Music for your ears at Louis Armstrong International Airport

NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — Traveling can be very stressful, especially during the holidays, that’s why Louis Armstrong International Airport is hoping to bring some cheer through music.

During the busiest times year-round, local bands play on three different stages throughout the airport and WGNO’s Kenny Lopez

headed to MSY to give us a listen.

Coming in for a landing, as millions of travelers come and go, hustling and bustling through Louis Armstrong Airport, but at this airport, you’re reminded you’re in The Big Easy from the get-go!

“New Orleans music to greet them when they get here or to see them off,” Gladney, a musician who’s a sixth-generation New Orleans native said.

Proving living is easy, musician Gladney and his band are performing at the airport for their three month residency, part of the “Music at MSY” promotion.

“This is a unique microcosm of the larger experience of New Orleans and New Orleans music. This program has injected the spirit of New Orleans right into the center of the airport,” Gladney said.

The stage is a competitive because the airport gets about 200 bands applying and only about a dozen of these bands like Gladney are selected to perform at the airport each quarter.

The airport does a call for musicians once a year.

“We put together an evaluation committee that is comprised of local music community members, airport leadership, and concession partners to select the musicians,” Erin Burns, Deputy Director of Aviation for Customer Experience at Louis Armstrong International Airport said.

Burns said, “The beautiful thing about the program is we rotate these musicians out, we’re spreading the love, giving lots of them opportunities. Louis Armstrong is the airport’s namesake, so we want to make sure we embody his legacy.”

Rick Denson is enjoying the music at MSY and said, “New Orleans is the birthplace of jazz, so it is the coolest thing to be greeted with jazz music. It is an introduction to the city and why you’re coming here.”

For musicians like Gladney who said, “It’s a gift to be able to play music here.”

And our New Orleans musicians are certainly a gift to these travelers.

For more information about Grammy-nominated musician Gladney, visit his website.

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