Explore 25 funeral songs tagged as "jazz". Each song has been carefully curated to help you create a meaningful memorial service.
by Louis Armstrong
The quintessential New Orleans jazz funeral song, starting somber then exploding into joyful celebration during the second line.
Why it's meaningful: Embodies New Orleans jazz funeral tradition - mourning the loss while celebrating the soul's joyful march to heaven.
Best moment: Recessional or second line celebration, especially for New Orleans funerals.
by Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong's optimistic celebration of life's beauty, with his gravelly voice finding wonder in simple things.
Why it's meaningful: Honors those who found joy in life's simple beauties, celebrating a life lived with appreciation and gratitude.
Best moment: Uplifting choice for celebration of life services or optimistic souls.
by Ray Charles
Ray Charles' soulful jazz interpretation of Hoagy Carmichael's standard, with lush orchestration and yearning vocals.
Why it's meaningful: The longing for Georgia represents nostalgia for home and better times, honoring those who cherished their roots.
Best moment: Perfect for Georgia natives or honoring homesick souls.
by Louis Armstrong
Classic New Orleans blues about visiting a deceased lover at St. James Infirmary, with haunting melody and somber brass.
Why it's meaningful: One of the most iconic blues funeral songs, capturing death's finality while celebrating the deceased with jazzy defiance.
Best moment: Perfect for New Orleans-style funerals or honoring blues music lovers.
by Traditional Gospel
Traditional gospel hymn often played by jazz bands in New Orleans funerals, combining spiritual yearning with musical celebration.
Why it's meaningful: Expresses desire for divine closeness during grief while honoring the New Orleans tradition of jazz funerals.
Best moment: Processional for New Orleans-style funerals or spiritual services.
by Traditional Spiritual
Upbeat spiritual about laying down burdens by the riverside, frequently played during second line celebrations at New Orleans funerals.
Why it's meaningful: Celebrates laying down life's struggles and finding peace, with infectious rhythm that invites joyful participation.
Best moment: Second line or recessional for celebration of life services.
by Ella Fitzgerald
Gershwin's lullaby from Porgy and Bess, with Ella's tender jazz vocals painting a picture of peaceful rest.
Why it's meaningful: The gentle lullaby quality promises that life is easy now, offering comfort that the deceased is finally at rest.
Best moment: Beautiful for mothers, children, or anyone deserving peaceful rest.
by Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday's poignant jazz blues about self-reliance and hard-won independence, with her distinctive phrasing.
Why it's meaningful: Honors those who made their own way in the world, acknowledging the strength required to stand alone.
Best moment: For honoring independent spirits or single parents who provided for their children.
by Nat King Cole
Jazz standard about memories fading like autumn leaves, with Nat King Cole's warm, melancholic vocals.
Why it's meaningful: The autumn imagery captures the bittersweet beauty of endings and the gentle fading of summer into winter.
Best moment: Perfect for autumn funerals or honoring the beauty of life's seasons.
by Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday's haunting protest song about lynching, with devastating imagery and emotional weight.
Why it's meaningful: For deaths resulting from racial violence or injustice, this acknowledges the horror and demands remembrance.
Best moment: Powerful for honoring victims of racial violence or social justice advocates.
by Bertha "Chippie" Hill
Classic blues standard about hardship and sorrow, recorded by numerous blues artists with both mournful and defiant tones.
Why it's meaningful: A blues standard that acknowledges life's troubles while maintaining resilience - perfect for honoring those who persevered.
Best moment: For lives marked by struggle but filled with strength.
by Traditional Jazz
Lively jazz funeral standard celebrating a life well-lived with all its adventures, traditionally played during the second line.
Why it's meaningful: Honors those who lived fully and boldly, rambling through life's adventures with joy and abandon.
Best moment: Second line celebration for those who lived adventurous lives.
by Traditional Hymn
Solemn hymn often played by jazz bands during the funeral procession, expressing spiritual longing for divine presence.
