Save the date – outdoor concert after the service on July 9th!
Be sure to stay after the service on Sunday, July 9th for a potluck lunch in Fellowship Hall, followed by an outdoor concert on UUCC’s east lawn at 1 p.m., featuring Brazilian jazz guitarist Moises Borges and friends. Click here for more details about this very special event!
Music Notes – Sunday, June 18th:
This week’s musician is UUCC Music Director Mike Carney
Opening Hymn: Sing Out Praises for the Journey – DeWolfe/Prichard
#295 in Singing the Living Tradition, “Sing Out Praises for the Journey” was written by UU Minister, author, and activist Mark DeWolfe (1953-1988), who was a staunch AIDS activist and Canada’s first openly gay minister. This Sunday, we’ll sing Rev. DeWolfe’s words to a familiar tune to most UUs: “Hyfrydol”, a Welsh melody credited to Rowland Prichard (1811-1887) and familiar to modern UUs as the tune of “Blue Boat Home”.
Centering Music: Blackbird – McCartney
“Blackbird” was originally written and performed as a solo effort by Paul McCartney (b. 1942, and celebrating his 81st birthday this Sunday) and was featured on the 1968 album The Beatles (commonly known as The White Album). Although it did not chart, “Blackbird” has become one of the Beatles’ most iconic songs and has been covered by dozens of other artists, including Crosby, Stills, and Nash, Sarah McLachlan, and Carly Simon. Paul McCartney has stated in interviews that his distinctive guitar part was inspired by the Baroque lute piece “Bourrée in E minor” by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750).
Offertory: Tender Thought – Kay
Ulysses Kay (1917-1995) was an American composer and performer. The nephew of jazz legend Joe “King” Oliver, Kay studied piano, violin, and saxophone at the University of Arizona, then turned to composition for his graduate study at the Eastman School of Music. His compositional mentors included William Grant Still, Howard Hanson, and Paul Hindemith. Throughout his career, Kay was known primarily for his symphonic music and operas, but he also wrote in various other forms. “Tender Thought” comes from Kay’s 1965 Ten Short Essays for piano.
Closing Hymn: # 151 I Wish I Knew How – Taylor and Dallas
#151 in our Singing the Living Tradition hymnbook, “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free” is a jazz-gospel song written in 1963 by Billy Taylor and Dick Dallas. The song became one of the anthems of the American Civil Rights Movement and has been covered by dozens of artists, most famously by Nina Simone in 1967.
Postlude: My Scarf Is Yellow – Smith
“My Scarf Is Yellow” is a 1968 song written by Hale Smith (1925-2009), a Cleveland native and graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music. Mentored by jazz legend Duke Ellington, Smith became an influential composer and educator who was known for blending jazz and classical elements in his music. He taught for many years at C.W. Post College on Long Island and served as artistic consultant for the Black Music Repertory Ensemble at the Center for Black Music Research Columbia College in Chicago. “My Scarf Is Yellow” comes from Smith’s larger collection Faces of Jazz.
-Mike Carney, UUCC Music Director
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