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DUKE ELLINGTON: A Spiritual Biography
Janna Tull Steed
(Selected Short Passages)
Edward Kennedy ("Duke") Ellington has a hymn called "Come Sunday" in the United Methodist Hymnal. That is only a hint of the remarkable spiritual dimension of a man who portrayed himself as worldly.
In her book Duke Ellington: A Spiritual Biography, Janna Tull Steed examines Ellington's surprising spirituality -- root, branch, and fruit -- and serves it up in an enjoyable presentation. Below is a brief overview using selected short passages:
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Ellington's spiritual side came through in various ways. Ellington says, for instance, that he read through the Bible several times. He owned several versions of it. And, "The lyrics of the Sacred Concert music [which he produced during the last 10 years of his life] are infused with biblical texts, language, metaphors, and images, although Ellington certainly paraphrased ideas in his own idiosyncratic fashion." (21) Moreover, "as early as the late 1920s and early 1930s some critics discerned a spiritual dimension in his music". (23) Ellington even kept newspaper columns by well know clergy with underlined passages. (22)
And apparently, Ellington's spirituality was more than a surface thing, as one of his biographers discovered: "Don George once walked in on Ellington in a small room alone and deep in prayer one night. George, whose memoir of Ellington largely consists of sexual escapades, found the intensity of the witnessed experience so overwhelming that he, for the very first time, was brought to his knees in prayer." (22)
Another aspect of Ellington's spirituality was his approach to creativity. "Ellington's creative art was shaped by his view of the nature of reality, and that view was basically incarnational." (23) Professor Barry Ulanov explains it this way: "For me, he just had -- you know the phrase, anima naturalis christiana -- a naturally Christian soul. And he had it, quite apart from anything to do with his culture, anything to do with his upbringing. There was something in Duke that just gravitated to the figure of Jesus. I don't mean that he said the name often. I just mean that he understood what an incarnational religion was about. ... He was just plugged into the Spirit. He was an incarnationalist." (25)
Ellington's sister, Ruth, said "The spirituality of his music is why it didn't sound like anybody else's music," (27). More specifically, as Steed notes, "Love, blessing, and beauty formed a trinity of virtues for Duke Ellington". (27).
According to Alexandre Rado, "He could hardly understand that someone could not believe." (94)
Mahalia Jackson "was quoted as saying that she considered the Ellington orchestra to be, not a jazz band, but 'a sacred institution.' " (103)
"... virtually all his work was dedicated to one end; a celebration of life and the one who created it." (132)
"Sometimes the Maestro even called himself 'God's messenger boy' ". (133)
"The message Duke wanted to deliver consisted of his own beliefs about God, which were rooted in Christian doctrine but idiosyncratically selected and interpreted. The medium was his music ...". (133)
"What he did [in the Sacred Concerts] was to reclaim the sacred origins of jazz and demonstrate that all musical instruments could be employed in praise of God, just as Psalm 150 commanded." (138)
"Compare the Sacred Concerts, for example, to the medieval cycle plays ... chaos to creation ... blurred distinctions between secular and sacred" and contemporary references. (139)
"Ellington was always open to the spiritual dimension -- and it was a key element in his genius; that is one reason why his instrumental music, from the earliest days, touched people so profoundly and created transcendent experience for his listeners." (140-141)
{Jay} "Hoggard also concluded: 'With the Sacred Concerts, Ellington successfully amalgamated the sacred and secular realms of music in an organic, sanctified, totality. ... For me, this music ranks among the great achievements of the twentieth century." (150)
"His art unveils the glory of what is luminously holy, but hidden, in the material world and in human flesh." (164)
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 Ms. Steed's interest in Ellington's spiritual side arises from several sources. In 1974 she had what she refers to as "a deeper conversion to the faith of my childhood". In 1979 she was ordained to the Methodist ministry and held pastorates in Connecticut and California till 1989. And in 1992, while on a retreat in California, she discovered a recording of Ellington's "Second Sacred Concert". This led her to deeper research about Ellington which in turn led to speaking engagements and to an hour-long radio documentary for Public Radio International. The documentary was instrumental in acquiring the book contract which led to Duke Ellington: A Spiritual Biography. (Source: United Methodist News Service, UNMS # 137 -- "Pastor looks at sacred side of Duke Ellington," by Linda Bloom)
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JOY SAWYER: "Artist of Moral Force"
Judith Deem Dupree
I first met Joy at the Colorado Christian Writers Conference over 6 years ago. She was teaching poetry in a workshop that day. I settled down in back and watched and waited. It was obvious that, despite her nervousness, she was a well-read-and-educated, spiritually sensitive, and gifted young woman. Afterward, we talked . . . and talked.
