A Concert Of Sacred Music, 50 Years Later

Duke Ellington & His Orchestra consecrated San Francisco's Grace Cathedral with the premiere of "A Concert Of Sacred Music" on September 16, 1965. The concert was filmed (above) by KQED, in partnership with San Francisco Chronicle jazz critic Ralph Gleason.

"I recognized this as an exceptional opportunity," Ellington wrote in his 1973 autobiography Music Is My Mistress. "'Now I can say openly what I have been saying to myself on my knees.'"

Read Jesse Hamlin's "Sanctified By Jazz: Music at Grace Cathedral."

25th Anniversary of Duke Ellington's "Concert Of Sacred Music" (Program Book Cover)

25 years later (1990), Jazz In The City (now SFJAZZ) presented the 25th Anniversary of Ellington's "most important work of his career" at Grace Cathedral, featuring The Duke Ellington Orchestra (dir. by Mercer Ellington), Brock Peters, Jimmy McPhail, Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir, and special guest Bunny Briggs.

Grace Cathedral

And then 50 years later, SFJAZZ presented the 50th Anniversary of Duke Ellington's "Concert Of Sacred Music." What was different this time around? While the 25th Anniversary sought to recreate the music and exact program premiered by Ellington in 1965, the 50th Anniversary was a reworking, with all-new arrangements by acclaimed saxophonist, bandleader and longtime SFJAZZ Collective member Miguel Zenón.

Branford Marsalis: In My Solitude

Marsalis Music and OKeh Records have teamed up to release a recording of the solo "Sacred Space" performance given by saxophone great Branford Marsalis at San Francisco's iconic Grace Cathedral during the 30th Annual San Francisco Jazz Festival on October 5, 2012.
Standing at the top of Nob Hill, Grace Cathedral has been a part of jazz history since it was completed in 1964 and consecrated by the legendary Duke Ellington with his Concert of Sacred Music, performed and recorded at Grace on September 16, 1965.

Concerts at Grace are an SFJAZZ tradition that goes back to the origins of the organization, and Branford joins the illustrious ranks of master saxophonists to perform in the space including Joe Henderson, Jackie McLean, Pharoah Sanders, Charles Lloyd, Dewey Redman, Steve Lacy, Anthony Braxton, Yusef Lateef, and Joshua Redman.

Entitled In My Solitude: Live at Grace Cathedral, Branford's new album captures the feel of the cavernous cathedral and its natural seven-second reverberation – an acoustic environment that Marsalis had to prepare for carefully. "Every room has a sound of its own. There’s a difference between playing in the Village Vanguard, and Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center, and Royal Festival Hall in London; and there is definitely a difference playing in Grace Cathedral, with its seven-second delay. Playing solo interludes in other rooms where my quartet performs was not going to prepare me. I had to hear that Grace Cathedral sound in my head."
In My Solitude contains the complete concert, including a selection of originals and standards, a movement from a C.P.E. Bach oboe sonata, and a set of improvisations that blend harmoniously with the unique acoustic properties of Grace Cathedral.

The album is available as a download, on CD and on 180 gram vinyl.

Listen to a sample:




Read more at the Marsalis Music website:
BRANFORD MARSALIS CELEBRATES MELODY AND FEELING ON IN MY SOLITUDE: LIVE AT GRACE CATHEDRAL

Zakir Hussain: On getting into jazz

Tabla master Zakir Hussain reflects on his first encounter with jazz in India, his first collaborations with American jazz artists in the Bay Area, and the similarities between jazz and Indian classical music. A 2014-15 Resident Artistic Director, Zakir Hussain presents two unique weeks of programming at the SFJAZZ Center. Check out what's coming up.