On Sunday, September 19, 2021 we raised the rafters of Allen Chapel with the melodies and improvisations of America’s original art form: Jazz.

The music of Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter, Vince Guaraldi, Bill Evans and others punctuated the Gospel message — “A Love Supreme” with an urgency, creativity and tenderness that is often relegated to smoky clubs and bars like the Blue Note, Birdland or the Village Vanguard.  

A sextet of supremely talented professional jazz musicians — hailing from Richmond to Lynchburg to Harrisonburg to Charlottesville to Staunton — ushered in a spirit of renewal and fellowship in the holiest of settings. Our house was comfortably full, and all in attendance were vaccinated and masked. “The House of Allen” cares for its congregants and its community. Amen.

“My music is the spiritual expression of what I am: my faith, my knowledge, my being… When you begin to see the possibilities of music, you desire to do something really good for people, to help humanity free itself from its hang-ups.” — JOHN COLTRANE