ABOUT US

THE STORY BEHIND THE NAME

Dodie’s Jazz Club is named in honor of Doratha “Dodie” Smith-Simmons — a Freedom Rider, civil rights activist, and one of the founding architects of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Her name is not a brand element. It is a promise.

Dodie Smith-Simmons spent her life working at the intersection of music, justice, and community. She believed that culture was not a luxury — it was a lifeline. This club exists to carry that belief forward: a space where the music of New Orleans lives on, where neighbors gather, and where every guest leaves knowing they experienced something that cannot be replicated anywhere else in the world.

The club is owned by Sam Smith Jr., Dodie’s brother, who has dedicated this venture to preserving her legacy and creating a lasting cultural anchor for the community she loved.

A Neighbor on the Lafitte Greenway Corridor

 Dodie’s Jazz Club is located at 601North Broad Street — steps from the Lafitte Greenway, one of New Orleans’ most celebrated community revitalization projects.

We are proud to be part of a neighborhood that is growing, healing, and reclaiming its identity.

 The Greenway represents exactly what this club stands for: a commitment to the people who live here, not just the people who visit. Dodie’s is designed to serve both — and to be a space the surrounding community is proud to call its own.