On October 11, EJI celebrated the opening of Elevation Convening Center and Hotel with a transformative musical event featuring acclaimed jazz and classical saxophonist and visionary composer, Branford Marsalis, and world-renowned cellist and United Nations Messenger of Peace, Yo-Yo Ma.
A sold-out crowd packed our Peace and Justice Memorial Center in downtown Montgomery to hear two of the world’s greatest musicians perform—for the first time—three new compositions written specifically for the occasion by Branford Marsalis.
Mr. Marsalis first visited EJI in 2024 for a classical music convening hosted by Anthony McGill. He movingly told Saturday’s audience that his earlier visits to the Legacy Sites had inspired him to write the three songs premiered at the concert: “(My Soul Hears) Freedom Calling,” “Hanging Garden,” and “Juneteenth.”
This collaboration between two musical legends was the latest program in our Art and Justice series, which has brought celebrated artists to the Legacy Sites to create a new soundtrack for truth-telling.
Attendees on Saturday were treated to a once-in-a-lifetime experience of ingenious music infused with the legacy of hope and strength, love and resilience, that connects us to our ancestors.
After a long standing ovation following the concert’s final piece, the remarkable “Juneteenth,” the spirit that sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott and fueled the civil rights movement filled the room as hundreds of voices joined Mr. Marsalis, Mr. Ma, and EJI director Bryan Stevenson on piano to sing “We Shall Overcome.”
Steps from the very street walked by marchers from Selma in 1965, the unforgettable evening was an inspiring and fitting tribute to the courage and determination of ordinary people who changed the world, right here in Montgomery.