It’s an old story. A great jazz spot goes out of business and the magic goes silent often with nothing more than a sign on the door.

Except in New Orleans where they know how to give people and places a proper send-off.

The tradition of jazz funerals is still alive and well in New Orleans.

This event was not staged for tourists (though visitors who stumbled on it went home with a great story to tell.)

The Spotted Cat was one of the first clubs to re-open after the levee failures and seven days a week every day of the year it rocked Frenchmen Street with some of the best music on earth.

That’s Kenneth Terry on trumpet. The late Lionel Batiste. “Uncle Lionel” is in this one.

(The Spotted Cat has been re-openned under new owners.)