Another morning of Grace

The morning of Sunday, August 31, was sunny and mild in bucolic Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania: a lovely, late-summer day that would top out at a comfortable 75 degrees. When Constant Companion Gayna, our friend Scott and I arrived at the First Presbyterian Church at 8:30, the place already was bustling: chairs being placed, programs being stacked, and all manner of other duties necessary for the impending service.

Nor would this be just any service for “The Church on the Hill,” even by standards firmly established by The Rev. Bill Carter, during his lengthy stint as pastor. As befits one of many music-oriented signs proudly displayed — a sax against a church window, alongside the motto “Jazz belongs in Church” — everybody was racing through final preparations for a 60th anniversary re-enactment of the Vince Guaraldi Jazz Mass, which debuted in San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral, back on May 21, 1965.

 

Longtime readers of this blog will recall that Rev. Carter — who cheekily bills himself as “preacher and pianist” — leads his own Presbybop Jazz Combo, which has released numerous albums of jazz-hued liturgical music. Longtime readers similarly will recall that Guaraldi’s Jazz Mass also was revived a decade ago, for its 50th anniversary, also at the First Presbyterian Church of Clarks Summit.

 

I concluded my report of the 2015 service by noting that Rev. Carter expressed a strong desire to revisit the Mass at some point. While he has yet to “take it on the road,” as he suggested back then, he definitely made good on that early promise.

 

I also was on hand the previous morning, August 30, during a rehearsal involving Rev. Carter (piano), Michael Carbone (sax and flute), Tony Marino (bass), cantors Frank Jones and Kate Leahy, and half a dozen choir members (a modest sampling of the full choirs of First Presbyterian Church and Our Lady of the Snows, a nearby Catholic Church, both of which would be present in full strength the next morning). I immediately was struck by the rich sound coming from the church’s gorgeous new grand piano — donated a few years ago by a grateful individual who chose to remain anonymous — and the very much improved sound system and speakers, granting awesome depth to each note, song and chant, in every corner of the worship hall. (I know, because I kept moving around.)

 

I also helped Rev. Carter unpack the enlarged photos, facsimile 1965 Grace Cathedral programs and other vintage materials that he carefully had saved since they last were used in 2015.

 

Now, on Sunday morning, the choir members began to arrive and take their seats. Cantor Jones — who also serves as the church’s director of music, and supervises the sound system and recording equipment — bounced from one duty to another, repeatedly pausing to answer a quick question from a choir member, or confer with Rev. Carter. The latter, in turn, led his combo — now joined by drummer Tyler Dempsey — through a few brief passages of several portions of the Mass, clarifying a segue here, a transition there.

 

(Marino and Dempsey also were part of the quartet during the 2015 presentation of Guaraldi’s Mass.)

 

I placed my notes atop the large Bible opened on the pulpit, feeling a bit guilty doing so; it seemed mildly inappropriate. I then joined Gayna and Scott, in our “assigned seats” on the far right of the second row. Parishioners began to arrive, taking seats throughout the worship hall. I was delighted to finally meet Paul, the “Wiki angel” who has taken such great care of Wikipedia’s numerous pages about Guaraldi, and each of his albums. If you’ve found those richly detailed pages enjoyable and informative, he’s the man to thank.

 

Paul and I have corresponded for years, but this was the first time we’d shared the same physical space. He drove two hours to attend this event, which he insisted he “wouldn’t have missed for the world.”

 

The church was full shortly before 9:30, at which point Rev. Carter introduced me. I took everybody on a brief journey of Guaraldi’s early life, hitting all the key elements that ultimately led to his meeting Episcopal priest Charles “Chuck” Gompertz, and being asked to work with him and San Rafael’s St. Paul’s Church choir, to develop what became his Grace Cathedral Jazz Mass. I finished a bit sooner than expected, which prompted a 5-minute “intermission” before the service began at 10 a.m.

Rev. Carter and his quartet kicked things off with a lovely handling of Guaraldi’s “Cast Your Fate to the Wind,” after which The Rev. Jan Nolting Carter delivered “Words of Welcome” and the “Call to Worship” from Psalm 98:1-2. The choirs and congregation then sang Guaraldi’s arrangement of “Come with Us, O Blessed Jesus,” with the quartet playing an interlude between each of the hymn’s three verses.

 

As had been the case back in 2015, I was impressed by how smoothly the quartet and Jones kept the choir and congregation at tempo.

