Quint Davis was one of the young workers at the Tulane Jazz Archive that northeastern concert promoter George Wein recruited to help him stage a traditional New Orleans music festival in Congo Square in 1970.

Davis' first assignment for Wein was to track down Professor Longhair, and book him for the Fest. Davis accomplished that tricky task, and neither he nor the Fest have looked back since.

Three weeks before the opening day of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Fest...