This article was helpful as I began to think about creating our jazz church space.
July 2003 CJA Network Featured Article
Jazz Pianist
Bradley Sowash
Why Jazz Is Appropriate for Christian Worship
As a touring "sacred" jazz pianist (I prefer the word "inspirational"), I spend a lot of time with colleagues and parishioners nationwide who connect with the gospel through this joyous music. People love the sound of jazz hymns and spirituals and I am continually impressed by the relevance of jazz for contemporary worship. Why does it work so well? The answer lies in the parallels between jazz traditions and the life of the church. Consider how readily jazz models the Christian lifestyle:
• Jazz is multi-cultural and inclusive - Jazz was born in America when the harmonic and melodically based music of European colonists eventually blended with African rhythms preserved in the hearts and minds of slaves. As the music matured, black and white musicians continued to learn from each other. In time, famous bandleaders including Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington and others led integrated bands. Later, Latin cultures introduced a third influence initially championed by Dizzy Gillespie. With roots stemming from several cultures, jazz continues to be influenced, performed and enjoyed by people of diverse backgrounds to this day. Jesus was radically inclusive. His habit of inviting people of all sorts and conditions to join him in fellowship is an open-armed model of welcome churches seek to emulate.
• Jazz is indigenous but universal – Religious practices tend to reflect the culture that produces them. Yet mainstream American worship styles often feature musical selections which are European imports. Jazz is indigenous to America. Therefore, it is altogether right and appropriate to worship within our own cultural context. Jazz is also now enjoyed worldwide. Musicians from around the world play jazz together whether or not they share a spoken language. God is at once both personally indigenous (the God within us) and universal (the God "out there" somewhere). Similarly, when we gather together to worship locally, we simultaneously participate in a worldwide Christian body.
• Jazz is spontaneous - The essence of jazz is improvisation. Drawing on their training, preferences and inspirations, jazz musicians spontaneously create variations on a given theme. To listen to live jazz is to witness raw musical ideas being given substance often within the framework of a well-known melody. Many musicians describe a sense of the ideas flowing through them rather than from them. This inherent creativity in jazz relies on a connection to the Spirit. Jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli hinted at this when he said, "Great improvisors are like priests. They are thinking only of their god." Jazz imitates God's creation - ever evolving.
• Jazz involves cooperation – Live jazz in any setting is performed and received by a cooperative community. Each musician is called upon to both support his/her colleagues and work as an individual soloist as roles are shared. Listeners inspire the music through their eactions to complete the circle. While the quest for meaning is ultimately a private endeavor, church life exemplifies cooperation and community building in which participants learn and grow collectively as well as individually.
• Jazz has a range - Sometimes meditative, sometimes celebratory, jazz touches us by speaking directly to a spectrum of emotions. Without this ability to reflect the full range of human experience, it never would have lasted. Louis Armstrong was right when he said, "What we play is life." The church year reflects this range of experience from the wonder of Christmas through the reflective Lent season to the joy of Easter and from baptisms to weddings to funerals. Once the worship enhancing powers of jazz are understood, it is hard to understand why any church would not want to, at least occasionally, incorporate this rich and uniquely American musical style into its programming. Churches who have already taken this step report the following:
• Jazz makes for excellent evangelism – With outreach as a priority, many churches have discovered that the uniqueness of a jazz worship service holds appeal and potential healing for people whose past experiences have led them to consider organized religion uninviting, dogmatic, irrelevant or even repressive.
• Jazz offers a tradition-based alternative – Most mainstream churches are interested in balancing heritage and contemporary relevance. When experimenting with new forms of music or worship practices, inevitable complaints follow regarding the abandonment of church traditions. With roots reaching back to African-American spirituals and European folk songs on up through Duke Ellington’s famous sacred concerts and New York City’s jazz vespers scene of the 1960’s, jazz renditions of the remarkable American hymnody we inherited link the past to the present.
• Jazz has cross-generational relevance – Contemporary services utilizing popular music have proven successful in attracting younger families to churches. And why not? Even Martin Luther understood the importance of including compelling music in worship when he wrote, "Why should the devil have all the good music." However, a pitfall of offering too narrowly defined contemporary music for worship has the unintended effect of dividing the church into age demographics since older members are likely to prefer traditional fare. The toetapping wide appeal of jazz, on the other hand, draws people of all ages and backgrounds thereby creating a diversified community of worship and a sense of belonging for the individual parishioner. Author Bishop John Shelby Spong points out, "The church will die of boredom long before it dies from controversy." By preparing a feast that for the mind and senses that includes prayer, spoken word and the appeal of culturally relevant music, a church that is willing to embrace jazz sends a message that it is visionary. It says "we are willing to experiment with the recipe for bringing about a greater contemplation of God.". And in the words of Biblical scholar Marcus Borg, "Churches that are full of God are likely to find their pews full of people."
© 2003 Bradley Sowash
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