“The Old Rugged Cross” is one of the most beloved hymns in the traditional Christian community. A country gospel favorite, it was written by George Bernard, a Methodist Evangelist, in 1912. It has been performed countless times in worship and recorded by some of the most influential vocal artists—Al Green, Chet Atkins, Patsy Cline and Willie Nelson—also by Mahalia Jackson and Ella Fitzgerald, just to name a few.
As popular as the hymn has been, I must admit that I’ve never been a big fan of the song. In fact, it’s a hymn I very much dislike. From the sentimental melody to the blood and atonement theology, it has never resonated with my spiritual or artistic sensibility.
In deciding on which hymns to arrange for our upcoming Volume 7, titled “Still more of our favorite hymns,” I was perusing the hymnbook and quickly thumbed past it. For some unknown reason I stopped, turned back to page # 195 in the New Century Hymnaland reread the words of “On a hill far away,” and once again began turning the page. But I was compelled to stop, go back and look yet again at the hymn arrangement. Hmm, I thought. Perhaps there could be some neat possibilities here. And I began to re-imagine it. What if it began in a slow, blusey way, with two horns evoking a long-ago gospel feel. That made me think of the New Orleans second-linestyle used in funerals. And the idea struck: after a slow, almost mournful feel why not have the drummer break into a Dixieland beat followed by a syncopated, toe tapping melody. And thus emerged the inspiration for the arrangement I created for volume 7.
I suppose some folks may feel that this is a sacrilege—taking a hymn, beloved by millions, and jazzing it up. And that’s entirely the risk Tim and I take with every arrangement. In trying to contemporize the hymn through jazz we often take a lot of liberties: changing meter, syncopating the melody line, reharmonizing the chordal structure, and transforming a staid hymn into a swing tempo, a jazz waltz, a Latin beat, a funky groove . . . almost any style found within the broad umbrella called jazz.
Has the “Old Rugged Cross” become my new favorite? Not really? But it’s made me appreciate its theological beginnings and its historical legacy. As Tim and I like to say—these jazz hymn arrangements create something uniquely modern: worship in a new key.