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~ This Issue ~
Featured
Article: Playing Jazz At Lasalle Street Church
by Jazz Pianist/Vocalist Deanna Witkowski.
Get a
"hands on" perspective from Jazz
Pianist/Vocalist Deanna
Witkowski as she shares about putting together jazz
worship services! ... Read
entire article here! "Jazz
Without Joy":
A thought provoking (and even perhaps
controversial) article about jazz, by Gary
North can be found
here!
Christian
Jazz Artists Compilation CD! "Don't
let the title fool you! This delightful CD features
arrangements that are jazzified and alternately
funky, smooth and very mellow. It's a great
CD!" - (Reviewed
by Brian Soergel Smooth Jazz Vibes) complete
review at
www.smoothjazzvibes.com 
CJA
Network compilation CD featuring members playing
Jazz arrangements of Hymns! 16 great renditions of
Hymns served up in a wide variety of flavors! To
hear audio excerpts or to purchase this CD visit
here!
New
Christian Jazz Music Email Discussion Group!
How Do You Define
Jazz?
We are
starting a e-mail discussion group about jazz,
spirituality, jazz in the sanctuary, and other
related topics. This discussion group is open to anyone interested. Whether your a fan, jazz artist,
jazz educator, or jazz lover this discussion group
wants to hear your thoughts, opinions, and ideas!
The first topic of discussion has already started,
" How Do You Define Jazz"?
To
subscribe to this group visit:
Christian Musicians Directory
Here is
a directory that lists contact info on Artists,
Composers, Producers, Studios, Instrumentalists, ect.
This is a convenient way for you to be contacted by
potential clients who are interested in your
services, as well as encourage connecting and even
collaborating with other Christian Musicians. If you
want to be included in this list or want to check it
out visit
here!
Welcome
New CJA Network Members! We
now have over 50 CJA Network Members!! Jazz
Pianist/Vocalist
Deanna
Witkowski
32-year-old
pianist/composer/vocalist Deanna Witkowski,
winner of the 2002 Great American Jazz Piano
Competition and a recent guest on Marian McPartland’s
Piano Jazz, looks to diverse musical worlds in her
fusions of jazz, afro-latin, classical, and sacred
music. Her 2003 recording, Wide Open Window, led
reviewers to praise her playing as, “consistently
thrilling” (All Music Guide) and to name Witkowski
as “one of the best of the new generation of jazz
pianists” (Jazz Journal International).
Witkowski’s musical interests took another turn
when she began coordinating an annual jazz service
at Chicago’s LaSalle Street Church. Her interest
in composing for the liturgy led to a three year
position as music director at All Angels' Church in
New York, where she moved in 1997. Witkowski now serves as
music director at Church of the Redeemer
in Astoria, Queens, and continues to present her
sacred music in churches around the country.
Deanna
shares, "I'm grateful to be able to share some
of my music through
the Christian Jazz Artists network, and also through
ongoing projects available at my new ArtistShare
website".
"I'm
also excited to now be able to make my sacred music
available at deannajazz.com.
Currently I have lead sheets and piano parts up for
my Evening Sanctus and for my settings of Pass
Me Not, O Gentle Savior and Take My Life and
Let it Be (check out samples on the Christian
Jazz Worship Page!;
there are about ten other lead sheets up as
well. And there are other extras: an entire
workshop session from the annual "Jazz and the
Church" conference, complete with corresponding
lead sheets; journal entries on my thoughts on
composing, an article on the development of four
jazz services at Chicago's LaSalle Street Church,
along with corresponding bulletins and lead
sheets." (This last article is posted here in
this newsletter in it's entirety.) Lead sheets, piano
parts, and lectures on jazz worship are all
available at:
http://www.deannajazz.com
Pianist
Rick Gallagher
Rick
is
a jazz pianist, composer, arranger and teacher. A
native of Pittsburgh, he began studying music at age
ten, and started his piano training at age sixteen.
He received a bachelor's degree in music from
Duquesne University, and studied with David Budway
for eight years.
Gallagher
is noteworthy for his classic jazz style, creative
arrangements, and his memorable originals.
Influences include Herbie Hancock, Horace Silver,
Red Garland, Vince Guaraldi, Bill Evans, Benny
Green, Ray Brown, Miles Davis, Cyrus Chestnut,
George Shearing, and David Budway.
Performing
nationally and regionally with the Boilermaker Jazz
Band - one of the country's leading traditional jazz
groups - Gallagher revisits the sound of Dixieland and swing piano. He also works in solo and group
settings specializing in jazz, blues, and other
contemporary styles with some of the regions top
performers and bands.
