by Rev. Anna V. Copeland

In preparation for the upcoming Interfaith Jazz and Poetry Service at Community Church, where I am a pastor, I drove out to Carol Weicker's equestrian ranch last week. There over mulled Jamaica, beignets and flan, my host regaled me with the history of her deceased husband, Canon Harold Weicker's friendship with jazz great Duke Ellington.  

For a pair of delightful hours, Carol walked me through the 1960's culture clash that at once tore churches, neighborhoods and cherished institutions apart, and opened doors to rich relationships and opportunities across deep racial divides.

As a liberal Episcopal priest in a still conservative religious environment, Harold Weicker was a tireless advocate for civil rights. In this he held a cosmic view of life. From his obituary:

"He believed that Jesus included everyone, and he sought to do the same. He was deeply spiritual and was constantly inspired by the awe and wonder of creation and the Oneness of mankind. In addition to his devotion to the ministry, Harold loved music and art. He produced Duke Ellington's Sacred Concert at St. John the Divine in New York, after bringing the concert first to Phoenix. He helped cofound the Community Church of San Miguel, a Christian English-speaking congregation sixteen years ago with a goal of giving at least 50% of the income of the church to the poor and disadvantaged in San Miguel, which is now achieved every year."

After the first Sacred Concert in San Francisco in 1965, Harold started talking with that show's organizer about having a Sacred Concert in Phoenix as a way of doing something about segregation in Arizona, a very conservative state. In the early days, Ellington would travel to places to play but often didn't have a suitable place where a black man could stay. He had to get a railroad car to have a place to sleep.

According to Carol, "At the first Sacred Concert a lot of black people showed up, which was no problem in San Francisco. Phoenix required more finesse. Harold was an Episcopal Canon there, in a church attended by Barry Goldwater. The idea of bringing Ellington's Sacred Concert to Arizona with the cooperation of both liberal and conservative church leaders required deft navigation. Following that enormously successful event, Harold and Duke became and remained close friends, each mentoring the other until the end of Duke's life.

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."

Duke Ellington once said of Jazz: "All my music comes directly from the book of life." From the Sacred Concerts, he gathered up huge slices of life – secular, sacred, trivial, profound, earthy and ethereal – and expressed them in his eclectic musical language. "Praise the One who created and sustains and redeems all of this!"

The upcoming Interfaith Jazz and Poetry Service at the Community Church of San Miguel will include Duke Ellington's best-known work, "Come Sunday," a pivotal work of the mid 60s.

It will also feature works of Martin Luther King, Jr., readings from renowned poets and sacred texts that walk us from blues to hope. Featured local musicians include: drummer Israel Chavez, bassist Sergio Carillo Silva, singer-songwriter Gabriela Espinosa, and pianist Carolyn Studer; all renowned on the local music scene.

Poetry readings and A Message of Hope will be shared by Rev. Anna V. Copeland.

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Rev. Anna V. Copeland is a 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.

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