Jazz as Hope

The Spirit of Jazz

What can jazz suggest to us about hope? Good question for all times of year, but especially for the season of Advent. We explore the question with two ancient chants as our soundtrack. Along the way, we chew on two poignant quotations:

• “It is in the torment of the insufficiency of everything attainable in this life that we realize that all symphonies remain unfinished.” - Karl Rahner
• “Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope. Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we must be saved by love. No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our standpoint. Therefore we must be saved by the final form of love which is forgiveness.” - Reinhold Niebuhr, The Irony of American History

Featured music:

“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” from Jazz Noel, Bill Carter and the Presbybop Christmas Eve Band

“Creator of the Stars of Night” from Fragile Incarnation, Bill Carter and the Presbybop Quartet

“Shadows Into Light” from The Dancing Calvinist, Bill Carter and the Presbybop Quintet

Theme music: "All Thumbs" from Faith in a New Key, Bill Carter and the Presbybop Quartet
Music used by permission from Presbybop Music (BMI)
Announcer: Chris Norton
(c) Presbybop Music

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