Harry Connick Jr and Branford Marsalis are spearheading a project to create a 'village' for New Orleans based musicians who lost their homes as a result of Hurricane Katrina. The pair are working alongside not-for-profit housing organisation Habitat For Humanity, which has so far raised more than $2million towards the cost of building a new neighbourhood with a music centre at its heart, where musicians can teach and perform. Quint Davis, a New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival producer who helped arrange a benefit concert in New York which raised around £1million for the project told reporters: "The money being used to build these homes for New Orleans musicians was raised by New Orleans musicians. Our pact with them was to help New Orleans' musical community."
Connick Jr. says that he and Marsalis had both been looking for ways to help when they returned to their home town several weeks after the devastating storm hit. He explains: "I had been kind of coming up blank. The problem is so massive, it's hard to know where to begin. As we talked, we both realised we should really stick to what we know, which is music. There's a ton of musicians who have no place to go." Branford Marsalis says the project is a thank you to the musicians "who made it possible for people like me and my brother Wynton and Harry Connick Jr to get out and spread the word."
A location for the neighbourhood has not yet been decided but Habitat For Humanity are looking at three different possible areas of New Orleans. It's estimated that between $7.5million and $15million would be required to create the village and the music centre, which is to be named for Ellis Marsalis, jazz pianist, teacher and father of Branford and Wynton Marsalis.