When I shared my still-unformed hope for a retreat for the arts, she sparked back at me immediately. It was this encounter that first gave me the courage to set things in motion. Ergo, AD LIB.
Joy has matured rapidly -- with such Grace that it "takes my breath away." Joy is a licensed professional counselor for pastoral counseling in Denver, and adjunct faculty for Colorado Christian University. She is also working on her doctorate in religion and psychology in the joint Ph.D program of Denver University/Iliff School of Theology. Joy has devoted herself first to deepening her connectedness to God, and then, and bountifully so, to those in need. She has organized and led support groups that are crucial and timely. She has recently earned her certification in poetry therapy, and is now a CPT. Our congratulations!
Joy is truly a "pastor without portfolio" -- a wise and witty and wonderful woman, who just happens to be an exciting poet. And now she proves what I always knew she would one day -- and sooner than I expected: she is also an expositor of the kind of God-wisdom that plunges to the depth of our being and remains there, to draw upon. "Ho, everyone who thirsteth, come ye to the Waters..." (Isaiah 55:1) Indeed; come and drink.
Joy's two recently published books are:
"Dancing to the Heartbeat of Redemption: The Creative Process of Spiritual Growth" ($10.99)
IV Press
P.O. Box 1400
Downers Grove, IL 60515
Web site: www.ivpress.com
"The Art of The Soul" Meditations for the Creative Spirit" ($12.99)
Broadman & Holman Publishers
l27 9th Ave N.
Nashville, TN 37234
Email: broadmanholman@lifeway.com Web site: www.broadmanholman.com
These books are also available on Amazon.com and Barnes&Noble.com.
Those in the Denver/Northern CO area can also find them at The Tattered Cover Book Stores at LoDo and Cherry Creek.
Comments
by JOY SAWYER
 One of the joys of writing "Dancing to the Heartbeat of Redemption" was giving hands and feet to the exceptional poets I've met at AD LIB retreats the past several years. I especially wanted to provide a poetry forum for the passionate, colorful, wild and wonderful men and women who make up the AD LIB community . . . that's why you'll encounter poets such as Judith Deem Dupree, Derrel Emmerson, Gretchen Sousa, Carlene Hacker, and Judith Gillis.
I strongly believe in the ministry and mission of AD LIB . . . "out of sabbath into service." This book, as well as my newest one, "The Art of the Soul," stem from the belief that our greatest work is "to believe on Him, whom God has sent." Out of that contemplation . . . and listening . . . and reflection . . . and reading . . . and rest . . . comes an encounter with the "heavenly Bread with holes," as the poet Kristy Johnson says.
Most of what I've written in these books comes from a personal commitment I made fifteen years ago--a commitment that led me to recognize Judith Dupree's retreat vision as an important one: to spend at least two hours a day in reading and contemplation, no matter what urgent needs are screaming at me, no matter what deadlines are beckoning, no matter what my culture (including the religious culture) is telling me is more important.
I find the greatest doing comes from being . . . and it is that time of listening, of wrestling with ideas and images, that helps prepare me for where real life is found: cooking the pot roast for our neighbor, the recovering drug addict . . . or cleaning the house . . . or writing poetry . . . or having tea with neighbor kids . . . or whatever else presents itself during the day.
I love AD LIB because it is a place just to visit, to share hearts, to trade ideas, to encourage. We don't place much priority on such things in our society, but I hope that the AD LIB-created poetry in "Dancing to the Heartbeat of Redemption" is a glimmer of hope to call us back to the simple pleasures of just enjoying one another and God . . . and the beauty that erupts from such being.
"So I did sit and eat," says George Herbert, in response to Love's call. Let us keep the feast! Come share with us at AD LIB . . .
Contact Information for Joy Sawyer:
2127 Williams St.
Denver, CO 80205
303-512-9314
Voice Mail: 303-512-9315
Email: sjsawyer@aol.com
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