“Sacred Jazz” Sunday, April 26th
By guest blogger Dick Liberty
Next to be featured on the FPCG concert series is Warren Cooper and the Alexander/Cooper Project. They’ll be at the church on Sunday afternoon, April 26th, at 3:00 p.m. for a celebration of the Sacred Spirit in jazz.
The Alexander/Cooper Project is a band of professional musicians who have played all over the country and the globe. The group includes Warren Cooper, vocals; Tim Warfield, saxophone; Andrae Alexander, piano; Dexter Whitaker, bass; and Leon Alexander, drums.
These guys have real juice! A list of artists that members of the band have appeared with reads like a Who’s Who of jazz, gospel, and R & B: Dizzy Gillespie, Patti Labelle, Smokey Robinson, Nicholas Payton, Shirley Caesar, and Billy Preston to name just a few.
But is jazz really appropriate for the worship of God? Jazz… with its blue notes, its hot licks, and its swaggering flights of improvisational fancy? Let’s think about that for a moment.
The sacred jazz pianist Bradley Sowash – maybe best known for his guest appearances on the PBS series, “The Piano Guy” – has given some serious thought to whether jazz is appropriate for Christian worship. In an article for the Christian Jazz Artists Network, Mr. Sowash wrote “… 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.”
Here are just a couple of the parallels Mr. Sowash sees between jazz and Christian life:
- Jesus was radically inclusive, bringing his message and ministry to people of all ages, backgrounds, and social strata. Jazz is multi-cultural and inclusive in that it is a kind of music made by blending elements from European, African, Caribbean, and American traditions. Jazz is played and enjoyed by people of all races, ages, genders, creeds, political affiliations, and socio-economic conditions.
- The Church is one body with many members, and the members are expected to love, respect, support, and encourage each other (cf. Romans 12). In a jam session, each musician may be asked to play as a soloist while being supported by the other players and then vice versa as the band creates a complete and satisfying musical performance. The ideas and playing of one musician inspire and help the playing of others in the session
At the next FPCG concert, Warren Cooper and the Alexander/Cooper Project will be giving us a great opportunity to see if jazz is appropriate for the worship of God.
Of the band’s members, Warren Cooper, whose baritone voice has been
described as “a smooth, velvet sound”, has a couple of things in common
with First Presbyterian in Germantown. He is a Philadelphia native and
the son of a Presbyterian minister. He is also the founder and host of
the gospel music program “Ovations” on WRTI radio.
Warren grew up with both jazz and church music, playing in jam sessions
on Saturday evenings and singing hymns and gospel songs in the choir at
his father’s church on Sundays. Those early experiences led Warren to
pioneer the use of jazz for Christian worship, a medium in which he has
been seen as a trend-setter. The Philadelphia Tribune has called him
“…an innovator who has taken significant strides in the fusion of
gospel and jazz music… making all things new and raising the bar in
vocal jazz and praise performance.”
Alexander/Cooper Project - Come Sunday
If you’re already a jazz lover, then you’ll need no convincing about the sacred nature of jazz and the upcoming concert will be music to your ears.
But if you’re unsure whether jazz and God are meant for each other, then come to the church on April 26th at 3:00 p.m. and be a part of the experience as Warren and the Alexander/Cooper Project offer prayer and praise to the Lord.
After this concert, you just might start thinking of jazz and worship as a match made in Heaven!