Jazz and Spirituality

This past week's show of the Interfaith Voices radio program features a piece about the great jazz singer Mary Lou Williams who pioneered a style often termed "sacred jazz" which, in turn, greatly influenced pianist Duke Ellington and saxophonist John Coltrane. Catholic jazz artist Deanna Witkowski introduces listeners to this often overlooked genre and talks about her new album that sets Christians prayers, contemplations, and hymns to music for a jazz quartet context.

As a jazz musician myself (for those who don't know, I'm a bassist), I've always experienced both listening to and playing music as sacred activity. When one mindfully listens to music, one is opened up to the possibilities that inherently lie in the creative expressions of the musicians. The ability music has to evoke emotional power is part and parcel of its spiritual nature. The playing of music also touches the depths of human spirituality and expresses the inner being of the musician. As for me personally, I've always felt that playing music (whether alone or in a group) is a meditative activity, cathartic and communicative of one's soul. So playing music centers me on the deepest part of my being and focuses my attention on the Divine; it cleanses me of the hardships and troubles on my mind and brings forth what's within me through musical vocabulary. As the jazz drummer Art Blakey once said, "Jazz washes away the dust of everyday life." Music draws out that which is most real within and puts one in touch with the transcendent, making daily discontents seem menial and transitory.

In jazz, individuals forward their spiritual-musical expression in the context of a group, especially the small 3-5 person combo. In this milieu there are three different intimate relationships occurring simultaneously -- 1) the interaction between the individual and the group, 2) the interaction between the ensemble and the audience, and 3) the interaction between the individual musician and his/her own self. These interrelationships create a complex of dynamic musical articulation that push the individual and collective experience to profound levels of spiritual participation and understanding that simply cannot be expressed with normal linguistic structures. Rather, these experiences occur via the language of music.

Listen to the interview with Deanna Witkowski about "sacred jazz" and the spiritual dimension to music on Interfaith Voices.

(Above photo from Interfaith Voices website.)