The morning after a New York gala can be just like any other morning. But not the morning after Jazz at Lincoln Center’s spring gala. Too many fine moments from Monday night on the stage of the Apollo beg to be remembered: Wynonna Judd’s voice and Wynton Marsalis’s trumpet going head-to-head; James Moody putting down his horn to sing; Tom Jones swiveling his hips as he belted out his famous “It’s Not Unusual.”

With a diverse lineup of talent, including Don Cheadle as host and Robert Downey Jr. as one of the performers, the concert made a big impression. “I was blown away by the Blind Boys of Alabama,” Dayssi Olarte de Kanavos said after the concert. Lynn Whitfield said: “I really loved James Moody. He embodies everything jazz is about – his spontaneity, his sense of humor.” “I loved Lyle Lovett,” a vice chairwoman of Jazz at Lincoln Center, Shahara Ahmad-Llewellyn, said. Another vice chairwoman, Diane Coffey, praised Jazz at Lincoln Center’s maestro. “The secret to every piece was Wynton and his septet,” she said. One shining moment was Wycliffe Gordon’s trombone introduction to the Woody Guthrie song “If I Had a Hammer.” Many singled out the final act, a tribute to Bobby Short, which had the audience and Ms. Judd singing “When the Saints Go Marching In.”

The dinner following the concert was equally memorable. It took place in the playground of P.S. 154 on 126th Street, which was covered by a white tent that kept guests dry during a heavy downpour.

And what a tent! Made of 21-ounce vinyl laminate and manufactured in Evansville, Ind., the tent can handle winds of up to 70 miles an hour, the president of Stamford Tent & Party Rental, Steve Frost, said. Last night’s wind gusts hit 60 mph. Mr. Frost said the tent’s shape – “it’s a hyperbolic paraboloid” – has the effect of shedding wind as well as water most efficiently.

Even so, his company was prepared for the worst.

“We also had two guys on duty, who would have evacuated the tent if things were to get really bad,” Mr. Frost said. “But in 52 years of business, we’ve never had to evacuate a tent.”

To the contrary, no one wanted to leave the party. Mr. Marsalis performed his customary rounds, determined, it seemed, to say hello to all 700 guests as they dined on wedges of iceberg lettuce, porterhouse burgers on brioche toast, and rice pudding.

The event, in its fourth year, raised more than $1.3 million for Jazz at Lincoln Center, which in the fall will celebrate its first anniversary in the Frederick Rose Hall. The event’s co-chairwomen were Debra Lee, president of Black Entertainment Television Holdings Incorporated, and Ashley Schiff, a public relations executive and board member who is the daughter of the board chairwoman, Lisa Schiff.