The Jazz Track

1. 1

   Boston

   Trip origin, Day 1 departure point · Also the return point at trip's end (flight back)
2. 2

   New York City

   First major jazz-history stop, Days 1-3 · Route starts at Minton's Playhouse in Harlem, called the birthplace of modern jazz/bebop · Includes Harlem club row, 52nd Street, Cotton Club, Village Vanguard, Birdland
3. 3

   Chicago

   Reached Day 4 from Boston, visited Day 5 · Historic South Side jazz district plus the Green Mill in Uptown · Became the jazz capital 1917-1928 after Storyville closed
4. 4
   Kansas City

   Reached Day 6 (532 miles from Chicago), visited Day 7 · Centered on the 18th and Vine District · Home turf of Charlie Parker and the Kansas City jazz style
5. 5
   Sedalia, Missouri

   Optional detour ~25 km off the main road between Kansas City and Memphis · Considered the birthplace of ragtime; Scott Joplin's former residence · Site of an annual ragtime festival
6. 6
   Memphis

   Reached Day 8 (538 miles from Kansas City), visited Day 9 · Centered on Beale Street, declared 'Home of the Blues' by Congress in 1977 · Also covers Graceland, Sun Studio, and Stax Museum
7. 7
   Clarksdale, Mississippi

   First stop on Route 61 (the 'Blues Highway') heading from Memphis to New Orleans · Considered Mississippi's most important blues town · Home of the Delta Blues Museum and the Riverside Hotel
8. 8

   Dockery Plantation

   Reached via Highway 8 east from Cleveland, Mississippi · Founded around 1895; often cited as a birthplace of the blues
9. 9

   Moorhead, Mississippi

   The literal location where 'the Southern meets the Dog' (railroad crossing referenced in early blues lyrics heard by WC Handy in Tutwiler)
10. 10
    Natchez, Mississippi

    Former capital of the cotton industry along the Route 61 leg to New Orleans
11. 11
    New Orleans

    Final destination, reached Day 10 (396 miles from Memphis), visited Days 11-12 · Birthplace of jazz in the late 1890s/early 1900s, centered on Storyville and the French Quarter · Trip ends here; return to Boston by plane on Day 13

• Lower Mississippi Historic Scenic Byway

Lookouts along this trip

Scenic overlooks on the official byways this route runs along, in drive order. Each byway’s own page carries its full list.

Named places along this route

Typed places from the atlas within thirty miles of this trip, measured to its own snapped line. Each one traces to its source record, and each one lists the byways near it in return.