#MusicalMondayMemories #10: Music in churches and In the Water

Recently, I was thinking about how many church keyboardists I’ve worked with over the years. All the way back to J.S. Bach and beyond, church musicians have been composers, improvisers, performers, conductors, and teachers. As supporters of music through the ages, churches are still some of the best places to perform and find creative musicians who think deeply about their place in the world. 

Starting with my piano teacher growing up (who plays chamber music with my mom to this day!), and all the way to my first Christmas Eve gig living in Maine in 2019, music and churches have gone together in my life. I’ve had countless chamber and solo performances in churches, and many concentrated rehearsals. 

Churches are some of the only places that are constructed with acoustics in mind. Plus, they have regular music jobs while even many schools skimp on that. 

Music and the arts in general are often seen as outside daily life, but they are anything but. From ancient tableware and cave paintings, Indian classical music and the pocket violin of royal dancing masters, myths and plays, art has been part of life forever. 

While many artists are very specialized, many are not, exploring widely and sinking in deeply. Some people follow their passions, but a lot of people push them to the side in order to live a more traditional path of savings and retirement. I’ve considered doing this many times, even in the few months, and while it’s impossible to know what the years will bring, I’m very excited to forge ahead as a musician.

There are four specific people who have been big parts of my musical life in college and beyond who happen to fit into the church keyboardist category: Brett Carson, Andrew Jamieson, Jun Kim, and Derek Sup. I’ll return to the others in the future; today I am thinking about In the Water, an album I recorded with Andrew Jamieson’s Trouble Ensemble. 

I started playing with Andrew Jamieson at Mills College, where he was the graduate accompanist during some of my time there. We played the Debussy Sonata, we improvised together, he wrote a chamber opera called Heaven Down Here about the 1978 Jonestown massacre which we premiered at First Congregational Church in Oakland CA in 2014. (Check that out here if you’d like to know more: http://andrewbarnesjamieson.com/heaven-down-here/)

Trouble Ensemble was another chance to see Andrew shine. He is an extremely dedicated musician and composer and puts together large-scale projects that are unlike anything else I’ve come across. I feel lucky to have worked with Andrew and seen his passion be brought to life. 

On his website, Andrew describes Trouble Ensemble as an “avant-gospel band, focused on spirituals and radical liberation.” 

Check out the 1st track of our In the Water album, “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round,” here (you can also purchase the album here, and Bandcamp really is the way to go to support artists): https://edgetonerecords.bandcamp.com/album/in-the-water

Oh, and here’s a fun review I found from Jon Neudorf of Sea of Tranquility: 

“Billed as avant-gospel, Trouble Ensemble is a tough nut to crack. Their album In The Water came out in June of this year and to say this is a hard listen is a bit of an understatement. As such this has been difficult review to write partly due to my inexperience with American gospel as well as my slight trepidation toward some forms of avant-garde music. Nevertheless, here it goes.

The disc is divided into three parts beginning with ‘Part I: To Trouble’. The first track “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round” begins with acapella vocals backed by unusual dissonant sounds. Disharmonic piano and squelching sax lines further the band’s descent into discord. Narrative spoken word vocals act as a sermon protesting against injustice and slavery. Somber violin and piano serve the pretty “Give Me Jesus” but I found the narration distracting to the music. Elements of chamber music add to the avant-garde approach. The slow gospel of “Steal Away” is both melodic and discordant led by saxophone and piano. The song’s avant latter half demonstrates the band’s use of disharmonic chaos. The haphazard improvisation in “Ezekiel Saw the Wheel” is a little too bizarre for my tastes but the band turns it around with the spry piano work in “Precious Lord”. The rest of the tracks are just as unpredictable as seemingly benign melodies might turn into a cacophony of whacky sounds.

An unusual album to say the least, In The Water will likely be too eclectic for casual gospel fans. My only suggestion is to try before you buy.

An Edgetone Records release.”

https://www.seaoftranquility.org/reviews.php?op=showcontent&id=21343

Band photos are always fun, too! Thank you Andrew, Ernest, Rent, Joshua, Tim, Jakob, Jordan, and Marvin for the music and the beautiful memories.