Jazz Liturgy

I'm about as high church as they come. I'm sure you all know this.

But that doesn't mean strictly sticking to the Lutheran Service Book; in fact, for me, being high church means have a sense deep catholicity that looks to the ancient roots of our Lutheran heritage. As a result, it's the resonant theology and existential spirituality of historic liturgy I love, not the specific settings of the LSB (though setting three, the old page 15 of The Lutheran Hymnal, is gorgeous).

Today my Greek professor, Dr. Voelz, introduced us to a musical setting of Terce, or Mid-Morning Prayer, prepared by Dr. Brauer. This setting employed jazz chords as musical enrichment for the liturgy.

For those who know something about music theory, this does not mean it was 'jazzy.' It means, rather, that instead of using the standard major and minor chords of western art music, the liturgical chant and the hymn (Amazing Grace) had tightly built jazz chord structures underneath the melody. It sounded great. Think George Gershwin, not Louis Armstrong. It was, after all, just organ and trumpet. I think if one threw drums in there, or a saxophone, it could get very trendy, and very performance-oriented, very quickly. In fact, after searching for something similar in YouTube, I couldn't find a thing; they all went too far in the direction of jazzy performance that detracted from the solemn dignity of the liturgy that this setting preserved.

But this sort of issue cuts through the mire of characterizations which serve as labels heaped upon high churchmen. Our problem with contemporary worship is not that it isn't proper sixteenth century chorale (or eleventh century antiphony); it's that contemporary worship isn't properly liturgical.

The jazz liturgy retains all the dignity of the finest liturgical traditions while enriching it with 20th century America's greatest musical contribution. As Voelz said, unlike contemporary praise and worship music, or, might I add, gospel folk music, jazz cuts across all ghettos of American music. It is enjoyed by rich and poor, black and white, young and old. It is a truly ecumenical, yet truly artistic; contemporary, yet dignified. It is America's truest contribution to art music, and therefore her best offering to the authentically liturgical tradition.