Cemetery's 'Jazz Corner' offers unique opportunity to rest with the greats

BRONX (WABC) -- Some music fans are devoted to the very end, and so many jazz enthusiasts want to be buried near the graves of such greats as Miles Davis and Duke Ellington.

And now, the Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx is developing new plots to meet the demand.

"All I could think about is this is going to be a swinging time," New Rochelle resident Pauline Smith said. "It's going to be great, after life, in my head, my heart and my soul."

Smith lives for jazz, and in death, she plans to be surrounded by it.

"We had first the 78's, then the 45's and that's then when we started swinging," she said.

The 74-year-old recently made a decision some may think is odd, while other's would applaud it. She chose where she will be buried, and it's near some of her favorites.

"I'm thinking about what I want for myself and my spirit," she said.

When the retired New York City public school teacher heard Woodlawn Cemetery was adding more than 2,000 new plots on a ridge near many of the the greats, she quickly bought one.

"Ellington and Miles, now can you beat that," she said. "It's a wonderful thing."

Pauline's final rest place will be near Lionel Hampton in what Woodlawn calls its jazz corner. There, you'll find the grave sites of some of the most talented musicians in the world.

Cemetery director David Ison says many of the new plots have already been sold.

"It's really not just jazz people, and it's not just people who want to be with Celia Cruz, who is close by," he said. "It's a little bit of everybody."

Pauline admits she's always done things a little off beat, and that includes her gravesite. But she's in no hurry.

"I have no plans to use it right away," she said.