Tuesday, April 29, 2025

It is the 29th of April 2025. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

Does everyone know all the famous people they share a birthday with? I was recently surprised that my family was generally unaware of who they shared a birthday with, and well… their dad is the right guy for that, I guess. I bring that up because it was on this day, the 29th of April in 2012, that we welcomed our youngest, Raymond Westbrook van Voorhis.

When we looked at who he shared a birthday with, well… Bernie Madoff and Emperor Hirohito… hmm. But two of my favorite musicians were born on this day- Willie Nelson and Duke Ellington. And a shout out to my friend Chris who recently reminded me of one of the more curious and idiosyncratic compositions by Ellington- his “Sacred Performance” which caused much consternation while also being what Ellington called the “most important thing I’ve ever done” and unlike the “spiritual” jazz of John Coltrane this is explicitly Christian and worthy of an episode.

The year was 1965- Ellington, who was born on this day in 1899, was in the final years of his life. Born the son of a White House butler, he would be the first name in Jazz composition and be known for such hits as “Take the A Train” and “It Don’t Mean A Thing (if It Ain’t Got that Swing)”. By the 1960s, he was the grand patriarch of Jazz, but that didn’t save him from the controversy that came with him daring to write sacred music.

We don’t need to belabor the point that the 1960s were a tumultuous time- but for our purposes it’s worth noting two things: the Second Vatican council forever changed the Catholic Church (the mass was no longer in Latin!) and this same spirit was seen in the Jesus movement and trends in the Protestant church. It is also worth noting that the year of the first performance was 1965, the year time magazine famously asked “Is God Dead”?

You might think that having the foremost American composer taking on sacred music would be welcomed by a church under siege- and there were many at San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral, a famous Episcopal cathedral on Nob Hill, who were excited. But the loudest tend to be the maddest, and the Reverend C. Julian Bartlett received complaints, and the pianist Vince Guaraldi, who played alongside Ellington at this “Festival of Grace” as it was called, received a death threat. But Bartlett would respond: 

“We believe Cathedral Churches which are houses of prayer for all people should present offerings such as these… Now some will say there is a difference between ‘profane’ and ‘sacred’ expression of the arts. Indeed, there no doubt is; but we believe many use wrong criteria in judging between the two.”

It was controversial for its day, but would seem fairly tame by modern standards. Disregarding any controversy, he would go on to perform a second and third sacred concert- if I can play music critic for a minute, stick with the first. The recording to listen to is the 1966 Duke Ellington’s Concert of Sacred Music on RCA Victor. There are erroneous claims that this is from Grace Cathedral- it is not, the 1966 release was recorded at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian in New York- but the set list is the same. It begins with an imposing 15-minute piece called “In the Beginning God” with the deep baritone of Brock Peters describing a pre-fall creation and establishing the various motifs, as well as a choir reciting every book of the Old Testament over some spectacular saxophone from Paul Gonsalves. Queen Esther Marrow sings “Come Sunday” and a rendition of the Lord’s Prayer. “Will You Be There” plays like an old spiritual with the choir and a soloist going back and forth. The final track, “David Danced Before the Lord With All His Might,” appropriately invited tap dancer Bunny Briggs to tap dance under the choir. This is not the jazz of Coltrane, Davis, and others experimenting in the 1960s- this still swings, the most complaints from a modern perspective would be the doctrinal content written by Ellington, who was, well… not a theologian. But he considered it his offering- his most significant work and a remarkable piece bridging eras in music and church performance. The second sacred concert is fine, while the third is largely forgettable and done as Ellington was in his final year- he died in 1974- born in 1899, the dean of American Jazz composition and a man who tried his hand at sacred music, was 75 years old.

The Last word for today comes from the beginning of the Gospel of Mark:

The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way”— “a voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’ ” And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him.  Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. And this was his message: “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 29th of April 2025 brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man whose favorite Dukes include Ellington, of Earl, and the mayonnaise- he is Christopher Gillespie

The show is written and read by a man who, speaking of Mayo- once I went with the Japanese Kewpie Mayo, there’s no going back- I’m Dan van Voorhis   

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.