Duke Ellington’s sacred concerts revived at Grace Congregational Church

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Special to the AmNews

Last week the Duke Ellington Center for the Arts hosted its 24th International Study Group on the peerless composer. Nearly every facet of Ellington’s legacy was covered—his relationships with Billy Strayhorn, Charlie Mingus and Luther Henderson and even Duke the Freemason.

You need more than a weekend to explore Ellington’s musical contributions, but the DECFA gave it a good shot.

Saturday and Sunday, June 4 and 5, Grace Congregational Church will complement the DECFA’s conference with the 50th anniversary of Ellington’s first sacred concert.

In 1965, Grace Cathedral, San Francisco’s landmark Episcopal Church, commissioned Ellington to write a liturgical work to be performed at the church as part of the building’s yearlong consecration celebration. “His ‘Concert of Sacred Music’ was mostly a compilation of earlier ideas from ‘Black, Brown and Beige’ and ‘My People,’ and included the 1943 piano feature ‘New World A Comin’,’” wrote John Edward Hasse, Ellington’s foremost biographer.

A choral group, several noted vocalists and tap dancer Bunny Briggs accompanied Ellington’s orchestra during the performance. It won a Grammy award for the best composition in 1966.

On several occasions, Ellington explained that it was not a mass, but merely his way of bringing the Cotton Club Revue to the church.

“A half century later, we are reviving it and bringing it to this Grace Church” said Nigel Pearce, senior minister at the church and sounding every bit like a musicologist. Grace, he continued, “is considered one of Harlem’s opera houses. It has always been known for its great music and the jazz legends who would just stop by on Sunday and play.”

He then ticked off a list of jazz and music immortals who performed at the church, including Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, Valerie Capers and Marian Anderson.

Seeking to replicate what Ellington did 50 years ago, the sacred concert will feature Chantel Wright and her “Songs of Solomon Chorale,” pianist Damian Sneed, baritone Robert Sims, jazz singer Tammy McCann, soprano Brandi Sutton, dancer Maurice Hines or Savion Glover, accompanied by a rhythm section and brass ensemble of New York’s finest musicians, many of them world-class musicians.

Grace is located at 310 W. 139th St., and Saturday’s concert is at 6:30 p.m. and Sunday’s concert is at 5:30 p.m. For further information, contact the Rev. Nigel Pearce at 212-694-4263 or at revnigelpearce@gmail.com.