An Interfaith Jazz Service will take place Sunday, February 16 at 5 p.m. at the Community Church of San Miguel, Callejon de Alcocer #24. The church location is a warehouse just down the street from the S.A.P.A.S.M.A. office near the Luciernaga Mall.
At the Berlin Jazz Festival in 1964, Martin Luther King Jr. reflected: “Long before the modern essayists and scholars wrote of racial identity as a problem for a multiracial world, musicians were returning to their roots to affirm that which was stirring within their souls. Much of the power of our Freedom Movement in the United States has come from this music. It has strengthened us with its sweet rhythms when courage began to fail. It has calmed us with its rich harmonies when spirits were down. And now, Jazz is exported to the world…Everybody has the Blues. Everybody longs for meaning. Everybody needs to love and be loved. Everybody needs to clap hands and be happy. Everybody longs for faith. In music, especially this broad category called Jazz, there is a stepping-stone towards all of these."
We’ll hear Duke Ellington’s best-known work, “Come Sunday”, that contributed in the mid 60’s to changed lives as the known world cracked apart through his Sacred Concerts from San Francisco to New York. Duke Ellington once said of Jazz: “All my music comes directly from the book of life. Praise the One who created and sustains and redeems all of this!”.
At this jazz and poetry event, we will lift up the work of Martin Luther King, Jr., with readings from renowned poets and sacred texts that walk us from blues to hope. Featured local artists include: Drummer Israel Chavez, Bassist Sergio Carillo Silva, Singer-Songwriter Gabriela Espinosa, Pianist Carolyn Studer, and Minister in Residence Anna V. Copeland.
You may know Israel Chavez from other work at various venues in SMA including Cafe Rama, Paprika, and Los Milagros. He currently plays with the popular band, The Duncans, and Sotol Sónico, The San Miguel World Orchestra and regularly participates in the San Miguel Jazz Festival with Soul Flame.
Bassist Sergio Carillo Silva has been a local favorite for years, playing jazz with number bands and artists in San Miguel through the years. He currently plays with the Jaime Valle Quartet, the Tzibi Quartet and the Morning Jazz Trio at Cafe Rama, and with the popular gypsy jazz band Hot Tamales at Paprika Restaurant.
You can also hear Gabriela Espinosa locally, who sings Latin music, popular Mexican, and jazz and blues with The LIxious Music Band at the Hotel Habitas, and with Lumina en Numu at the Hotel Numu.
Pianist Carolyn Studer has played solo piano at the Tres Fuentes Hotel and Cafe Rama, and currently performs at Cafe Rama for their Poetry and Music events, which she also organizes. She has been an accompanist and performed in show bands for several theater productions in San Miguel at the Biblioteca and Don Lupe's. She is currently the music minister of the Community Church of San Miguel de Allende.
Poetry readings and “A Message of Hope” will be shared by Rev. Dr. Anna V. Copeland, writer, artist and ordained clergy, currently serving as the Minister in Residence of the Community Church of San Miguel. Dr. Anna collaborated in the formation of monthly Jazz Vespers in Vero Beach, Florida, and has served churches north of Boston, in Chicago, and in the mountains of Colorado. As a permanent resident of San Miguel, she continues her commitment to work collaboratively towards that day when abundance for all will mean scarcity for none.
Freewill offering accepted for this community wide event.
Submitted by Rev. Dr. Anna V. Copeland
Minister in Residence, the Community Church of San Miguel
Cell 207-337-8881
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