Christmas is almost here again and with it comes one of the highlights of the season for jazz fans and lovers of Christmas Carols alike, Jazz Carols from Methodist Central Hall Westminster [MCHW]. Saxophonist Dan Forshaw, who leads the event, gives an outline of it history and gave some insights into the 2023 celebration, which will take place on Sunday 17 December
Jazz Carols is a free event which has been running since 2017. Its inspiration goes back for sixty years to the start of the Jazz Vespers services organised by Pastor John Gensel in New York’s St Peter’s Church. Those services continue to this day (using a grand piano once owned by Billy Strayhorn) and the concept has been adopted at MCHW, which has run its own Jazz Vespers since 2015, a year after Dan Forshaw joined the staff. Forshaw had already presented jazz services at St Paul’s and other cathedrals including Coventry and Ely, when he was approached by the Reverend Tony Miles, MCHW’s Superintendent Minister, to put together a jazz service at the venue, particularly working on Martin Luther King’s speech at the Berlin Jazz Festival: “Dr King had been at Central Hall before travelling to Berlin,” Forshaw explained, “We wanted to put something together for Black History Month, brought in an actor to play Dr King and invited vocalist Juliet Kelly to join us. From that event grew two things: a monthly jazz vespers service inspired by those at St Peter’s and an album I recorded in 2016 and called Jazz Vespers.”
Full article on Londonjazznews
