From xxcaptinxx@comcast.net Wed Apr 27 19:34:02 2005
Subject:Re: video recommendations?

>I live in detroit. in general, where do you see gospel organists?

This is a problem for a pastor, but Detroit has a big gospel heritage. I
would make phone calls to the African American-dominated congregations
closest to you, and see who presents a gospel organ litergy. Perhaps you
can arrange to sit in on some choir practices, if not on Sunday. Lots of
churches tape their services, which might give you some aural fodder while
commuting. The sad truth is, there are a lot of gospel organists who are
just scraping by. I bet shaking the tree would lead to very reasonable
private lessons. The Jimmy Foster videos came about in a similar way, or so
I read.

I belong to a ELCA Lutheran church that is about a far from gospel as one
can get. So it is a real treat when we invite jazz, Dixieland and gospel
groups in a couple times a year to shake things up. They spent a $ 1million
to get the acoustics right in the sancturary, which helps bring good guest
musicians in on a regular basis. I encourage you to slip in as much gospel
as your congregation can tolerate-- its both fun and emotionally uplifting.

I don't know whether the touring jazz organists play the Detroit area
regularly. It takes some effort to find the jazz venues, and then get on
their mailing lists to identify the artists booked, and then find out
whether a quartet has an organist and whether he or she is any good. There
is a huge overlap in technique between jazz and gospel, so any good player
you can watch up close will be time well spent, IMHO. You can't get
preacher chords from the jazz sets, but you can pick up a lot of LH bass and
pedal work.

Regards,

Dave Bishop