Live & Local: Jazz in the Cathedral

Excerpt from the interview:

STEVE: I heard in our pre-discussion here before the mics went up that St. John's Cathedral there, at 13th in Washington, has been that big building on the corner for how long?

RICHARD: The current one, 1911.

STEVE: 1911, OK. Our guests are going to tell us about an upcoming event called Jazz in the Cathedral. This information was brought to us by Purnell Steen, who's in the house. Purnell, what you been up to?

PURNELL: Vitamin J called “Jazz.” Good morning, Steve. Good morning, KUVO. You know, I've just been up thanking God that I'm alive and that I can listen to KUVO frequently and that I live in Denver, Colorado, where we have the best of the west and all of the rest.

STEVE: You got called in for this, or did you pitch yourself to play the cathedral this coming Sunday?

PURNELL: Yes, Sir. It is a symbiotic relationship. And it's due to the dean, Doctor Richard Lawson, and his right-hand man, left-hand man, and his brother in the ministry, the eminent Doctor Michael Boney. I played for the dean, who was so gracious to have — he has a thing called — I think it's the Dean's Cofffee? Forum. And that was in November of last year, and we had such a good time that we got invited back. And the Dean has such a great knowledge and a great empathy and understanding that jazz came out of the African American Church. So, we're going to just do what comes naturally and bring us to them.

STEVE: Purnell Steen and the Five Points Jazz Ambassadors playing Jazz in the Cathedral this Sunday at 1:00 PM. And Dean Richard Lawson here to tell us a little more about it. Pull that microphone close to you, Dean. Cause I want to hear how you got talked into Jazz in the Cathedral.

RICHARD: Yeah, there was some push and pull. No, we're just thrilled we turned the forum last fall into a jazz concert with Purnell. It was unbelievable. It was standing room only and through conversations, decided we needed a bigger venue. So, we're moving into the nave which seats about 400 people. No, it's wonderful. You know, we believe that all forms of music are some of God's gifts to the world and jazz especially.

STEVE: Dean Richard Lawson with St. John's Cathedral, 13th and Washington the Jazz in the Cathedral concert is not the only thing that St. John's does just for the community. People see at church and maybe they've got a history and experiences, but I know that much of what you all do is just for everybody in the community.

RICHARD: Sure, sure, sure. The cathedral is for the city. I mean, we're a parish church, just like all churches and do what you think churches do. But beyond that, the cathedral exists for the city. On our grounds, we have 49 units of permanent supportive housing and partnership with the Saint Francis Center. Great organization in town. We have lots of concerts throughout the year, all kinds of programming that are offered for non-members, but above all, I think we bring a vision of goodwill, of hope, of joy. That the spirit of God is working not only in the church but throughout the city.

STEVE: See? Those Episcopalians? They're not looking at you the way you think there's — It's like, “Come on in. The arms are open.” Director of Music at St. John's is Doctor Michael Boney, who's with us. Welcome to KUVO. Good to have you in the studio.

MICHAEL: Good to be here. Thanks for the invite.

STEVE: Yeah, pull in real close. I think being an organist at St. John's…in my mind, I don't think I get it. Explain it to me.

MICHAEL: Orgon. My goodness. Put it like this: if you play organ and love organ music, you probably love jazz as well, because a good majority of what we do as organists, especially in the Episcopal Church, is improvised.

STEVE: Okay. We speak that language.

MICHAEL: Exactly. So, you know, ministers need some help, need a little space, need a little traveling music as we like to say in the Black church. We got what we need. But one of the beauties of being an organist, especially at St. John's Cathedral, is that I am a part of a community where music has just been an essential part of the community from the very beginning. And we're just not talking about one style of music, but many styles of music. You will hear some of everything from gospel spirituals, jazz, classical, you name it, Latin, it's all there.

STEVE: Doctor Michael Bonney is Director of Music and organist. I just have to ask: Hammond B3 or pipe organ? Which?

MICHAEL: I'm going to say pipe organ. I'll tell you why. Because the Hammond B3 is based off of concepts from the pipe work. The difference being you have draw bars, but the numbers on the front of them correspond to lengths of pipes. And so, what you get to do is you get to choose how much of volume you would like in there. So, pipe organ, B3, hey. They are both great, but I grew up on B3.

STEVE: But it goes both ways. That's Doctor Michael Boney, Director of Music and organist at St. John's Cathedral. The event is called Jazz in the Cathedral. It's Sunday, June 8th. This coming Sunday at 1:00 PM. Going through a set list with Purnell — what are your folks expecting there as they come in?

MICHAEL: Well, I think our folks, right off the bat, are expecting a magnificent time. We love and know Purnell — And by the way, coming from the South and being brought up properly, I did get permission from Purnell to call him by his first name, just so everyone knows. These things are important.

STEVE: Acoustically, is it in the main sanctuary? What room is it in?

MICHAEL: So, it'll be in the main sanctuary.

STEVE: And how do you adjust for the sound? Those are high ceilings.

MICHAEL: There are very high ceilings. One of the beauties of that building is how the sound moves around in the building. So, you think there's just going to be this instantaneous sound, but the sound actually moves slowly around the building. So, depending on where you sit, you might hear different aspects of music.

STEVE: Different instruments travel differently.

MICHAEL: Exactly. So, it's a beautiful space to sing. It is challenging because there's a lot more echo. But as improvisers, we know how to balance that and let the room work with you.

STEVE: The program is called Jazz in the Cathedral. Sunday, June 8^th. Our guest Doctor Michael Boney, Director of Music and organist, just speaking there, and the Reverend Richard Lawson from St. John's. I was thinking about you as a multilinguist, Pastor — I'm just going to call you Pastor — that you speak a lot of languages to a lot of people at a lot of places in their life, including the language of music.

RICHARD: It just so happens that that Sunday's reading is from actually Apostles about the first day of Pentecost. “And the peoples from all over the world. Heard one another within their own native tongue.” And I think that there there's a preacher and theologian I love that that says, “Speak a language, speak a people, and God speaks people fluently.” And that's all peoples.