Tim and I have been having loads of fun crafting jazz arrangements of public domain hymns. Many of our arrangements have been played in worship while others are creative imaginings that we hope you’ll try out with your own congregations. Now, we are pleased to introduce—Volume 5: Sacramental Hymns for Baptism and Communion is now ready for download.
Our previous four volumes include: Well-known hymns for use any time during the Church Year; Popular Advent hymns and Christmas Carols; Hymns for Palm/Passion Sunday, Holy Week and Easter Sunday/Season; Pentecost and hymns of the Spirit. This newest volume includes the following hymn tunes:
Beach Spring—As We Gather at Your Table
Boylston—A Hymn of Joy We Sing
Bread of Life—Break Thou the Bread of Life; Here at Thy Table, Lord
Hesperus/Quebec—Jesus, the Joy of Loving Hearts
Let Us Break Bread
O Waly, Waly—I Come to Be Baptized Today; An Upper Room Did Our Lord Prepare
Pentecost—Wonder of Wonders, Here Revealed
Picardy—Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
Stuttgart—Child of Blessing, Child of Promise
Wade in the Water
Welcome Table—I’m Gonna Eat at the Welcome Table
Winchester New—We Place Upon Your Table, Lord
Each hymn is created for C instruments and transposed into Bb, Eb and bass clef. Most of our hymns also have a second harmonic line, so it’s easy to have a sax and trumpet (or other instrumentation) front line. You’ll also find helpful performance hints for each arrangement, and a cross reference of other hymns using the same melody.
We hope you’ll want to purchase a volume, or two (or three), and then let us know how they were received in your congregation. As my friend, Rev. Geoffrey Black (former General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ) says frequently, “Jazz is the best music for the twenty-first century church.” I’ll pick up on his idea in my next blog posting.