Jazz and the church
These waters run deep
“When the Sisters get to shouting…”
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Histories of jazz often make vague reference to work songs and “negro spirituals” as being some of the elements in the roots of jazz.
They’re missing the boat.
Here’s what Louis Armstrong, Ornette Coleman, and a young player have to say about the CORE importance of church music – with special emphasis on “the Sisters” – in the development of their voice and art.
Yeah, guys, we don’t give them credit for it, but “the Sisters” may well be at the very root of the music.
Jazz is the music of spiritual resistance and survival through uplift. All jazz fans feel it. Here’s its most likely source. Hoping some filmmaker someday does this subject full justice.
The final segment comes from a short film made by Lily Keber and was funded by Jazz on the Tube.
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