Jazz
Funeral Songs

Why it's meaningful: Embodies New Orleans jazz funeral tradition - mourning the loss while celebrating the soul's journey to heaven.

Best moment: Recessional or second line celebration, especially for New Orleans funerals.

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.

Why it's meaningful: Reminds us to appreciate the world our loved one cherished.

Best moment: Uplifting choice for celebrating a life of gratitude.

Why it's meaningful: One of the most iconic blues funeral songs, capturing death's inevitability with dignity and style.

Best moment: Perfect for New Orleans-style funerals or honoring blues music lovers.

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.

Why it's meaningful: Celebrates laying down life's burdens and finding peace at last.

Best moment: Second line or recessional for celebration of life services.

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.

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.

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

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.

Why it's meaningful: Expresses how memories of the departed remain vivid in everyday moments.

Best moment: Beautiful for reflection during viewing or memorial slideshow.

Why it's meaningful: A blues standard that acknowledges life's troubles while offering hope for better days ahead.

Best moment: For lives marked by struggle but filled with strength.

Why it's meaningful: Honors those who lived fully and boldly, rambling through life's adventures.

Best moment: Second line celebration for those who lived adventurous lives.

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.

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.

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 dignity.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Why it's meaningful: Celebrates the joy and energy of someone who loved life and music.

Best moment: Joyful choice for a celebration of life or reception.

Why it's meaningful: Evokes the grace and beauty of a bygone era.

Best moment: Elegant choice for reflection or as background during viewing.

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.

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.

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.