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").
Track listing[]
All tracks are written by Wynton Marsalis except where noted.
Side A (The Wynton Marsalis Sextet)
No.
Title
Length
1.
"The Majesty of the Blues (The Puheeman Strut)"
15:06
2.
"Hickory Dickory Dock"
9:06
Side B (The New Orleans Function)
No.
Title
Length
3.
"The Death of Jazz"
12:39
4.
"Premature Autopsies (Sermon)" (Marsalis, Stanley Crouch)
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