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The stars will be out for inauguration party

BRETT ZONGKER | January 16, 2009 05:09 PM EST |

WASHINGTON — Jay-Z isn't about to miss this party.

Neither are Aretha, Miley, Denzel or Bruce. And Oprah, well of course she'll be there, too.

The back-to-back celebrations for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday and the inauguration of the first black president are proving to be a powerful magnet for music and movie stars who want a piece of the biggest celebration in the nation's capital since the Bicentennial.

And to witness what some believe is a dream finally fulfilled.

"We're getting closer and closer to the type of country that Martin Luther King envisioned," said Wynton Marsalis, the artistic director for Jazz at Lincoln Center.

He'll join former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor at the Kennedy Center Monday evening in an event hosted by Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance.

The Queen of Soul also has made her way to Washington and said she would be singing for "two of the greatest men in history" _ King in a Monday concert and Barack Obama when he is sworn in Tuesday.