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06552 October 30, 2006
Jam session
Music connects worshipers to the message at Jazz Vespers services
by Toya Richards Hill
LOUISVILLE - Swing, bebop, New Orleans-style, big band, fusion and * the Presbyterian Church.
Various jazz styles mixed in with a denomination rooted in the theology of Protestant reformer John Calvin? It's an odd pairing for sure, but one that's worked for a number of Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregations seeking to offer up a unique alternative worship experience.
Jazz Vespers has taken hold in PC(USA) congregations throughout the country, including Old First Presbyterian Church in San Francisco and First Presbyterian Church in Pitman, NJ. Though the concept isn't new - the idea began with the Rev. John Garcia Gensel in the early 1960s at St. Peter's Lutheran Church in New York City - the desire to replicate it continues.
Just recently, on Oct. 22, Noe Valley Ministry in San Francisco held its first-ever Jazz Vespers service. The PC(USA) church, already known in the community for its wide array of music offerings, inaugurated what is planned to be a monthly jazz worship service through June.
"I have a great passion for this kind of service," said the Rev. Keenan Kelsey, pastor at Noe Valley. "Jazz music in and of itself is wonderful * it's a paradigm for shalom, how we live together."
Jazz musicians individually play the music and are "totally into it," yet at the same time "they are completely aware of one another," she said.
Jazz Vespers services, although tailored to suit the individual congregation, are in the late afternoon or evening and generally follow a traditional order of worship, including Scripture readings and a sermon.
But what's different about these services is that various forms of jazz music, played by a band booked for that particular worship service, are intertwined with the spiritual message.
The minister and the band leader talk over the themes for the service - hope or love, for example, said Ed Klitsch, part of the group that created the first Jazz Vespers service in the PC(USA). Then the music and the message are "interrelated," he said, adding that there are usually six tunes played, just like a jazz set.
The tunes could be original, or they could be something familiar, said Klitsch, "It could be something like a George Gershwin tune or a popular rock tune."
A former deacon at Philadelphia's Old Pine Street Presbyterian Church, where Jazz Vespers first started in the PC(USA) back in 1986, Klitsch is now the "jazz catalyst" who does the booking for Jazz Vespers services in the San Francisco Bay area and elsewhere.
He said Jazz Vespers works because "jazz relates to the everyday person," who may or may not be connected with church. "We get people from everywhere."
Jazz Vespers "promises good jazz," Klitsch said. Old Pine Street has seen the likes of such jazz greats as Grover Washington Jr. over the years.
A church that offers this type of innovative worship is often perceived as having an open mind, he said, adding that someone once told him, "I came for the jazz and I got the message."
A reception usually held after Jazz Vespers is just as important as the service in terms of building community. "It's a perfect place for the evangelism committee," Klitsch said.
"I do think it can appeal to the spiritual, but not religious," said Kelsey. "This gets them into an environment where they can see how a message and scriptural reading ... can work through music."
Jazz Vespers appeals to the jazz artists, too.
Jazz musicians often have gone through life being stuck in the back of the room in some club, Klitsch said. With Jazz Vespers, after the first tune the artists realize there are folks tuned in to what they are doing - instead of buying drinks or smoking or trying to pick up someone from the other side of the room.
"The give and take between the musicians and the congregation is just wonderful," he said. "It's as much about them (the musicians) as it is the people who come."
Kelsey, who was on staff at Old Pine Street back when Jazz Vespers first started there, concurs.
"The jazz artists are totally into it," she said. "We have discovered that, indeed, it works for both the artist and the audience."
For more information on Jazz Vespers, contact Ed Klitsch at edklitsch@comcast.net.
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