New Orleans has finally "adopted" Doc Cheatham, the 90-year-old trumpeter who is a Nashville native and New York resident. He, in turn, loves that he's considered to be a member of the local clan.

Though other, perhaps less likely, musicians have been taken into the fold, Cheatham's recent adoption is a natural. For Cheatham knows and understands the heart of New Orleans and its music, having first heard its pulse from the originators- Louis Armstrong, Joe "King” Oliver and Fr...