About this Event
Welcome to Jazz Vespers!
However you are connecting with Saint Peter's, we hope you will find a wide and warm embrace. Among the skyscrapers and hustle and bustle of Midtown, this is a place of respite and renewal. Whether in person in our Sanctuary, or streaming from home. Jazz Vespers is free of charge with donations welcome at the door or online.
About Jazz Vespers
Jazz Vespers, NYC's unique jazz prayer service, is held every Sunday at 5:00 P.M. Originating in 1965 with The Rev. John Garcia Gensel, he believed jazz to be "probably the best music for worship because it speaks to the existential situation of a human being. It is the personal expression of the person playing it." Saint Peter’s Church, the “First Church of Jazz,” remains a spiritual home to jazz musicians and lovers of jazz. Founded by Ruth and Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Joe Newman and Sheila Jordan, among many others, today the community represents the best of the New York City jazz scene.
This Week We Welcome...
Tessa Souter (voice)
Adam Birnbaum (piano)
Mark Lewandowski (bass)
About Tessa Souter
Mentored by legendary jazz vocalists Mark Murphy, who called her “a complete musician, remarkable and very moving,” and Sheila Jordan, who praised her “beautiful voice and beautiful soul,” New York-based Anglo-Trinidadian vocalist, composer and lyricist Tessa Souter has earned international acclaim for her rare emotional intensity, literary depth and fearless originality. Known for transforming unexpected repertoire into deeply personal jazz narratives, she has drawn praise for her “wonderful lyrics,” (★★★★ Jazzwise), her “butterscotch timbres” (★★★★ DownBeat), and her genre-defying artistry which blends jazz with influences from Brazilian music, flamenco, folk and classical traditions. In 2018, Souter was honored with a shared writing credit from Wayne Shorter himself for her lyric to his composition “Ana Maria.”
A longtime fixture of the New York jazz scene, Souter has headlined at leading venues and festivals worldwide, including SFJAZZ, the Kennedy Center, Dizzy’s Club, Joe’s Pub, Pizza Express and Ronnie Scott’s, the Rochester International Jazz Festival, where she has appeared a record eight times and where, in 2015, she was the subject of a one-hour PBS television special filmed at the festival. She also appears on legendary bassist Charnett Moffett’s album Spirit of Sound.
About Saint Peter’s
If you are looking for a religious community, this may be a place for you! We are a Sanctuary and Reconciling in Christ Parish of the ELCA. We are a bi-lingual English-speaking and Spanish-speaking community. We are Brown, Black, White and more. We are persons of all sexual orientations and gender identities. Some of us hold citizenship, others of us are Dreamers, asylees or seeking documentation. A good way to begin this journey is to participate in our Sunday liturgies.
Event venue & nearby stays
Saint Peter's Church, 619 Lexington Avenue, New York, United States
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups — all the happenings, one place.