His
debut album, "Sweet Potato Eyebrows" was
released in November 2001 on the Serendipity Records
label. The collection showcases his versatility as a
jazz composer and arranger, as well as his maturity
as a pianist, via a variety of classic-sounding
standards and originals. For more info visit here!
Jazz
Ensemble, "All
In Christ
" All
in Christ is a gospel jazz group that has been
dedicated to worshiping GOD and spreading the gospel
through the gift of music. AIC has been together for
approximately six years. AIC is composed of the
following members: Samuel “Chamo” Gonzalez
(Bass), Ezra Henry (Drums), Freddy Nunez (Guitar),
Jose Lugo (Keyboards), Misael “Mikey” Vale
(Keyboards), Luis N. Pacheco (Saxophone) and Luis A.
Pacheco Jr. (Trumpet).
After years of practicing and gigging, AIC was
blessed with the opportunity to record our first
album titled, "When I Call You". The album
has a variety of music styles ranging from ballads
to Latin Jazz, funk, cool jazz and others.
AIC has performed in different venues around the
tri-state area, predominantly churches, concerts and
weddings. We are looking to expanding into other
parts of the U.S. and aspire to reach other parts of
the world as well. AIC’s mission is to continue to
spread the gospel and to introduce a new sound into
the ever expanding jazz world. For more info visit here!
Make
sure that you visit the CJA page and listen to the great music from
these new members! We now have over 50 Christian Jazz artists
that are members of the network!!!!
Visit
the CJA Network page here!
New & Notable!
Trumpeter
Fletch
Wiley
will
be playing at Woodman Valley Chapel in Colorado
Springs and Immanuel
Baptist Church.
March
11-13-concert and services
Woodmen Valley Chapel
290 East Woodmen Rd
Colorado Springs, CO
April 1-3
Immanuel
Baptist Church; 1415 South Topeka; Wichita, Kansas 67211.
(Sunday evening service starts at 6pm)
contact: Brian Morgan valvetrombonist@yahoo.com)
On March
11th and 12th in Dallas, TX Drummer Sean
McCurley will
be participating in the 2nd annual "DrummersforJesus"
celebration. This year will feature Sean along with Alex
Acuna, Teddy
Campbell, John Blackwell, Russ Miller, Marvin McQuitty, Lou Santiago
jr., Alvarro Lopez and many more. (Additional info at) www.drummersforjesus.com
Sean is also out on
tour with Kirk Whalum this month. Kirk is going to Japan in
March to play with Marcus Miller as well. Fans can visit www.kirkwhalum.com
for more info!
Jazz
Pianist Chuck
Marohnic has
upcoming appearances...
March 3
- Sacred Grounds Jazz Coffeehouse, Scottsdale, AZ
March 4 - Jazz in the Hills, Fountain Hills, AZ
April 28 - Sacred Grounds Jazz Coffeehouse, Scottsdale, AZ
May 4 - Louisville Presbyterian Seminary – workshop & worship
service, Louisville, KY
Saxophonist
Greg
Vail has
been playing in February with his band, "The
Greg Vail Band" at Kikuya in Huntington Beach,
CA. Greg also has been recording sax tracks for
keyboardist David
Arivett's
new
Jazz CD, "Jazzed & Glad!", due out for
release in late spring!
The
David
Pray Trio
has
been selected by the Bose Corporation as the
Featured Band for their Southern Region today. The
David Pray Trio will receive national recognition on
Bose’s website with bio, photo, and public
performance dates on the Bose Calender of Events
Southern Region webpage
www.bose.com/musicians
Guitarist
Ric
Flauding & Percussionist Peter Best will
be performing every Thursday, Friday and Saturday
through March 12th at the "Sunburst
Resort": Performances start at 7:00 PM and continue till 10:00.
4925 North Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale, AZ Tel: (480) 945-7666.
Here's a link for directions:
Sunburst
Resort
Guitarist
Jay
Leach
has
been very busy! Jay just finished a 7 week run of "Paint
Your Wagon" at the Geffen Theater in Los Angeles...
played on the Ford Mustang commercial that ran during the Superbowl
(where the guy gets pulled over in a snow-covered wasteland by a motorcycle cop and turns out to be frozen solid in his
convertible!)... just finished played on 2 tunes for a new album by an excellent
sax player from Los Angeles, CA Gary Herbig.
Jazz
Pianist Chuck
Mandt
is just finishing up another Jazz Improv Workshop.
