Editor’s note: Grammy winner Wynton Marsalis is artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He and former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor will lead “A Celebration of America” with the Rockefeller Foundation on Monday evening at the Kennedy Center featuring Angela Bassett, Dave Brubeck, and others.

Wynton Marsalis says we should use the rich heritage of our culture as a roadmap for the future.

(CNN) — On the dawn of the most historic inauguration of our time, we nervously await “change we can believe in.”

Politicians and pundits analyze every pre-presidential utterance and come to quick conclusions about what will happen under the new administration.

A “wait and see” attitude dampens our euphoria. Will we come together or will even harder times drive us apart?

In the din of expert voices on everything imaginable, what we don’t hear is informed conversation on how central culture is to our national well-being.

Our culture provides all the proof we need that we are together, that we have always been and, in spite of difficulties, will continue to be.

It’s time for us to build a new mythology based on our many cultural triumphs instead of fixating on our never-ending missteps and conflicts.

Commentary: Let’s treasure the old along with the new – CNN.com.

National Park Service

The National Mall was once the site of a slave market like this one in the 1840s in Washington.

A Civil Rights Victory Party on the Mall – NYTimes.com.

At first blush, “ARTiculation” looks like a free-form poetry slam driven by some well-intentioned young performers. But don’t be fooled. “ARTiculation” is a sharp, smart, funny, and fearless evening of stories and comments told through spoken word and music, delivered by five powerhouse performers and one DJ, all of whom surprise and enchant with their unadorned honesty and lyric dexterity.

Joining words and music in power and light

How Jazz Helped Hasten the Civil-Rights Movement – WSJ.com.

By NAT HENTOFF

On Jan. 19, Martin Luther King’s Birthday, Jazz at Lincoln Center and the Rockefeller Foundation, also focusing on the next day’s presidential inauguration, will present at Kennedy Center “A Celebration of America.” Headlining the cast are Sandra Day O’Connor and Wynton Marsalis. As Jazz at Lincoln Center declares, Dr. King called jazz “America’s triumphant music,” and the presence of Mr. Marsalis is to “illustrate that American democracy and America’s music share the same tenets and embody the same potential for change, hope and renewal.”

This focus on jazz as well as President-elect Barack Obama (who, I’m told, has John Coltrane on his iPod) should help make Americans, including our historians, aware of the largely untold story of the key role of jazz in helping to shape and quicken the arrival of the civil-rights movement.