Jazz pianist Gary Motley is a highly regarded performer, producer and composer who creates arrangements for the likes of Cynthia Erivo, Freddy Cole and Jennifer Holiday when he’s not performing his duties as director of jazz studies at Emory University.
Last month, he brought his quartet to a sandstone building around the corner from the Fox Theatre and set up in a room surrounded by wood paneling and stained-glass windows where he performed for about 150 music lovers, thereby launching the newest Midtown jazz venue: All Saints’ Episcopal Church.
Jazz at church is nothing new — First Congregational Church has a long-standing jazz series programmed by the Rev. Dwight Andrews, a multi-instrumentalist who specializes in woodwinds.
But it is new for All Saints’, and Virginia Schenck, an Atlanta-based jazz vocalist who organized the event, hopes Motley’s performance will be the beginning of an ongoing series of jazz performances in the sanctuary. For now it was the first in a series of four concerts. Next up is jazz pianist Joe Alterman on Nov. 22. Singer Carmen Bradford will perform in February, and Matthew Kaminski, organist for the Atlanta Braves since 2009, finishes the series with his quartet in March.
Schenck sees the series as “another space for bringing people together” and said it’s meant to connect jazz lovers, not just church members, with the working musicians of Atlanta.
The series has the full support of the church’s new organist and music director, Scott Lamelin, who joined All Saints’ just as the programming of the series was nearly complete.
Credit: DUSTIN CHAMBERS
Credit: DUSTIN CHAMBERS
The church’s move into jazz programming stemmed from a yearlong study the church conducted on racial equity, Lamelin wrote on the church’s website. His hope is that the series will bring a wider array of community members into the building.
The first concert appears to have achieved that goal. Looking out into the audience for Motley’s performance, Schenck and Lamelin saw mostly new faces from all different backgrounds. Motley performed mostly original music that night and “really went over and beyond anything I’ve heard him do,” said Schenck.
Another reason for the series is to give local jazz musicians a venue to perform, said Schenck, who struggled to find places for herself and her friends to play after the pandemic.
There hasn’t been a jazz club in Midtown since Churchill Grounds closed in 2016, although there are bright spots on the horizon. Former owner Sam Yi is hoping to resurrect Churchill Grounds in East Atlanta Village next year, and a group called Cornerstone Jazz Collective recently bought the former Greene’s Fine Foods building in Decatur where they plan open the Phoenix City Jazz Club.
When conceptualizing the All Saints’ series, Schenck knew she wanted a few things: an early evening performance, preferably on Friday; a Q&A session that enabled the audience to interact with the musicians on stage; and a closing reception that would increase the sense of community she was trying to establish.
“I wanted it to be up close and personal for people,” she said.
Bolstered by the support of the community and the enthusiasm of the musicians,
Schenck is already looking to the future. She wants to program a cross section of artists from the city, and a board of advisers, including Motley and Alterman, will help guide her efforts.
“I’d love to see this carry on going forward,” Schenck said. “I would love to see not only local acts, but I’d love to be bringing in regional or national acts.”
Hoping to build on the organization’s rich musical legacy, Lamelin will also bring his own voice to the programming.
“My role is to continue that legacy and continue the commitment to quality they brought … but also opening the door a bit to some different styles, and jazz is a very big part of that,” he said.
Lamelin spent the last decade at the 600-member St. John’s Episcopal Church in West Hartford, Connecticut, where he helped expand the programming from “a pretty traditional organ and choral concert series” into one that also included jazz. He saw his work as adding another venue “in a city where people love jazz and are hungry for it.” His mission at All Saints’, which has a membership of nearly 3,000 parishioners, is similar.
Credit: Anna Yatskeitch
Credit: Anna Yatskeitch
“The church is in the process of evaluating what this block is supposed to be in Midtown, beyond what we do Sunday morning,” he said. “I think this jazz series is a big, big part of it, and there will be more and different [programming] coming up.”
CONCERT PREVIEW
Jazz at All Saints’ Episcopal Church. Joe Alterman Trio Nov. 22. Carmen Bradford with Reginald Thomas Feb. 22. The Matthew Kaminski Quartet March 14. 7 p.m. $15-$25. All Saints’ Episcopal Church, 634 W. Peachtree St. NW, Atlanta. 404-881-0835, allsaintsatlanta.org
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