Jonathan Alexander reflects on Treme and post-Katrina New Orleans:

Treme certainly borrows from real life, but what does it do with it? In many ways, Treme acts as an archive, often movingly so, placing a lot of emphasis on the artistic and musical traditions of New Orleans, one of the birthplaces of jazz. The DVD set includes extensive and authoritative commentaries about the music performed. The show’s artistic themes preserve New Orleans’s musical culture, seeking to document what otherwise might be tragically lost, And indeed, preserving the city’s musical culture and traditions becomes one of the more important narrative threads of the show.

Read the whole thing.

Image: Tremé Second Line on North Derbigny 1958 © Ralston Crawford, Ralston Crawford Collection, Hogan Jazz Archive, Tulane University