From: msilva@mercenary.CS.Berkeley.EDU (Mario J. Silva)
Newsgroups: rec.music.bluenote
Subject: Re: Church of St. John the Divine?
Date: 24 Jul 92 17:53:29
Organization: UC Berkeley
Distribution: na
	<1992Jul24.144956.19153@news.columbia.edu>
Reply-To: msilva@cs.Berkeley.EDU
NNTP-Posting-Host: mercenary.cs.berkeley.edu
In-reply-to: wvb3@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu's message of 24 Jul 92 14:49:56 GMT


I am still trying to find sometime to get there. But I kept the
original posting by Bill Rosenblatt. Here's the repost:

Mario.

============================================================================
From billr@scooby.cs.umass.edu Mon Nov 18 00:40:26 1991
From: billr@scooby.cs.umass.edu (Bill Rosenblatt)
Newsgroups: rec.music.bluenote
Subject: Coltrane Church in SF
Date: 12 Nov 91 01:48:58 GMT
Distribution: rec.music.bluenote
Organization: University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Folks,

I just returned from San Francisco and one of the most incredible
musical experiences I have ever had.

Coltrane freaks will know from J.C. Thomas' "Chasin' The Trane"
that there is a church in SF, the One Mind Evolutionary Transitional
Church of Christ, that worships Coltrane as a Saint.  This church
has changed a bit (it is now called St. John's African Orthodox
Church) but they stil worship Trane (i.e., St. John).
Well, we got our guts together and went into the little store-front
place at 351 Divisadero St. for Sunday Mass at 11:45 AM.  It's in
a colorful, racially diverse neighborhood on the edge of the Haight.

There were pictures of Coltrane all over the place.  He was
quoted in the program.  The poem from Love Supreme was printed
in large letters on one wall.  And a band was playing.

WOW.

They were vamping on Acknowledgement from A Love Supreme.  I'm not
usually given to mysticism, but I swear to you that Coltrane's
spirit inhabited the place.  There was this kid on drums who could
not possibly have been more than 15, and he sounded just like
Elvin Jones.  There were two bassists, a pianist (who could hardly
be heard), and a succession of soloists -- from what I could gather,
the minister on soprano sax, a deacon on alto, and whoever else
had arranged to sit in.  

Everyone played their asses off, and they were all baad.
But then there was this short white guy with curly hair
on tenor who came up on "stage."  He started out with a long tone
that sent chills up our spine.  Then he played the most incredibly
powerful tenor solo I have ever heard, sounding *exactly* like
Trane circa Live in Japan.  No, I'm not talking about a few cheap
licks off the record, some quotes, or whatever.  I'm talking the
consummate chops, energy, conviction, spirituality, etc., that Coltrane
had.  He kept on going -- couldn't stop -- and reached a fever pitch
that had everyone in the little church screaming.

After this they moved into a part of the service that included
"Lonnie's Lament" (I think) with The Lord's Prayer sung over the
head, followed by more great solos and kickass jamming from the band.
Simply unbelievable.  The remainder of the program was (what I take
to be) a more traditional Black Church service with Gospel music,
a sermon, etc.

If biz ever takes you to sil val, or pleasure takes you to California,
you oughtta consider it A MUST to check this out.  You'll see the 
passion and fire that IMHO jazz is mostly missing these days.
And if you go, make sure you give generously when the plate is
passed around!

- bill.

P.S.  if anyone out there has been to this Church and can tell
me the names of the musicians, I'd be appreciative.  Please e-mail
the info, since I don't read news very much anymore; if the info
is complete and corroborated, I'll post a follow-up.  Thanks.
--
Bill Rosenblatt		| "...the tyrant will probably turn out to be music 
The Rustin Group, Ltd.	| itself -- that which dominates us all."
rosenblatt@cs.umass.edu	|	-- Julian (Cannonball) Adderley

Xref: sparky rec.music.bluenote:5844 rec.music.makers:8492