who were forced to leave New Orleans. Not to mention the solo played by Louis Armstrong and Woody Herman.

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