Nashville Notes: Day 3

WEDS MORNING: SUMMARY and DEBRIEFING

A book I want

What is jazz?

• a way of making music, not type of music
• spontaneous, eclectic, collaborative
• in the present, never the same thing twice
• freedom comes from structures
• oral/aural tradition
• evocative, emotional, cathartic
• personal
• surprising
• freedom that's not as present or encouraged or complete in other forms of music
• complicated, complex
• "thin space" (Marcus Borg)

How does the above relate to worship? What is the tie between worship and jazz?

• "Praise the Lord with timbrel and harp"
• jazz can lead you into the thin space
• introspective nature of some jazz that invites you to go inward
• playfulness, allows you to let go of control
• by taking something familiar and transforming it, you are led to new place
• synergy between musicians and congregation

Why has jazz historically been excluded from church?

• "devil's music"
• true also of rock and roll, etc.
• also went the other way with people upset by "church music" being played in secular settings
• technically complex to include in worship
• requires greater musical skill and technique
• jazz traditionally associated with seedy clubs
• racial divide historically

Mo' Better Blues - Spike Lee

Jazz education has increased dramatically

In Jazz worship, imagination of congregation takes over

"Come Sunday"- Duke Ellington (#728 in UMC hymnal)  [Good Friday?]

Then Sings My Soul: Towards a Theology of Jazz in Christian Worship, Don Saliers