This very special program of some rarely performed music of unique inspiration is the result of a number of serendipitous connections between the Choral Society and several outstanding members of our community previously unknown to BCCS.

I had heard about Duke Ellington's Sacred Concerts for a long time, but never had the opportunity to hear them performed or even to come across a recording. I knew by reputation that this was groundbreaking music in many ways - among them, bringing music that was then played primarily in night-clubs into the church, and representing the final extension of Ellington's lifelong ambition to break through the limitations of jazz form into extended compositions. Periodically I would make half-hearted attempts to find recordings or sheet music from these works, only to give up when none were readily available.

A search on the web a few years ago, though, turned up an exhaustive web page on this music by a choir director from just around the corner, David Spitko, who had performed music from the Sacred Concerts with the Choristers of Upper Dublin (you can hear them perform this music again on May 20, 2006 at Upper Dublin Church in Ambler, PA). Perhaps even more surprising, one of David's soloists was one of the original soloists in Ellington's worldwide performances of these works in the late sixties and early seventies, DeVonne Gardner, a soprano who was still an active performer living right here in Philadelphia!

Not long after stumbling across these revelations, Bucks County-based jazz pianist Eric Mintel called to ask if the Choral Society would be interested in doing a concert with his quartet along the lines of concerts he had done throughout the region of Dave Brubeck's sacred music for classical choir and jazz ensemble. Asking a few people in the Choral Society about his work the next day, I was embarrassed to find out that I was probably the only one in Bucks County who was not familiar with the work of this outstanding musician and his artistic generosity in bringing his music to the community outside the normal jazz club venues. And then to find out he was appearing soon as a guest on Marian McPartland's internationally recognized radio show "Piano Jazz," as sure an indication as any that a jazz pianist "has arrived" at the top level of his profession.

Since Eric had just done some Brubeck concerts in the area the previous season, I asked "How about doing some music from the Ellington Sacred Concerts?" Obviously being a musician who likes a fresh challenge, Eric's answer was an unequivocal "I've never done this music, but I'd love the chance to get to know it!" That was all the additional incentive I needed to put the program on our season calendar.

But there was still another revelation of local talent to come my way before the program was complete. It was brought to my attention last Spring when we were looking for local choirs to join us for our annual benefit concert for the Community Conservatory of Music in Doylestown that there was in our area an outstanding gospel choir, the Mass Choir of the Second Baptist Church of Doylestown and the Quarles Ensemble, founded by Esther Dinkins and Lillian Quarles. I knew that whenever BCCS had performed concerts with gospel choirs in the past, they had always been from outside Bucks County, so I was quite pleasantly surprised to find that not only was there such a choir based in Doylestown, but it was an outstanding choir, one that sang not only gospel music, but the great spirituals, with both conviction and a fine sense of ensemble. I could tell that Esther Dinkins was someone who liked a challenge, too, so I was thrilled when they agreed to join us for this concert.

And there was yet one last local source of artistic acumen previously unknown to me who stepped forward to make this dream a reality. At a time when non-profit organizations in general, and performing arts organizations on all levels in particular are struggling for underwriting support, local arts patron and jazz aficionado Gene W. Fickes generously offered to help sponsor this concert. Dreams are wonderful, but it takes angels like Gene to make them come true.

A Word About the Music

When I finally got around to preparing a performance of music from Ellington's Sacred Concerts, I was truly amazed at how difficult it was to find any scores, parts, or recordings, all of which have long been out of print (I would have been lost without David Spitko's help!) How could this be, for music of such originality, not only in its musical vitality, but in Ellington's remarkable use of the English language to convey spiritual meaning, love of people, love of his country, and love of his God?

At this point in my understanding of the music, two possible explanations come to mind. First, Ellington was way ahead of his time. Like a number of other great composers, near the end of his life he began to write music that spoke to his own most profound search for meaning, without regard for commercial values or practical contingencies for success (i.e., in the modern age, recording). J. S. Bach comes to mind, who is often said to have written his monumental B Minor Mass (which, not coincidentally, BCCS will perform later this season), going way beyond liturgical conventions, only as a prayer "between himself and his God." Ellington devoted what would be the final decade of his life to the music of these concerts, losing his beloved composing partner, Billy Strayhorn, just before the performances of the Second Concert (at St. John the Divine in New York in 1968) and facing the surety of his own end during the performances of the Third Concert which began at Westminster Abbey in London in 1973 as a benefit for the United Nations.

Second, having already sold millions of copies of recordings of his pop/jazz standards "Satin Doll," "Take the A train," "Moon Indigo," and countless others, the music of the Sacred Concerts may have been primarily written with live performances in mind rather than recordings, in large cathedrals all over the world that had never heard music like this before, for audiences of thousands. In a recent workshop with the Choral Society, DeVonne Gardner, telling us so many beautiful stories of her experience as a teenage soloist singing in great sacred spaces out in front of the Ellington band, explained that as much as many in the band and among the soloists hoped there would be an opportunity to have recording sessions of the music, the concert schedule and the demand for performances was such that there was never the time, or apparently any overriding concern on Ellington's part. What we have left to us are recordings of the first performances of the concerts, which went through much transformation in subsequent performances (we are fortunate to have DeVonne Gardner to relay some of those changes to us!). And those recordings, found on the complete Ellington CD box set, are currently out of print.

So Ellington's Sacred Concerts have now become a perfect example of why recordings will never completely replace the very human need for live performances such as this one ­ where performers and music lovers from across a community can come together, face to face, to share an experience that is fleeting in the moment but long in the memory. May this concert be of nourishment to your souls and to the soul of our community. ­ TL

Duke Ellington on the Sacred Concerts

In this world we presume many ambitions. We make many observations such as (a) everyone's aloneness (there really are no categories, you know. Everyone is so alone ­ the basic, essential state of humankind); (b) the paradox that is communication ­ the built-in answer to that feeling of aloneness.

Communication itself is what baffles the multitude. It is both so difficult and so simple. Of all man's fears, I think men are most afraid of being what they are- in direct communication with the world at large. They fear reprisals, the most personal of which is that they "won't be understood." [notes for the first Sacred Concert, beginning in Grace Cathedral in San Francisco in 1965]

Some people have asked what prompted me to write the music for the sacred concerts. I have done so not as a matter of career, but in response to a growing understanding of my own vocation, and with the encouragement of many people, among whom I must name... [a long list follows]

I think of myself as a messenger boy, one who tries to bring messages to people, not people who have never heard of God, but those who were more or less raised with the guidance of the Church. It has been said that what we do is to deliver lyrical sermons, fire-and-brimstone sermonettes, and reminders of the fact that we live in the promised land of milk and honey, where we have prime beef and 80%-butterfat ice cream. I am sure we appreciate the blessings we enjoy in this country, but it wouldn't hurt if everyone expressed his appreciation more often.

We shall keep this land if we all agree on the meaning of that unconditional word: LOVE. [introduction to the first performance of the second Sacred Concert, at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York on January 18, 1968.]

I often think of freedom as it was enjoyed by Billy Strayhorn, my writing and arranging companion. Billy Strayhorn lived by four major moral freedoms: Freedom from hate unconditionally, freedom from self pity, freedom from fear of possibly doing something that might benefit someone else more than it would him, and freedom from the kind of pride that could make a man feel that he was better than his brothers. [recitation text for "Freedom No. 1"]

Sacred Concerts are the most important things I've ever done. [quoted by Ruth Ellington]