Why it's meaningful: Combines sacred yearning with jazz tradition, famously rumored to have been played as the Titanic sank.
Best moment: Processional for New Orleans funerals or traditional services.
by T-Bone Walker
Classic blues standard about heartache and difficult times, with smooth jazz-inflected guitar and weary vocals.
Why it's meaningful: The slow, measured blues acknowledges that grief comes in waves throughout the week, with some days harder than others.
Best moment: For those who loved blues music or lived through many stormy Mondays.
by Bessie Smith
Classic blues about life's ups and downs and fair-weather friends, with Bessie Smith's commanding vocals.
Why it's meaningful: Honors lives marked by struggle while acknowledging the truth about who shows up when times are hard.
Best moment: For honoring resilient souls who faced life's hardships with blues wisdom.
by Dave Brubeck Quartet
Iconic instrumental jazz in 5/4 time with Paul Desmond's cool saxophone melody, representing sophisticated jazz cool.
Why it's meaningful: The sophisticated, laid-back jazz captures the essence of cool intellectualism and mid-century modern elegance.
Best moment: Perfect for jazz lovers or sophisticated, cerebral individuals.
by Duke Ellington & John Coltrane
Ellington and Coltrane's tender jazz collaboration, with Coltrane's saxophone singing over Ellington's elegant piano.
Why it's meaningful: The romantic, nostalgic mood honors relationships built on tenderness, sophistication, and shared aesthetic appreciation.
Best moment: Beautiful for jazz-loving couples or sophisticated romantic relationships.
by Chet Baker
Chet Baker's tender trumpet and vocals on this jazz standard about imperfect, endearing love.
Why it's meaningful: The vulnerability in loving someone for their imperfections honors relationships that embraced all of who someone was.
Best moment: Touching for honoring imperfect but deeply loved spouses.
by Julie London
Julie London's sultry jazz ballad about heartbreak and vindication, with intimate vocals and sparse arrangement.
Why it's meaningful: The cool delivery of deep pain honors complicated relationships and the right to feel hurt.
Best moment: For honoring complex romantic relationships or sophisticated sorrow.
by Johnny Mathis
Erroll Garner composition made famous by Johnny Mathis, with dreamy jazz romance and tender vocals.
Why it's meaningful: The misty, dreamlike quality of romance honors relationships that felt magical and otherworldly.
Best moment: Beautiful for romantic spouses who shared tender, dreamy love.
by Nat King Cole
Nat King Cole's tender jazz ballad about love's consuming presence, with his signature velvet vocals.
Why it's meaningful: Celebrates how the thought alone of someone can fill us with warmth, honoring enduring romantic presence.
Best moment: Tender choice for honoring romantic love that fills the heart.
by Miles Davis
Miles Davis' modal jazz masterpiece from Kind of Blue, with cool trumpet and hypnotic groove.
Why it's meaningful: The cool, meditative jazz honors intellectual, contemplative souls who appreciated sophisticated artistry.
Best moment: Perfect for jazz aficionados or honoring cool, cerebral individuals.
by Thelonious Monk
Monk's melancholic jazz standard, a brooding late-night meditation with dissonant harmonies and introspective mood.
Why it's meaningful: The haunting melody and complex harmonies honor sophisticated grief and the quiet loneliness of late-night sorrow.
Best moment: For jazz aficionados or honoring contemplative, intellectual souls.
by Mahalia Jackson
Duke Ellington composition from his sacred concert, sung by Mahalia, blending jazz sophistication with gospel fervor.
Why it's meaningful: The meeting of jazz and gospel honors the sacred in the sophisticated, celebrating spiritual devotion with artistic excellence.
Best moment: Beautiful for Christian funerals honoring jazz and gospel traditions.
by Billy Strayhorn
Billy Strayhorn's sophisticated jazz about world-weariness and disillusionment, with complex harmonies.
Why it's meaningful: The bittersweet sophistication honors those who lived full, complex lives in the urban nightlife.
Best moment: For sophisticated souls who knew both glamour and loneliness.