New Orleans is often considered the birthplace of jazz, but in fact there is no one specific place where jazz evolved. Jazz first developed in a broad area of the American Southeast, especially in urban areas like Atlanta. The special conditions in New Orleans: the cosmopolitan qualities of a major international port, the many nightclubs, the relatively easy-going attitudes--even the many pawn shops, helped jazz to flourish there and spread up the Mississippi River, into the heart of America.