When I heard that the wife of a certain colleague was taking off for Jazzfest in New Orleans, I fell into an instant reverie about the city, the music, the cuisine. Herewith, a few Recommended Diversions for those whose trips to New Orleans shall remain vicarious.

Fess: The Professor | Longhair Anthology

Might as well start with the good Professor, whose rumba rhythms and rollicking charm have come to define New Orleans piano. This 1993 Rhino retrospective is a great way to get your fix.

Rebirth Brass Band | Feel Like Funkin’ It Up

Follow the Fess with a shot of brass: this 1989 release was the Rebirth Brass Band’s breakout disc, and it’s easy to see why. Loose, loud, and jubilant, it soars and swoops and never stops shuffling. Put it on and dare your feet to stay still.

Coming Through Slaughter | Michael Ondaatje

Before the Rebirth Brass Band, before Professor Longhair, before Louis Armstrong, there was Buddy Bolden: the Crescent City cornettist is considered by some to be the father of jazz. There are no remaining recordings of his music, but a good place to get a taste of his star-crossed life—he spent the last 24 years of his life in an insane asylum—is in this slim volume from Michael Ondaatje. Lyrical, intense, impressionistic, and very very good.

Cochon de Lait

Okay, so you’re not likely to get Cochon de Lait here in WNC—the melt-in-your-mouth pit-roasted pork is a Cajun specialty—but at least you can dream. If you eat meat, and you’re ever down in Louisiana, see if you can’t get you some. Then see if you don’t get you some more.

Sazerac

“Hurricanes are for tourists,” at least one local wag has observed. “Sazeracs are for natives.” This lovely little cocktail—some say it was the first cocktail, period—is said to have been invented in the French Quarter in the early 19th century by a Creole apothecary named Antoine Amadie Peychaud. Perhaps it’s no surprise, then, that sticklers demand Peychaud’s Bitters in their Sazeracs. In New Orleans, the method of preparation is at least as sacred as the recipe, so take this shorthand version as but a pale imitation of the real thing:

1 teaspoon of simple syrup

3-4 dashes of bitters

2 ounces rye whiskey

14 teaspoon of Herbsaint anise liqueur (or Pernod or other pastis)

Strip of lemon peel

Swirl Herbsaint along sides of glass. Combine bitters, rye, and syrup in a cocktail shaker; pour into glass. Twist lemon peel over the glass, then park it on the side. Enjoy.

— Jay Hardwig