 

The Rev. Jan Nolting Carter

(I also appreciated the fact that everybody’s service guide included the treble staff notes for each song that involved the congregation. It’s not merely nice for those able to read music; it’s also helpful for everybody else, since one can get a sense of the tune from the rising and falling passages of notes. I wish all churches did this.)

The Call to Confession and Prayer of Confession came next, followed by Guaraldi’s arrangement of the “Kyrie Eleison” — a lovely duet by Jones and fellow cantor Kate Keahy — and chanted “Veni Spiritu.” The “Prayer for Illumination” and “First Lesson” came from Acts 10:34-43.

 

Rev. Carter then began the “Time with Children” by introducing three youngsters to each of his band members, starting with “Mr. Mike” (Carbone) and his “magic flute.” He played a brief bit of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and a cheerful little tune he made up on the spot. This clearly impressed one little girl, who insisted she wanted to join the band. Next up was “the guy with the red tie, Mr. Tony” (Marino), who has “been feeding his violin steroids.” He plucked and bowed a few notes on his bass, prompting the little girl to insist that she wanted to own one. Marino and Carbone then jammed a bit, prompting Rev. Carter to say, “You remind me of the great Homer Simpson, who said ‘You jazz guys are just making things up.’ ” Dempsey was up next, delivering a few riffs. (“He’s loud; that’s why we put him in the corner.”) The choir was last: “Look at these people ... all these people.”

 

“Here’s what I want you to know,” Rev. Carter concluded. “We’re not just pulling the notes out of the air. We had to work at this.”

 

Rev. Carter encompassed the band and choir with a wave. “The point is, if you want to do something like this together, it takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of work.”

 

A prayer followed, thanking God for the gift of music: “...how it lifts our spirits, how it sounds like our happiness, and sometimes even our sadness. Thank you for the way that music builds a group of people together. Help us always to make music, that makes the days of other people better.”

 

Demonstrating the proof of this, Rev. Carter then led the quartet through a lovely reading of Guaraldi’s “Theme to Grace.”

A Gospel lesson came next — John 3:16-21 — followed by Rev. Carter’s thoughtful sermon, titled “Can You Perceive a New Thing?”

 

The congregation then joined the choir in Guaraldi’s arrangement of “Come Holy Ghost” and the chanted “Nicene Creed,” after which Rev. Carter delivered an exquisite solo piano reading of Guaraldi’s “In Remembrance of Me” during the Offering/Offertory. The Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper and Great Prayer of Thanksgiving were followed by the choir and congregation singing Guaraldi’s arrangements of “Santus” and “Agnus Dei,” which led to the Breaking of Bread and Pouring of the Cup. That prompted the quartet’s spirited rendition of Guaraldi’s “Holy Communion Blues,” while the bread and cups were passed. (Alas, this lasted only eight minutes; I wished the congregation were larger, so the quartet would play more!)

 

The choir and congregation then sang Guaraldi’s arrangement of “Humbly I Adore Thee,” backed by the quartet. Rev. Carter delivered a closing Benediction, after which the quartet delivered some toe-tapping Postlude Music: Guaraldi’s “Linus and Lucy” — with peppy bridge solos on sax and keyboards, Rev. Carter abruptly shifting into swing time midway through his improv — and “Pebble Beach.” The lengthy arrangement of the latter granted all four musicians plenty of space to display their chops.

The final round of applause was enthusiastic and joyful: no surprise, since Guaraldi’s music has that magical effect on everybody. Including my introduction, the service lasted just under two hours ... but, honestly, it seemed faster. (That’s always the case, when you want to savor and cherish every moment of something.)

 

Everybody then headed to the downstairs banquet room, where ample appetizers, desserts and beverages were available. Congratulations were exchanged all around, and several folks made a point of chatting with me, expressing pleasure over how I had provided context for the service; I also sold and signed a couple of my Guaraldi biographies. 

 

Departing the church, and waving farewell to folks, was a bit melancholy. A lot of time and effort went into this service — including the better part of 2015 that Rev. Carter spent (!), transcribing the Mass — and the letdown was palpable.

 

But hey ... perhaps All Concerned will decide to do it again, in 2035!

 

********

 

The Church on the Hill’s fresh tribute to Guaraldi garnered some advance publicity — a chat with Bill and me — on WVIA, the local NPR radio station. You can listen here.

You also can watch the entire service here.