Edgar Summerlin; Composer brought jazz to church; 78 | The San Diego Union-Tribune
Edgar Summerlin; Composer brought jazz to church; 78 | The San Diego Union-Tribune
Mr. Summerlin, who was known as Ed, composed jazz services for numerous denominations, many with contemporary text by Roger Ortmayer, a theology professor at Southern Methodist. The services, performed by jazz combos as well as orchestras, sometimes included expressionistic horn screams. They also actively called for participation by the congregation, requiring worshippers to add the sounds of everyday life by clapping, shuffling their feet, rattling their keys or making other noises.
Being raised in the church and with a 60s-era pastor who had Friday afternoon acid-christian-rock concerts on the altar, I’ve always been fascinated by the use of non-traditional music for worship. I dove into Ellington’s worship music, so this story caught my eye. Too bad I know nothing about Ed, but he sounds like a cool cat, having done that and played with Dolphy and Carter. And there is not much at all about him on the web other than his obit…at least that I could find.
And I see he may have played with jazz-world-famous L.A. Times Jazz Critic Don Heckman. Maybe Mr. Heckman could shed some more light on Ed…maybe in a brief piece on the show?
A search for images of Ed, led me to a memorial page by Jon Margolis with some pictures. Cool.
April 3rd, 2007 at 7:54 pm
Just seeing this for first time. You are correct: Performances and recording by Ed Summerlin and Don Heckman go back to the early 60s. They remained best friends until Ed’s death. Two or three of Summerlin’s more recent CDs are available thru Cadence. E-mail cros@cadencebuilding.com Ph: 315-287-2852 Address: Cadence Building, Redwood, NY 13679. I think they might also have some of the early LPs with Don (on alto) and Ed (on tenor). What else do you want to know? Karen
April 6th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
Yeah, Ed Summerlin was about as cool as they get. I had the good fortune of having him as a teacher at the City College of New York back in the 70´s. I can tell you without much modesty that I could barely blow a lick through that flute of mine, but to Ed we were all worth a shot. Just being within a 5-ft. radius of the man was inspirational. He radiated not only a striking sense of creativity, but taught us that mixture of wisdom and irreverence which was sure to set us all onto an appreciation of art and life. I continue to hold those lessons oh so near to my heart!