Chuck also keeps busy with Jazz consulting and top
notch instruction on the piano in the Atlanta area.
For more info visit
here!
Saxophonist
Gary Meggs &
Ezekiel 3:18's new album "Which Way is Up?" will be
released in the very near future. Keep an eye on www.garymeggs.com for
news and details on the release as well as upcoming
concert appearances..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As you can see Christian
Jazz Artists are very busy celebrating their gifts!
We are jazzed about
life...
We are jazzed about God!
Celebrate today and savor
the music!
"Just
imagine: a joyful Jesus! Haven't we had enough of grim
religion?"
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Swing
a New Song to the Lord!
Excellent
printed collection of jazz arrangements of
congregational music from over a dozen prominent jazz
composers and arrangers! Check it out
here!
Our
Jazz Worship Page is the place to get the very best
charts for your church band or Orchestra anywhere on
the Internet! Fresh new material to preview as well
as "jazzed up" Hymn arrangements are
available!
Big
Band ~ Ensembles ~ Praise Band
CJA
Network member Mark
McClure
has a great new smooth-jazz flavored
worship
recording,
"The Power Of Your Love" that you will
really love! Four of the songs on the CD have complete orchestrations available
(from Word Music) for those who wish to integrate more jazz into your worship services! There is also piano/instrumental books for all the songs on the CD.
To hear audio excerpts or to order visit
here!
THE
JAZZ HYMNAL BY CHUCK
MAROHNIC
Thought
provoking, yet highly singable jazz material for use
in the Sanctuary!
Preview
them here!
Songs
Of David Jazz Worship Songs & Charts
Preview
them here!
Keyboardist/arranger
Todd Billingsley has many excellent jazz flavored
arrangements for the worship band at
www.resources4worship.com
Free CJA
Downloads!
Check
out the Mp3 and midi file free download...this month
a great gospel flavored tune with Ray Charles
influence written all over it! Plus,
we have all the great articles and interviews
from past newsletters for you to read!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Interested
in learning more about Jazz theory, technique, or
improvisation? Want to learn how to develop your ear
and transcribe music? Visit the Jazz Ed page for a
one stop collection including material from some of
the top musicians in Jazz! Books, Charts,
CD's, DVD's, Videos, Midi files and more here!
More
"Jazz Yer Blues" Lessons are available to check out and download by David Arivett here!
Jazz
Resources for Organ & Sax! Barbara
Dennerlein
is a Hammond organist ( Blue Note Label) and has
many great recordings of her wailin' on the B-3!
Her recording and companion sheet music book,
"Spiritual Movement No. #1" features
original jazz compositions utilizing a Pipe Organ!
These are wonderful compositions to help integrate
more jazz into more traditional churches where a
church organ is used...your organist will be
jazzed!! For more info/audio excerpts
visit
here! Freedom
- The Vision
is a unique blend of Church Organ, Saxophone, and
Hammond Organ. Three outstanding musicians,
Johannes Landgren, Hakan Lewin, and Kjeld
Lauritsen prove that even in a more traditional
setting Jazz can provide a spiritual punch! Very
interesting arrangements of Negro Spirituals
combining these three instruments. Sheet music and
audio excerpts are available
here! If
you have a church organ and want to blend in some
jazz to a more traditional worship service these
resources are excellent choices!
Jazz
Quotes
"Jazz,
in its truest form, is a living thing. It
breathes, flows; it can change direction like the wind.
The same tune will
never be played the same way twice."- Ed Friedland
"It
takes time to learn and mature and know that beauty is
the best way to impress people...it's not all about
the technique. Now when I play, it's really about the
experience in the moment and trying to have fun and
just being grateful. A lot of jazz musicians have been
trained to look ourselves under a microscope. We are
very scrutinizing, any good musician is. But, that
could be to the point of damaging oneself--because you
forget the whole reason you are there--to make
music"-Bob Sheppard
"Acquire
a healthy balance between Godly confidence and
humility. You need to be able to exude confidence in
your artistry knowing that there is purpose in each
and every note that you play. Yet, equally important
is the fact that you have to be humble enough to
completely surrender yourself to the art form.
Essentially, opening the passage for the spirit to
move through you freely...the Creator is the
connection that permeates it all, music, spirituality,
and life." - Saxophonist Tia Fuller
"We
all need to reach out to one another and become
closer...now...while we are all here and blessed to be
in each others presence"-Mulgrew Miller
"Blessed
are they who can laugh at themselves for they shall
never cease to be amused."
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