[Dixielandjazz] Playing in Churches

Steve barbone barbonestreet at earthlink.net
Sat Jan 8 17:39:53 PST 2005


on 1/8/05 7:25 PM, john petters at johnpetters at tiscali.co.uk wrote:
 
> I've never had any problems in churches. One person complained to the
> Catholic Bishop about a jazz band playing in church, but he was very
> enthusiastic about it. Quite often the Priest or minister will say a prayer
> before or after the gig and I always quote psalm 150 - praise God with the
> sound of the trumpet and the loud clashing cymbals.
> The late Ken Colyer used to refer to playing in churches as doing a spot of
> God bothering.

And of course there is Psalm 100 which begins "Make A Joyful Noise Unto the
Lord". To say nothing of what was arguably very first "literate" jazz
review, (by Swiss Conductor Ernest Ansermat, Igor Stravinsky's pal), circa
1918 declaiming that jazz music is religious in origin, as he reviewed
Sidney Bechet and Will Marion Cook's Southern Syncopated Orchestra. It is
also said that this review prompted Stravinsky to write a work entitled
Piece For 3 Clarinets or something like that as he became a jazz fan.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone




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