[Dixielandjazz] Jazz Funerals

[LARRY'S Signs and Large Format Printing]

Extremely conservative religious people in the Christian religion tend to
believe that music is sinful.  The outcry against rock n roll in the 50's is
a case in point.  The hub bub over Elvis Prestly is another.  It goes hand
in hand with the suppression of other peoples sexuality but not necessarily
of yours.

There are some Christian churches that ban music all together in any form.
The Quakers do not have music in their churches and It wouldn't surprise me
if the Amish or Mennonites didn't either.

I am the woodwind specialist in a Lutheran school and while they do allow
instrumental music in church generally you wouldn't exactly call the tunes
toe tapers.  I grew up in an extremely conservative church that musical
instruments were really not approved of and the Organ was the only approved
instrument.

Of all the years that I went to church I have never been asked to play my
horn.  Now I think that I play rather well so it's not a matter of quality
but of something else.  I did play guitar masses at an Episcopal (American
version of the Church of England) church for awhile.

I played for several years with a pretty good band.  The guitar player and
his wife were friends with another band leader, his brother and families.
The friend and his wife had a child with multiple birth defects and they
became extremely religious and decided to quit the band business and go into
religious music exclusively.  This was before the rock n roll churches with
multi million dollar sound stages.  They talked the leader of our band and
his wife (who was a druggie) into quitting pop music and going religious.
They also thought we should quit too because what we were doing was sinful.
(wedding receptions????)

There has always been a feeling that music, especially instrumental music,
is somewhat sinful.  Every church that I have ever attended since I became
an adult has been somewhat standoffish when they find out I play music
professionally.

Some churches especially the new rock n roll churches embrace an aggressive
music program as long as it's a string, keyboard or drum.  Other churches
will occasionally have a brass group.  The Salvation army is usually seen as
just a charitable organization but it's really a church that governs its
self along military lines.  They have some of the finest brass bands in the
world.

I have two friends and former students  who regularly perform at Black
churches.  One works as a musical director the other a singer/keyboardist.
Those guys are wonderful musicians who are musically much closer to what I
believe in.

Since there are so many different sects within the Christian church it's
hard to generalize but my overall feeling is not real warm and fuzzy toward
church music but then I'm a musician and worse still a sax player.

One of the guys told a joke the other day that I will pass on that sort of
sums it up.

The Sunday school teacher asked all the kids in the class what their dads
did for a living.
Suzy waved her hand and said her father was a policeman.
Billy said his father was a doctor.
Jimmy told the class that his father was a teacher.
Little Timmy didn't raise his hand so the teacher called on him .
Timmy said his dad was a dancer in a Gay bar.
The teacher was shocked and after class she talked with Timmy and wanted to
know if that was really true.
Timmy said no it wasn't true but he was embarrassed to tell.
finally Timmy said: My dads a trumpet player.

Larry
St. Louis
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Elazar Brandt" <jazzmin at actcom.net.il>
To: <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2005 5:58 PM
Subject: RE: [Dixielandjazz] Jazz Funerals


> An interesting thread. Here's a twist...
>
> My group here in Jerusalem has had some discussion of jazz funerals,
partly
> academic because that's the background of some of the music, and partly
because
> one or another of us or our customers fleetingly mentioned that we might
want to
> go out that way when the time comes.
>
> The problem: Jewish mourners are forbidden -- not sure if it's by custom
or
> actual religious law -- to listen to music for up to a year after the
death of a
> loved one. The year applies to immediate family. I believe there are
shorter
> periods like 1 week or 1 month for more distant relatives and friends. I
know
> active musicians who put down their axes for the full year, stopped coming
to
> any musical events, when a parent or sibling has passed on. I think
arguably if
> you make your living as a musician, you are allowed to play for your
livelihood,
> but not casually. (Now there are carefully reasoned and time-honored
reasons for
> this, so if you don't agree, at least respect it. It's not just a kill-joy
> thing.)
>
> My question to the list: Has anyone had experience with doing a jazz
funeral for
> a religious Jewish family? Based on the funerals I've been to in
Jerusalem, I
> think the sight of a band of any kind -- never mind a jazz band -- at a
cemetery
> would be inconceivable, even if not expressly forbidden. In Israel. I
think all
> the Jewish cemeteries are under the authority of Jewish religious law, so
even
> if the deceased or his family are not religious, doing it the old
fashioned way
> is the only option. This is probably not the case anywhere else in the
world.
>
> What we've done here in the past when a couple of our beloved folk musos
have
> passed on is to hold a memorial service a month after the death, in which
> friends and colleagues play songs and tell stories that evoke memories of
the
> deceased. The boldest case I know of was a fellow I never met, but knew by
> reputation. I went to a concert in which he was to be featured one night,
only
> to find that he had died of a heart attack earlier that day. He was
emphatically
> not religious, lived a raucous life and apparently died the same way. His
family
> and friends turned the concert into a celebration of his life on the very
day he
> died. This is someone who, if he wanted to do a jazz funeral parade, might
have
> gone for it. But that was not his style.
>
> The best I can fathom for here in Israel would be to do a parade from
somewhere
> outside the synagogue, maybe a few blocks away, to somewhere near the
cemetery.
> I seriously doubt if a band would be permitted inside on either end.
>
> Anyone have experience or know anything that might shed light on this
question.
> Maybe I'll be the first to plant the New Orleans tradition in Jerusalem -- 
not
> too soon, I hope!
>
> Elazar
> Doctor Jazz Dixieland Band
> Tekiya Trumpet/Brass Ensemble
> Jerusalem, Israel
> <www.israel.net/ministry-of-jazz>
> Tel: +972-2-679-2537
>
> P.S. I'm not worried about the song list. Some gospel tunes work, others
don't,
> for obvious reasons. But there is no shortage of appropriate songs.
>
>
>
>
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