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| A Beginning in
New York City
Jazz Vespers began in New York City in 1961 when the late Reverend John Garcia Gensel , started an evening service at St. Peters Lutheran Church. It was designed for those musicians of his growing night ministry who couldn’t make it to Sunday morning service after playing those late Saturday night gigs. He invited them to perform “ a worship service by and for jazz musicians…the public is invited” It became the church home for many of the musicians and their families. The legendary “Duke” Ellington was a frequent worshiper -he called Pastor Gensel “ the shepherd who watches over the night flock” Duke wrote a tune titled “Shepherd of the Night Flock” which many groups have recorded. Since then, Jazz Vespers Services have become popular across the country. A loyal following of jazz fans have made their spiritual home for the last 13 years at Old Pine Street Church in Philadelphia. A year ago Old First had two things in common with Old Pine: a long history ( Old Pine in the oldest continuously used Presbyterian Church in America, est. 1768) and Ed Klitsch who was a member there before moving to San Francisco. Now we have a third item in common: our own Jazz Vespers Service. Jazz Vespers at Old First Certain that the Bay Area’s great corps of jazz musicians would provide the performers, who would draw the jazz lovers, plus those worshipers seeking an alternative setting for praise and, in time, volunteer support, Ed talked it up. With the enthusiastic agreement of the Evangelism Committee, Old First held its initial Jazz Vespers Service on Palm Sunday ( April 5 ) 1998, with saxophonist Philip Greenlief and his trio which included Trevor Dunn on bass and Scott Amendola on drums. The 104 present greatly appreciated the mixture of straight-head jazz with scripture. Among the attendees were Madeline and Eddie Duran who were to be featured in May. Mad & Eddie have quickly become Old First favorites and as they live nearby have shown up semi-regularly in attendance- schedule permitting. June brought us multi instrumentalist Don Pender and his quartet. Don liked Reverend Tim Hart-Andersen and the experience so much he joined OFC in the fall. Since joining he has performed on Sunday mornings with the choir and when the San Francisco Presbytery met at Old First this past May, Don’s group was part of the worship service. The First Season In 1999, each Jazz Vespers Service was a blessing for those who have had the opportunity to attend each one. Led by the musicians and Revs. Tim Hart-Andersen, Keenan Kelsey with Susan Young, each has had its own special moments of spiritual/musical wonder. They have ranged from moments of gratitude shared aloud from the congregation to up-lifting musical responses from blues singer Frankye Kelly, Jazz kotoist Shirley Muramoto on Easter, young tenor saxophonist Anton Schwartz on Palm Sunday, a very special John Coltrane dedication by Mad Duran for our 150th Big Weekend and the touching letter from a neighborhood woman who hadn’t been in church in 20 years and was touched by the spirituality of Jazz Vespers that night. Our season ending vespers special finale with pianist Mike Greensill and his wife Wesla Whitfield bringing down the house with her moving rendition of “ Duke” Ellington’s “Come Sunday” –a truly magical moment. Jazz Vespers has proven to be a natural at Old First. This could be possibly because of the unusual combination of jazz music in a church service that brings together a diverse group of seekers who are experiencing an alternative setting for praise …. Or perhaps it’s the musicians responding to this focused audience. Or it could be the excellent acoustical venue that is the Old First Sanctuary… or maybe the twenty years plus momentum of the Old First Concert Series. Probably all of the above.
Jazz
Vespers Quartet: Four views
of our Jazz Vespers worship services A
member of the JV Congregation:
Marge E. Healy
Jazz
Vespers is a wonderful experience in my life.
It not only combines my love of music and spirituality, it provides
a social setting to meet new and interesting people.
The music is always great. I work on Sundays, and Jazz Vespers
gives me the strength I need to prepare myself for the week. Thanks for
keeping it going. A
Minister: The Rev. Keenan Kelsey I
was on staff when Libby and Ed proposed Jazz Vespers, so from the very
first, I have been part of the leadership.
In fact, I think I have only missed two in the series!
I remember when I was first asked to do a service on my own,
without co-leading with Tim Hart-Andersen.
I was actually more nervous than leading a Sunday service in my own
church at Noe Valley! However, I soon relaxed, and it has been both joy
and privilege to lead these services while Old First leadership
re-organized. I
think the anxiety arises when I consider the enormity of the opportunity
to create worship in an unfamiliar context.
At Jazz Vespers, it is the worship leader who is solely responsible
for moving a jazz concert from performance to piety.
Without the leader, there would be no bridges to worship.
The antidote to anxiety, for me, is to "let go and let
God." This is one
service I plan carefully, but not rigidly.
It is important for me to respond to the music and the audience,
and let the Spirit work. It
is the one service where I actually worship while I lead.
Across
the country, all sorts of alternative worship services are surfacing in an
attempt to reach the "unchurched."
JV is one of these, and it is indeed attracting new people.
Even for Old Firsters, it helps expand our definition and
experience of worship. In my
mind, Jazz Vespers is no
longer experimental. It is an
established, important, sprit-filled, enticing opportunity for worship. A
Musician: Gerry Grosz What
is jazz? For me, it's a joyous celebration of the spontaneous flow of
universal energies, channeled through each performer's instrument, and
combined in totally unique ways by the spirit of the moment and the
interaction among the players. Does this sound like a spiritual event to
you? It sure does to me, yet there are very few places jazz is performed
where I get to revel so completely in that spiritual practice. You
may not know it, but jazz is having an identity crisis. It's either lauded
as America's classical music in stuffy concert halls, or it's relegated to
the dusty corner at the end of the bar in the back of the restaurant where
nobody's listening anyway. The sad reality is that the surroundings and
demands of most gigs detract from the essence, beauty, and joy of the
music. Jazz
Vespers is unique among jazz gigs. It's a meeting in a sacred space where
the music and the spirit are honored and celebrated together. Ideally,
this combination would not be a singular experience, and I try my best to
make each of my gigs a spiritual event. This special setting easily allows
me to do just that. For this
reason, I am especially grateful for the opportunity to perform at Jazz
Vespers. A
Member of Old First: Rod MacDonald I’d
like to tell you about the "Inside" of Jazz Vespers -- not to be
confused with the inside details that Ed Klitsch does so well organizing
the talent. I'm talking about what happens "inside me" at Jazz
Vespers. The
improvisational nature of jazz helps me create a freedom inside my mind.
This freedom encourages me to explore thoughts, without the encumbrance of
traditional church music structure. Jazz
can have repeating themes, but seldom are the notes always played exactly
the same. In the same way,
jazz at vespers encourages me to take a question, a thought, a sound, and
shape it into many different meanings.
For example: the sound of cymbals being tapped or brushed allows my
mind to think about the pleasure of the moment; the influence of music and
cultures of centuries past; what music sounded like in biblical times; and
how pleased God must be there is jazz at Old First.
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