Jazz musicians paid tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. with a concert based on his speeches and words.

The concert at McGill University used speeches by the civil rights leader as an auditory backdrop to the instrumental pieces.

Composer John Hollenbeck said that King's speeches were a fantastic backbone to use as a framework.

"He was a great musician. His voice is very low at first and he gets you to listen closely and he speaks softly. Then he builds it up and up and he leaves lots of spaces and you wonder what he's going to say,"said Hollenbeck.

The concert performed Monday, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, was an interpretation of his last recorded sermon: the Drum Major Instinct.

That sermon was a meditation on the human ego.

"The drum major is usually the conductor of a marching band, the person in the front, and they have a big stick and hat usually and everyone is looking at them. And they're responsible for the whole band and so he uses that as a metaphor that we all want to be the drum major, we all want to be in the spotlight. We all want to be praised. To try and use that urge for good," said Hollenbeck.

It's a message for our time as a new president takes office in a divided USA.

But many attending the concert said King's words are just as relevant in Canada.

"At the present it seems things are going backwards rather than forwards and it causes us a lot of dismay that this should be the situation in the world today," said Brian Young.

But others said that King's words should still inspire people to do good with their lives.

"They're positive words that everyone can believe," said Frederica Petit-Homme. "You're inspired in such a way that you're left believing that you can make a difference in your own personal life."