Description
Vince Guaraldi at Grace Cathedral is a live album by the American jazz pianist and composer Vince Guaraldi (July 17, 1928 – February 6, 1976), independently released on Fantasy Records in 1965. The album was recorded live at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, May 21, 1965. Arranged by Diocese Of San Francisco and Vince Guaraldi. Featuring Vince Guaraldi on piano, Tom Beeson on bass and Lee Charlton on drums, as well as St. Paul’s Church Of San Rafeal Choir directed by Barret Mineah.
It was the Reverend Charles Gompertz who in 1963 expressed a desire to achieve a “modern setting for the choral Eucharist”. Along with Barry Mineah, choral director at St. Paul’s Church of San Rafael, Gompertz sought out San Francisco resident Vince Guaraldi to help achieve this goal. Guaraldi undertook the role of composer and pianist for the Eucharist chorus at the San Francisco Grace Cathedral. Utilizing his Latin influences from his bossa nova days with Bola Sete, Guaraldi composed a number of pieces with waltz tempos and jazz standards and later recorded this performance in 1965.
In a year that also saw Duke Ellington, Dave Brubeck and Lalo Schifrin write jazz-based pieces for the church, Vince Guaraldi may have come up with the most effective sacred work of the four. Written for the completion of San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral, Guaraldi’s Mass fuses his mainstream and Latin strains comfortably and movingly underneath the plain vanilla Gregorian lines and Anglican plainchant of a 68-voice chorus. Sometimes all Vince does to create a beguiling effect is improvise arpeggios or have his trio engage in a hot bossa nova workout as the chorus chants on one note. Despite the immense size of the cathedral, this music produces an intimate, unpretentious and undeniably emotional response – and there is plenty of jazz content, particularly when Guaraldi’s trio goes it alone for nearly a third of the work in the ruminative «Holy Communion Blues». By all means, check this beautiful, unusual album out. [Richard S. Ginell, AMG]
In early 1963 the Reverend Charles Gompertz decided to create within the San Francisco Bay area a “modern setting for the choral Eucharist”. It was only natural to use Mr. Barry Mineah to direct the choir from St. Paul’s Church of San Rafael. The problem was to find a creative and sensitive composer and also a musician of such high caliber and integrity to create and perform a perfect gem of creative, religious splendor doing justice to the setting of GRACE CATHEDRAL in San Francisco.
Reverend Gompertz consulted the two highest authorities of music on the West Coast (Messrs. Al Bramy and Tony Valerio) and both gave the name of Vince Guaraldi as the only personality that could handle the creation and performance of such a Herculean effort. For eighteen months Gompertz, Mineah and Guaraldi sweated over this mighty undertaking, with the 68 voices of the choir and the musicians of Guaraldi’s group (Lee Charlton, drums, and Tom Beeson, bass) – an empathy grew among the diverse personalities that was more than casual. Using the Gregorian background of the Eucharist, Vince was able to create and build to a height he had hitherto only dreamed of. “I had one of America’s largest Cathedrals as a setting, a top choir, and a critical audience that would be more than justified in finding fault. I was in a musical world that had lived with the Eucharist for 5-600 years and I had to improve and/or update it to the 20th century musical standards. I believe this was the most awesome and challenging thing I had ever attempted,” said Vince Guaraldi recently.
TIME magazine said: “In his Musical Setting of the Eucharist, performed in May at San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral, Pianist Vince Guaraldi took Anglican plain chant as his starting point. The flowing Gregorian tunes were chanted by a 68-member chorus while Guaraldi improvised back of it with his trio, shifting the mood with the spirit of the prayer. ‘Lord Have Mercy’ is crisp and plaintive, with syncopated Latin rhythm; the Communion anthem is a waltzlike blues with a flowing melodic line. The ‘Theme for Grace’ at the Offertory, with a chorus crooning the syllables of ‘hallelujah,’ reminded some listeners of mood-setting supper music. ‘That’s the idea,’ says Episcopal Father Charles Gompertz, who persuaded Guaraldi to undertake the Musical Setting. “What does Communion represent but the Last Supper – the last time these men ate together?’ ”.
Bishop James A. Pike of the Diocese of California, in a letter to Vince Guaraldi, had this comment on the GUARALDI MASS: “I commend you on the completion of this most significant effort, and I want to offer you the thanks of the people of the Diocese of California and the whole Episcopal Church for providing us with one of the most effective and meaningful modern musical settings for the Eucharist. I think that you will gain a great deal of recognition for this work, recognition which is completely deserved and merited both personally and vocationally.”
Paul Frederick Zumsteg [Excerpt from the sleeve notes]
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LP tracklist:
Side One
A1. Bishop’s Greetings (Voice: Bishop James A. Pike) – 1:52
A2. “Kyrie Eleison” – 1:54
A3. “Come With Us, O Blessed Jesus” – 2:59
A4. “Nicene Creed (I Believe)” – 2:04
A5. “Come Holy Ghost” – 1:40
A6. “Theme To Grace” – 4:00
A7. “Sursum Corda & Sanctus” – 2:23
A8. “Lord’s Prayer” – 1:22
A9. “Agnus Dei (O Lamb Of God)” – 1:24
Side Two
B1. “Holy Communion Blues” – 11:23
B2. “Humbly I Adore Thee” – 2:50
B3. “In Remembrance Of Me” – 1:48
B4. “Gloria In Excelsis” – 1:29
B5. Blessing – Bishop Pike (Voice: Bishop James A. Pike) – 0:42
Note: Remastered and re-issued on CD by Fantasy in 1997, re-titled The Grace Cathedral Concert and featuring new cover art.
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[youtube_sc url=”” playlist=”culDjwJIHjg,cniLmAOHGnY” title=”50th Anniversary of Vince Guaraldi Jazz Mass Part One + Part Two” autohide=”1″ rel=”0″]Sacramento-based pianist Jim Martinez and his quartet lead a 50th anniversary concert presentation of Guaraldi’s Jazz Mass at Grace Cathedral. The Fair Oaks Presbyterian Church Choir, directed by John McDaniel, and several members of the original St. Paul’s Church Choir who performed alongside Guaraldi and his trio in 1965, perform alongside Martinez. [Music starts at 19:30]
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