[Dixielandjazz] Hymns at a church service

[Glen Page]

Hi Kevin,One of the classic recordings of a Jazz Band playing in a church
service is George Lewis'"Spirits In Ragtime" recorded with his full band of
1954 at the Holy Episcopal Church, Oxford,Ohio Feb. 21st 1954 at the request
of the Rev.Kershaw who was famous for identifying Kid Ory's Sunshine Band
in a radio contest and winning lots of money.

The tunes they recorded were In The Sweet Bye And Bye /Just a Little While
To Stay Here /Bye And Bye / Old Rugged Cross /Sometimes My Burden Is So Hard
To Bear /Take My Hand Precious Lord /Down By The Riverside /Closer Walk /The
Saints.  The record title when it came out later was entitled "Jazz At
Vespers" and would be a great item for your record collection. I cannot give
a reference # for a CD, I have it on Lp  but I'm sure that somebody on DJML
could do that.G. Buck has a CD currently available  AMCD 29 that has 4 tunes
from an earlier recording March 22 1953 with the same personnel, also from
the Holy Episcopal Church and also containing  4 Lewis tracks and 3 band
tunes

George also recorded  a trio LP "George Lewis Plays Hymns"in March 1964.
This is not one of my favorite trios and George largely sticks to the melody
without too much variation. Titles include In The Upper Garden / When I Come
To The End Of My Journey/Where He Leads Me /I Shall Not Be Moved /Near The
Cross/ Does Jesus Care? / Rock Of Ages /What A Friend We Have In Jesus /At
The Cross / His Eye Is On The Sparrow / Sing On / Nearer My God To Thee. I
feel fairly sure that Buck has this out on CD.

Good luck at your concert.

Cheers, Glen.