Why is October going to be “the jam”?

I’m swamped with extra work these days which is why my blog is being neglected. Here’s some of the stuff that’s going to rock about October (dare I say it – “ROCK-tober”):

October 3 – The Congolese Sunday

We’re going to stack the deck in favor of Congolese music and musicians. We’re even going to have the French house church basically function as the vocal team. It’s an experiment in reconciliation. We’ll be singing in French, Lingala and Swahili. If you’ve been to our church, you know that we usually sing one or two songs from African origins every Sunday. This Sunday will be a big shock for some. Here’s a taste:

October 8-10 – NCF Church Retreat

Our annual church retreat is a great time to relax, meet people, and jam for Jesus in the back woods. We usually have an opportunity to worship in a more informal and extended context at some point in the weekend. I look forward to that time to pull out all the songs that people love to sing with gusto. Let’s not forget the S’mores, too.

October 16 – NCF Choir rehearsals begin!

I am especially looking forward to this year’s choir season because for the first time, we’ll have a part-time choir director! Odetta Fields has accepted the position and I am confident that she will do an excellent job. We’ve already got the tunes for fall picked out and we’re totally pumped about what’s in store. I am hoping that being free of the leadership of the choir, I’ll be able to sustain more focus on the general aspects of worship and music shepherding. Here’s a taste of one of the choir tunes we’ll be singing. Notice the tasteful use of stage ferns in the clip:

October 20 – Jammin’ for Justice 2

I’ll be playing a short set of solo jazz guitar at this event for my friends, Joshua and Taylor Saleem. Hudson and the Hoodoo Cats are the headliners. Here’s some info from facebook:

MCU (Metropolitan Congregations United) for St. Louis presents a night of live music, food and fun to highlight our recent victories and to thank business and civic partners for their continued support for justice in our City. Featuring music from Hudson and the Hoodoo Cats, and food and beverages from Schlafly Tap Room. Fabulous silent auction and raffle along with great door prizes. Tickets are $30 each or $50/pair. Contact Kim Smith for tickets (314) 322-2389.

October 23 – Restore St Louis Benefit Dinner

The NCF choir will be singing a few tunes for the RSL crowd. I’m glad that we can be part of supporting this event. I’m working on a choral arrangement of the Compassion Art Project’s, “You Have Shown Us”.

October 31 – PCA Reformation Service at Chesterfield Presbyterian.

Despite the fact that Mike Honeycutt will be preaching, Chesterfield is hosting, and the choir anthem is my dad’s tune, “Who Can Separate Us?” I will not be in attendance. (It’s Halloween night, people! Is it wrong to skip the celebration of the Reformation by participating in a enculturated, glutonous, semi-Catholic holiday whose origins stem back to pagan rituals?) Here’s a taste of what I’ll be doing:

Stevie Wonder and his band play “Spain”

Here’s something to motivate you to hit the wood shed.

Amazon’s 100 Greatest Jazz Recordings

I don’t want to waste too much time on this, but I was looking at Amazon’s list of 100 Greatest Jazz Recordings today. I noticed that they have a lot of more modern recordings. In fact, some are artists I’ve never heard of (gasp!). It’s a lot different than the Jamey Aebersold list, 100 Historically Significant Jazz Recordings which I used as a shopping list when I was in college. The cool thing about Amazon’s list is that so many titles are under 8 dollars. That’s pretty cheap for an actual CD. Why don’t you check it out and buy some jazz. Here’s a few titles to start with that are good gateway recordings:

Snow

The snow is much more enjoyable when you turn off the news and turn on some jazz. Something about a piano trio playing Stella that makes the snow seem like a wonderful miracle instead of a hazard to your life the way the news does. In fact, Stella By Starlight makes just about any life situation better.

Walk The Talk

Here’s a track from my CD, Guardian Grace. This song was written as the theme song for the 2002 Urban Camp in Chattanooga, TN. The recording features some special guests: Michelle Higgins from The Distribution on back ground vocals and my dad, James Ward, on Rhodes. It was a lot of fun to create this cool hip-hop/funk groove to standout from the rest of the tunes on the CD.