Without Limits: Singing the Congregation’s Song

This sectional will explore a project I embarked on during a sabbatical spring semester, 2023 – composing 9 original Psalm settings in a jazz style. Why pair the Psalms with jazz? Admittedly, jazz means many things to many people. As a style, it has evolved over time and covers many sub-genres (e.g. early ragtime, big band swing, virtuosic bebop, cool jazz, fusion etc.). I have been attracted to the genre because of its deep harmonic and rhythmic characteristics, as well as the conversation-like quality of improvisation. The Psalms cover an expanse of emotional ground and I believe jazz has the depth musically to match the prosody of this divine poetry. Hebrew poetry is less interested in external forms and employs a freer idea of “thought rhymes.” For example, Psalm 103:10 says, “He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.” These two phrases complement each other – variations on a theme, if you will. The two phrases taken together give a much richer, more colorful description of our sin and God’s forgiveness. In the same way, jazz is able to bring a rich palette of harmonic and rhythmic textures to support the text in ways not commonly found in modern worship music. We will look at practical ways these settings could be used in a liturgical setting as well as discussing techniques that participants could use in using the Psalter in musically creative ways. Visit wallybrath.com to hear the jazz psalms album.