Start the pot simmering with jazz and delta blues. Season with spicy dollops of zydeco, cajun, and gospel. Then bring to a rolling boil with soul, rhythm and blues, and rock 'n' roll. It's a recipe for musical delight that could only be cooked up in New Orleans, the Big Easy.

A perennial source of innovation and hits since the beginning of the century, the music of New Orleans has enjoyed even greater popular success over the last decade. This authoritative, and rollicking, account is the first comprehensive guide to both the music and the hard-living, free-spirited musicians who made, and make, the music. Here are Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton laying down the foundations of jazz, Clifton Chenier and Buckwheat Zydeco fueling the resurgence of cajun music, Fats Domino and Allen Toussaint creating the breakthrough hits that set the pattern for rock 'n' roll, Dr. John's and the Neville Brothers' freewheeling passage through the '60s, '70s, and '80s, and the return of sophisticated jazz with Harry Connick, Jr., and the Marsalis family. It's all topped off with a guide to nightclubs and the New Orleans Jazz Fest, and a discography of essential CDs.