For over 10 years, New Orleans musicians both young and old have been granted access to the recording studios, classes and other musical resources of the Tipitina’s Foundation. The Foundation has improved the lives and careers of local musicians, including John Michael Bradford, Joe Dicen and Trombone Shorty. In recent years, the Tipitina’s Foundation has expanded its network to reach musicians and aspiring musicians in Lafayette, Baton Rouge, Lake Charles, Alexandria, Shreveport and Monroe.

“The expansion is the biggest thing that’s happened for us in 10 years,” says Tipitina’s co-op manager Steve McCloud. “We now we have the opportunity to bring instruments, performances and internship programs to cities outside of New Orleans.”

The nightclub Tipitina’s first opened up in New Orleans in 1977 as a permanent musical residency for pianist Professor Longhair. The club fell into financial troubles in the early 1980s and declared bankruptcy. In 1996, attorney and real estate developer Roland Von Kurnatowski, who’d had success turning the old Fontainebleau Hotel into band practice spaces, purchased and revived Tipitina’s. “The club now more or less breaks even,” Von Kurnatowski told Garden and Gun magazine. CLICK HERE to read the rest of the article at MyNewOrleans.com.

Or just check this video of the Stooges Brass band, sponsored by the Tip’s Foundation: