Bill Frisell, one of the world’s most acclaimed jazz guitarists, was puzzled.

At the conclusion of the first of his two Oct. 1 shows at the rebranded, reengineered and reborn New Orleans Jazz & Blues Market, Frisell strummed one last chord – and produced only silence. His electric guitar had gone dead.

“Now I have to fumble around up here,” he announced as the audience awaited his encore, “and figure out what’s going on.”

Soon enough, Frisell’s guitar came back to life, and the music resumed.

Just as it has at the Jazz & Blues Market.

The multi-million-dollar Central City music venue, originally designed and built as a home for the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, has been mostly dark and dormant since 2024.

It never regained its footing after the orchestra’s former leaders, Irvin Mayfiel

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