Known as "Lady Louie," Doreen Ketchens has been a fixture of the French Quarter for nearly four decades. We talk about her classical training and her career as a street performer, and she'll play some music.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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This is Fresh Air. I'm Tanya Mosley. And if you're ever in the French Quarter in New Orleans, chances are you've spotted my guest today, clarinetist and vocalist Doreen Ketchins. For over 30 years, she's performed on the corner of Royal and St. Peter Street, four days a week, sometimes 12 hours a day, with her band, Doreen's Jazz New Orleans.
Doreen Ketchins has many nicknames, Lady Louie, Queen Clarinet, and Miss Satchmo, nods to her passionate performances of Dixieland and traditional jazz, and for her ability to hit and hold high notes for long periods of time, like the great trumpeteer Louis Armstrong. Ketchins has performed for four U.S. presidents, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, and Jimmy Carter.
And initially, she played classical clarinet before her late husband, Lawrence Ketchins, introduced her to jazz while the two were students at Loyola University. Lawrence was an accomplished musician in his own right, too. As part of Doreen's band, he played the tuba, valve trombone, drums, and piano, becoming a major attraction for his ability to play the sousaphone and drums at the same time.
A few years ago, Ketchins fulfilled her dream of performing at the Kennedy Center. She's also played with orchestras around the world. Doreen Ketchins, welcome to Fresh Air. Thanks for having me. I want to offer my sincerest condolences on the loss of your husband, Lawrence, who just died this past January. And I had the pleasure of going down the rabbit hole of watching your performances.
And aside from being utterly captivated, I was also just taken by what felt like magic watching the two of you performing together. Are you still performing? Yeah.
Yep. I mean, I don't want to get haunted for the rest of my life, you know. That's what he'd do. He used to always tell me, you know, you got to play no matter what. So that's what I'm doing. And it's working. It's working. I get strength from just thinking about the times he's been in the audience, you know. And giving me a nod, you know, one way or the other.
It seemed like there was such a great love between the two of you, and your love language was the music. You all performed together for many decades, and I think maybe a beautiful way to start our conversation is to actually hear a little bit of the two of you. I watched this video of you two performing for the New Orleans Jazz Station, WWOZ, and
And there you are, playing the clarinet and singing, and Lawrence was playing sousaphone and the drums at the same time. I don't actually think I've ever seen that in my life. I was thinking, how? Can I play a little bit of that performance? Yes, please. The song is House of the Rising Sun.
They call the rising sun It's been the run of many a line And now I know who I want
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