Pauli Murray Jazz Vespers

140 4th Street North,St. Petersburg FL 33701

26 June, 2022

Description

The Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray was a champion for civil and human rights. Her insights and vision continue to resonate powerfully in our times. She worked throughout her life to address injustice, to amplify community voices, to educate, and to promote reconciliation between races and economic classes. It has become a tradition to celebrate the feast of the Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray around the time of the anniversary of her passing on July 1, 1985. Her life and work are particularly influential for Black and LGBTQ+ Episcopal leaders. In 1977, Pauli Murray became the first Black woman ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church, one year after the Church changed its policy to affirm the ordination of women. The Rev. Nikki Seger of St. Boniface Episcopal Church, Siesta Key, will be the guest preacher. “Being asked to preach for a jazz vespers service commemorating Pauli Murray is terrifying – and thrilling. Murray was a revolutionary human being that crashed through gender and race cultural expectations of her time. Murray paved the way for clergy in the Episcopal church, like myself, who identify as LGBTQI+ and feel a call to speak truth to power,” Rev. Seger writes. Jazz vespers will feature music meditations by a jazz quartet led by local musician David Pate and vocalist Jen Logan. Saxophonist David Pate is a Clearwater native, a successful jazz artist, accomplished composer, and director of jazz studies at the Pinellas County Center for the Arts. He toured the United States with The Temptations. Pate cites among his multiple musical influences John Coltrane, Sam Rivers, and Frank Zappa. He has also been involved with the Al Downing Tampa Bay Jazz Association.