Jazz Vespers in Long Beach, CA

A Time to Greet Our Neighbors Through Music in Liturgy

St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nx2BBAhXMU4

Vespers, one of the two main hours of the Church's Daily Office, has roots extending into the evening prayers of ancient Israel. Lucernarium (literally: Lamp lighting time) was another name for these periods of devotion which began at the rising of the evening star with a blessing prayer. The Book of Common Prayer preserves the evolution of these early forms of worship and prayer in a way that is faithful to our heritage and open to creating new traditions.

Jazz Vespers emerges as a synthesis of traditions, a blending of an age old liturgy with the unique musical language we call jazz. With a freshness that is open to God's Spirit, this musical tradition sounds the hopes, dreams, joys, frustrations and pain that expresses human experience, while exploring a musical vocabulary that transcends the limits of the written or spoken word.