April is a great month for new beginnings...I'm looking forward to Easter this year even more than in previous years for a couple of reasons. One is that the night before Easter, I'll be received into the Catholic church. The other is that on Easter morning, my new sacred jazz recording, From This Place, will get a big boost with my interview on National Public Radio's Weekend Edition Sunday! I'm going to be celebrating all weekend.
If you'd like to check out the interview (it will be archived starting at noon on Sunday) or hear clips from the new release, visit my website at http://deannajazz.com.
Here is an excerpt from the liner notes to From This Place which gives a good sense of what the disc is about:
As I write in early December 2008, the Christian church is observing Advent, the first season of the annual liturgical calendar. Advent, according to one dictionary, means an “arrival that has been awaited (especially of something momentous).” This recording, my fourth as a leader and my first focusing specifically on sacred music, is something that I have wanted to make for over seven years.
I want to clarify at the outset that I view all music as sacred, if it is made with intent to heal, uplift, and rejuvenate spirits. One unique aspect of From This Place is its focus on text: from nineteenth-century poets, scripture, the Mass, and occasionally, my original verses. My journey towards creating this music and working with text had its impetus in a move from Chicago to New York City eleven years ago.
I arrived in New York having accepted a fulltime position as music director of All Angels’ Church on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. During my tenure at All Angels’, I composed the genesis of two jazz masses (one present here) and wrote musical resettings of old hymn texts (I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say, Pass Me Not, Take My Life and Let It Be) as well as occasional lyrics and music (Never Before). I found that I loved having a service for which I could write new settings of text that was either said or sung each week. It reminded me of Bach’s time, when the church was a patron of the arts.
In 2000, several months after I left All Angels’, I started to wonder if the music I had composed for services could be used in other houses of worship. I began to build relationships with churches in the hopes that, in addition to playing my instrumental jazz in more traditional jazz venues, I could present my sacred music in the context of worship.
To my delight, in every church in which I have performed, both regular churchgoers and clergy have responded with resounding support. I feel that I am in the company of Mary Lou Williams, the innovative pianist/composer who wrote liturgical jazz in her later decades and brought her music to churches and schools all over the country. To see myself in a tradition and yet breaking new ground is awe-inspiring and also a bit scary at times. But the fact that so many people have shared with me how this music has impacted the way they experience centuries-old text, much of which they may have heard or spoken week in and week out for years (or never heard at all), has confirmed that I am on a right path. I invite you to join me in this place where old and new converge to remind us that hope does indeed exist, even in times of fear or uncertainty.
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