Dancing Calvinist - The Movie

 Don't miss this! Here is Jeff Kellam's brilliant documentary, "The Making of The Dancing Calvinist."

Bill and Jeff talk about the new album on TV

Here's an opportunity to hear Bill Carter and Jeff Kellam talk about Lux Aeterna: A Jazz Requiem and the album, "The Dancing Calvinist." 

What's up with the cover art?

What should we put on the cover of an album that includes both creative jazz tunes and a requiem? Good question.

We could have gone with a picture of a sunset, suggesting peace and solace, which (of course) is the intent of Lux Aeterna: A Jazz Requiem. But there is more to the album than that. 

The music is arranged to create a 74-minute narrative, of which the requiem is the centerpiece. Beginning with an unlikely setting of a psalm tune from the Reformation, the music signals an integration of jazz and faith, which is our continuing "project" at Presbybop Music. It's jazz with a purpose.

So, to visually suggest that integration, we commissioned Charlie Baber to create a striking image - of John Calvin twirling in a pirouette. A ridiculous image? No, not at all - but one that pushes through the artificial divisions between faith and jazz. 

Sure, it was a risky decision. Just like the music we make.

Charlie is a United Methodist deacon, and very willing to have some fun with drawing Calvin. We like his work very much.

Texts for “Lux Aeterna: A Jazz Requiem”

In loving memory of Jo Anne Evans Ramsden Matechak, Glenn W. Carter, Loraine McQuown Strong Laubach, and Arthur M. Phillips, III

1. Through the Shadowlands (Psalm 23:4)

Through the Shadowlands,                            

You walk with me in darkness.

With You, I fear no evil.

Your rod and staff, they comfort me.

2. Lord, Have Mercy / Kyrie Eleison  (Psalm 130:1-4)

Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us.

Spirit, look upon those you love. Lord, have mercy on us.

Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. 

Spirit, come and redeem our loss. Lord, have mercy on us.

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.       

Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my prayer.

If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, who could stand?

But there is forgiveness with you that you may be revered.

Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. 

Spirit, heal our broken wings. Christ, have mercy on us.

3. Pie Jesu

Pie Jesu Domine Dona eis Requiem    

        (Pious Lord Jesus, give them rest)

Pie Jesu Domine Dona eis Requiem Sempiternem. 

        (Pious Lord Jesus, give them eternal rest)

4. Agnus Dei / Lamb of God  (John 1:29)

Lamb of God, who takes away our sin, 

Lamb of God the Shepherd of our Souls,

Lamb of God who sits upon the throne,

Grant them rest and give us peace.

5. Lux Aeterna / Light Eternal  (Revelation 14:3)

Into Light, everlasting light, grant to them, O Lord.

With your saints forever more, for You are gracious.

Holy God, give to them eternal rest. 

May the Light that lasts forever shine upon them.

May God's name be blessed forever, and to all Eternity.

May the peace that comes from heaven give peace to all.

Holy God, give to them eternal rest. 

May the Light that lasts forever shine upon them.

Blessed are the dead who from now on die in the Lord. 

The Spirit says they rest and all their deeds shall follow them.

6. Blessed!   (Matthew 5:1-12)

Blessed are the poor in spirit, theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

Blessed are those who grieve, they shall be comforted.

Rejoice and be glad! for heaven has come close to you.

Rejoice and be glad! You've been claimed as one of God's own.

Blessed are all the meek, they will inherit the land.

Blessed are the mercy-full, mercy shall be given to them.

Rejoice and be glad! for this is the way of the Lord.

Rejoice and be glad! For heaven embraces the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst, they shall be satisfied.

Blessed are those who seek God's justice they shall be found.

If some curse and lie about you because you resemble the Christ,

Be glad, keep faith, and persevere. Receive the blessing of God!

Blessed are the pure in heart, they shall see our Jesus.

Blessed are the makers of peace. they shall be children of God.

Rejoice and be glad! God's dominion is here and now.

Rejoice and be glad! God's justice makes a home in you.

7. Words of Commendation

    (Revelation 14:13, Psalm 116:13, Isaiah 25:8, Revelation 21:4, 

     Revelation 7:17, Matthew 5:6, Psalm 23:2-3)

And I heard a Voice from heaven, calling out to me: 

Blessed are those who die in the Lord.

They rest from their works, which follow them.

Precious in God's sight is the death of his faithful ones. 

God shall wipe all tears from their eyes. 

Death shall be no more. 

For the Lamb who is on the throne shall be their Shepherd. 

He will guide them to the springs of life.

They will hunger no more and thirst no more. 

Lead us beside still waters, restore my soul,                  

and grant us peace which will abide.

For you are God, the source of life, who gives us life forever.

8. Shadows Into Light (instrumental)

All music composed by Bill Carter © Presbybop Music (BMI)

Behind the Music: Autumn Comes Quickly

"Autumn is a season of great beauty, but it is also a season of decline: the days grow shorter, the light is suffused, and summer's abundance decays toward winter's death. Faced with this inevitable winter, what does nature do in autumn? It scatters the seeds that will bring new growth in the spring - and scatters them with amazing abandon."

Parker J. Palmer, in Let Your Life Speak (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2000) p. 98

Behind the Music: The Dancing Calvinist

Here's what Wikipedia says about Louis Bourgeois:

Next to nothing is known about his early life. His first publication, some secular chansons, dates from 1539 in Lyon. By 1545 he had gone to Geneva (according to civic records) and become a music teacher there. In 1547 he was granted citizenship in Geneva, and in that same year he also published his first four-voice psalms.

In 1549 and 1550 he worked on a collections of psalm-tunes, most of which were translated by Clement Marot and Theodore de Beze. The extent to which he was composer, arranger or compiler was not certain, until a long-lost copy of the Genevan Psalter of 1551 came to the library of the Rutgers University. In an Avertissement (note) to the reader Bourgeois specifies exactly what his predecessors had done, what he had changed and which were his own contributions. He is one of the three main composers of the hymn tunes to the Genevan Psalter.

Unfortunately, he fell foul of local musical authorities and was sent to prison on 3 December 1551 for changing the tunes for some well-known psalms "without a license." He was released on the personal intervention of John Calvin, but the controversy continued: those who had already learned the tunes had no desire to learn new versions, and the town council ordered the burning of Bourgeois's instructions to the singers, claiming they were confusing. Shortly after this incident, Bourgeois left Geneva never to return: he settled in Lyon, his Geneva employment was terminated, and his wife tardily followed him to Lyon. 

[ from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Bourgeois_(composer) ]

 

Behind the Music: Incident at Tabgha

^"Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and he divided the two fish among them all. And all ate and were filled; and they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish." (Mark 6:41-43)

Just for you: here is the video of the initial (and only) performance of the tune in Clemmons, NC. Jeff Kellam caught this moment on our First International Tour of the Carolinas.  

(P.S. - They were sight-reading the tune that night.)