The Majesty of the Blues

The Majesty of the Blues is an album by jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis that was released in 1989. Background The first two selections on the album are played by the Wynton Marsalis Sextet. The remaining three tracks (side B on the original LP release), a set entitled "New Orleans Function", feature the sextet with additional New Orleans musicians in a style influenced by the traditional New Orleans brass band. This section mirrors a traditional jazz funeral, with a dirge-like first selection ("The Death of Jazz"), then a spoken word section ("Premature Autopsies", an essay by Stanley Crouch performed by Jeremiah Wright) and preached like a minister at a graveyard, and a second line number ("Oh, But on the Third Day – Happy Feet Blues").