I would not be to hasty to chop down the Jazz tree...
Music is always growing. It never stops evolving. The first church music started out as Gregorian Chants and Organums. It could be said that the true music for God's people involve choirs of castratas and young boys... Or maybe, we can look toward Tibet at the chanting there. We assume that God only hears the music produced in our churches, after all we are the only ones that could possibly have the answers...
What about the poor South American Churches that are not singing either Jazz or Gospel? or the non-gospel listening folks that like something different?
I have heard praises sung unto The Lord via jazz, gospel, classical, bluegrass, country, rock, rap, heavy metal, funk, punk, acoustic, chant, poetry, dance, theater... Does God hear one praise over another or is it our own PRIDE and EGO that determines that we are the only ones that can have the straight path to God's ears?
I play jazz. My praise to God is filled with Jazz based nuances. My heart and my entire being goes into my worship, yet it is jazz... Explain to me without sounding ignorant how God will cast worship from the heart away in any form.
Gospel IS jazz - It uses syncopation. It uses jazz theory. It uses jazz bass lines, and the choir parts are arranged in basic jazz block chords. THE WORD that is sung is Praise, the music behind the Praise is Gospel, but the roots under the tree that you want to burn or destroy are jazz... Blues, Jazz, Gospel... They come from suffering and pain and the desire to find a voice. If you shun one you might as well erase a major part of American Black History. How you represent is what matters. If you do not use all the tools at your disposal you show ignorance... It is like saying using driving cars is evil or using power tools is evil so you only use hand tools or walk wherever you go... You have to put things in context.
I come here to learn gospel music... In turn I come here to teach people jazz. Why, if it is so evil? Because they are connected. The more music one has in the vocabulary, the better musician they become. You do not have to run out and play in a halfway house just because you know some flashy jazz chords... That is ridiculous...
Use what you learn on either side to glorify GOD. Use what you learn to bring in people that are not normally church goers and help them glorify God... Use new skills to open the church doors to people other than those you are accustomed to... Aren't we supposed to be shepherds? It is so easy to play to a congregation of friendlies... How about going outside of the box? Would you survive? Are you spreading the word or simply stamping on the ground where you stand?
Be brave, be bold... Don't fear the dark. Remember we are God's children...
I cant believe you went all the way back to gregorian chants and then to tibet
the poor little children in Sourth america
and castrated men
wow
now all that being said about the syncopations and the gospel being jazz
i will loosely agree
because gospel does have its own theories although it shares a lot with jazz
they differ markedly
which is why you as a jazz musician come here to learn gospel
but all that said
I will cosign that we should learn all we can
and no I dont think that the earnest and fervant prayer and praise of anyone is ignored by god
however we still need to be aware of where a thing comes from before we bring that to God
I dont think there can be an argument there.
my tree analogy by the way was a way of saying that like the gentiles can be grafted onto the tree of life so to can jazz be grafted or has been
but remember there are spirits present in music
coming from the author
look at the song gloomy sunday
and how many people committed suicide over that song so many that the song was banned
would I want to play that chord progression and melodic line
during alter call?
or even a memorial service?
we must remember satan was cast out of heaven he was the chief musician
he would want to infiltrate where he can
if we are not aware of where a thing comes from we in our ignorance may b doing more harm than good.
I loved your post wolman and I dont argue with you I am on your side just asking you and everyone else to look at the history of your artists the music the period the intent
of all the music you bring into your church
watch as well as play i mean pray
