Jazz Finally Goes To Church! Christmas Jazz Eve 2008 at Tabernacle Family Church Report
christmas jazz eve 2008, bambang nugroho, benny likumahuwa, michelle efferin
Jazz goes to church. It’s a very interesting breakthrough, that, actually has been anticipated for quite sometimes. If we go back to the beginning of jazz, we’d see that jazz was formed by several types of music, and one of them was gospel. Later when the big band/swing jazz became popular as the main genres in the ’20s to ’50s, there were many Christmas songs written in the traditional swing style. Jazz and Christmas, also Gospels have been closely connected for a very long time, and I think it’s about time to bring jazz into the church. If jazz has been brought to campus, then to the village (see Ngayogjazz report here), now jazz has just arrived at the church. Hallelujah!
Gereja Keluarga Tabernakel (Tabernacle Family Church) held a very interesting event called “Christmas Jazz Eve 2008″. This event was one of the agenda of Art & Show Commision of Tabernacle Family Church. Their mission is spreading God’s love through arts, and this time it was jazz. What a great night it was, when all the beautiful classic christmas songs served fully in jazz, through many great jazz artists of Indonesia. The legendary Benny Likumahuwa, Bambang Nugroho & Friends, Michelle Efferin & Friends, Kanggep, Mocca’s vocalist, Arina and other great musicians gave out their best on stage.
Michelle Efferin & friends was fantastic. They played some of the best Christmas songs. Joyful Joyful, Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, then a cute arrangement of Jingle Bells. In this song, they had a special guest star, Mocca’s vocalist Arina. Then Arina went on singing All I Want For Christmas Is You. They closed their performance with a song from The Sound Of Music, My Favorite Things.
Then it’s time for Bambang Nugroho & Friends with Benny Likumahuwa. They brought Christmas classics like Let It Snow and Christmas Tree. Benny said all songs were spontanious, they only discussed it for a while before the show. “all things are possible to God” he said. Benny explained that he believes the world’s music came from church. He quoted Psalm by saying that God dwells in the praises. “Therefore church music has to be merrier“, he continued. Benny and his trombone, together with Bambang Nugroho and Friends gave out an amazing performance. Amazing, because they showed the real side of jazz, full of spontaneous improvisation. Bambang Nugroho, as usual delivered an unbelievable skill of piano playing. Later Arina came on stage singing Santa Claus Is Coming To Town. Benny did his superb scat in the middle of the song.
Finally, the jam session came. It was a special jam session led by Benny. He called the player one by one to join on stage. Something funny happened! Benny asked three pianists to play together in one piano, then rotated them in circle. It was hillarious and amazing to see how three piano players did it spontaneously.
Two thumbs up and salute for Tabernacle Family Church for making this great event. As one of the event from Art & Show Commision of Tabernacle Family Church, they planned to make this as three months event. It’s interesting to see that God’s love could be spread in jazz, and hopefully there will be more event like this in the future. It’s time to bring jazz to church!
Reporter: Riandy Kurniawan (jazzuality.com)
Photographer: Yudith Yovanne (jazzuality.com)
More pictures from the event:
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[...] year. Jazz also went to church. The Tabernacle Family Church in Bandung held a very interesting “Christmas Jazz Eve 2008″, and it went very successful. It was a free-for-all show, and it was amazing. Many jazz communities [...]