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The Woodlawn Cemetery Partners with Jazz at Lincoln Center to Present Free Concert Honoring Jazz Legends

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Performance by Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis on June 11 Features Compositions by Those Memorialized at Woodlawn and Commemorates the Cemetery’s 150th Anniversary and Historic Ties to Jazz Greats

Bronx, NY: On June 11 at 7:00pm, The Woodlawn Cemetery will partner with Jazz at Lincoln Center to present a free concert, featuring the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, as part of the cemetery’s 150th anniversary celebration. A National Historic Landmark founded in 1863, The Woodlawn Cemetery is the final resting place of many of the nation’s leading jazz musicians, composers, and promoters, including Miles Davis, Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington, Lionel Hampton, and Max Roach, among others. The concert will feature signature pieces composed by those memorialized at Woodlawn. Free to the public, the performance will take place outside on the cemetery grounds, rain or shine.

“We are delighted to participate in this exciting collaboration with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, one of the world’s foremost jazz ensembles performing today,” said Mitch Rose, CEO and President of The Woodlawn Cemetery. “The Woodlawn Cemetery is proud to serve as the final resting place for a century of jazz legends, and we look forward to celebrating this unique aspect of our history and America’s cultural heritage with the public. The Cemetery’s expansive grounds will provide a perfect setting for visitors of all ages to gather and experience this remarkable performance.”

“This celebratory concert at the Woodlawn Cemetery offers the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra an opportunity to revisit the music of some of our nation’s greatest jazz musicians,” said Wynton Marsalis, Managing and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. “We will honor those who have influenced so many of us, and whose memory and works will continue to inspire generations to come.”

Many members of the jazz community memorialized at Woodlawn can be found in the Cemetery’s famous “jazz corner,” located at the intersection of Heather and Knollwood Avenues. The “jazz corner” is anchored by Duke Ellington’s elegant gravesite—featuring a mature Linden tree and two large stone crosses—and Miles Davis’s large, granite gravemarker. The “jazz corner” is also the final resting place of Lionel Hampton, and Max Roach, saxophonists Illinois Jacquet and Jackie Mclean, big band-era dancers Frankie Manning and Harold Nicholas, and producer Joyce Wein, among others. A short distance from the crossroads are memorials to Coleman Hawkins, Cootie Williams, Sonny Greer, and King Oliver. Through the Woodlawn Conservancy, the non-profit organization whose mission is to share the cemetery’s history with the public, a variety of programs are offered, year-round, in celebration of jazz music and a multitude of other themes captured by Woodlawn. The Conservancy will host “Prelude” on Sunday, April 27th, 2014 at 2:00pm, as part of Jazz Appreciation Month programming.

In addition to this summer concert, another component of Woodlawn’s 150th anniversary celebration is a collaboration with the Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library to present the exhibition Sylvan Cemetery: Architecture, Art, and Landscape at Woodlawn. Drawing upon Woodlawn’s architectural plans and design drawings, the exhibition will examine the changing ideas about commemorative landscapes and memorialization over the course of the cemetery’s 150-year history. The exhibition will feature the designs by acclaimed architects who created the mausoleums and memorials for the nation’s elites buried at Woodlawn, as well as objects from the cemetery’s remarkable collection of stained glass, bronze, and sculpture. The exhibition is hosted by the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery at Columbia University and runs from September 3 through November 1, 2014.

About Jazz at Lincoln Center

The mission of Jazz at Lincoln Center is to entertain, enrich and expand a global community for Jazz through performance, education and advocacy. With the world-renowned Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and guest artists spanning genres and generations, Jazz at Lincoln Center produces thousands of performance, education, and broadcast events each season in its home in New York City (Frederick P. Rose Hall, “The House of Swing”) and around the world, for people of all ages. Jazz at Lincoln Center is led by Chairman Robert J. Appel, Managing and Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis, and Executive Director Greg Scholl.

About The Woodlawn Cemetery

Established in 1863 and spanning 400 acres, The Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York, is one of the nation’s most distinguished historic cemeteries. In 2011, Woodlawn was designated a National Historic Landmark for its singular importance in the history of the nation and New York City. Woodlawn is also an active cemetery with ongoing burials and funeral services, and more than 310,000 individuals are memorialized on its grounds. The cemetery is one of the nation's finest examples of a19th-century garden cemetery. Its monuments represent some of the best examples of memorial art and architecture in the nation, including nearly 1,300 private mausoleums designed by some of the most prominent architects of the 20th century. The Woodlawn Cemetery is open to the public free of charge 365 days a year, from 8:30 a.m.–5:00 p.m.Woodlawn is the last stop on the #4 train. The cemetery is also accessible from the Metro North Railroad Harlem Line (Woodlawn Station). For those traveling by car, Woodlawn can be reached from the E. 233rd St. exit off the Major Deegan (#13) and the Bronx River Parkway (#10).

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