The Votes Are In!
2024 Readers' Choice is back, bigger and better than ever!
View Winners → Theodicy Jazz Collective presents Jazz Vespers at St. Luke’s Monrovia Saturday, Jan. 31
Arts Jan 23, 2015
by
share with
Internationally acclaimed musical group Theodicy Jazz Collective will present a Jazz Vespers performance on Saturday evening, January 31, at 7 p.m. at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 122 South California Avenue at Foothill in Monrovia. Admission is free; there will be a freewill offering.
Formed at Oberlin Conservatory in 2006 and developed during residency at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music from 2008-2012, the Collective has performed and created services for a multitude of churches and cathedrals up and down the East Coast, conducted workshops at universities from Yale to Oxford, and led conferences from Los Angeles to London. TJC has performed for the National Council of Churches, Trinity Wall Street and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Its tour of England culminated in the world premier of the group’s own composition, The Canterbury Jazz Mass, with the choirs at Canterbury Cathedral. Musicians are pianist and leader Andrew Barnett; Will Cleary, saxophone; Sarah Politz, trombone; Nate Light, bass; Charlie Dye, drums; and Ann Phelps, vocals.
Inspired by jazz, blues, gospel, traditional hymns, and world music, the group believes that music has the power to promote peace and justice in society and that the jazz principles of community, flexibility, and listening can help the church thrive in our rapidly changing world. Far from abandoning tradition, it expands the poetry of the Church by combining jazz rhythms and harmonies with the rich liturgies found in the Book of Common Prayer, the oral tradition of spirituals, and established hymnody. Bringing voices from the margins of society into the center of tradition and liturgy, Theodicy’s work explores current theological questions with a commitment to musical and academic excellence, responsiveness to the Spirit, and love of tradition and the liturgical canon.
About St. Luke’s Monrovia
Founded in Monrovia in 1891 as St. Luke’s Mission, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church built its present home in the city in 1923. St. Luke’s is a diverse community whose members have discovered in God a oneness greater than their differences. Eucharist services are held Sundays at 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. and Wednesdays at 12:10 p.m. The church is led by Rector Neil Tadken.
