To honor and celebrate those lost to COVID-19, interfaith leaders have enlisted musicians and Lincoln Center to create weekly community performances, Memorial For Us All. In the midst of this unprecedented pandemic, while many rituals we hold dear are no longer possible, Memorial For Us All offers unity, comfort, and healing through music, an art form intertwined with so many of our most beloved rituals around the world.
Wynton Marsalis will inaugurate the series, with additional artists to be announced in the coming days.
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“I’m proud to inaugurate the Memorial For Us All series. These performances are intended to reach across generations, nations, class, race, and religions to unite us with the healing power of music. It is needed now, more than ever,” said Wynton Marsalis, Managing and Artistic Director, Jazz at Lincoln Center.

photo credit: Frank Stewart
“On Sunday, we’ll perform the New Orleans Function, two traditional songs that exemplify the mood and progression of a funeral/parade as is our way down in the Big Easy. The slow mournful dirge “Flee as A Bird” is played, some well chosen words are spoken (in this case a roll call of the deceased), and the joyous, celebratory, irreverent “Didn’t He Ramble” allows us to transition from death to everlasting life. I am honored to play with great musicians in the New Orleans tradition: Herlin Riley, Jason Marsalis, Shannon Powell, Vince Giordano, Wycliffe Gordon, Don Vappie, Maurice Trosclair, Chris Crenshaw, Marcus Printup, Jon-Erik Kellso, Camille Thurman, Ted Nash, Victor Goines, Dr. Michael White and Gregory Agid. In the sweet by and by.”
Tributes begin this Sunday, May 3rd at 6pm with Wynton Marsalis and will continue each Sunday. New artists will be announced in the coming days.
All tributes will be available on Lincoln Center’s Facebook and YouTube pages, and on-demand at Lincoln Center’s website, here.
Organizational Partners:
- The Interfaith Center of New York
- New York Disaster Interfaith Services
- Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn
- The Center for Faith and Community Partnerships, NYC Office of the Mayor
- The New York Board of Rabbis
- Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York
- Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
- Jazz at Lincoln Center