Around the turn of the century (yes, I know that makes me sound old!), Ed Bacon told me about a new parishioner to All Saints, Bill Cunliffe — a world-class jazz musician. Not living in that world, I hadn’t heard of Bill (or any other famous living jazz musicians), but we met and discussed >
In the 1980s and early 1990s there was more liturgical flexibility in terms of incorporating a short "major work" into the morning liturgies. What evolved in the late 1990s was adding these works into evensongs — particularly the Evensong for the 4th Sunday of Advent with Canterbury Choir. In 2000, I tried this for the first time at our Lenten Evensong. It gave Coventry Choir and extra musical challenge in the period between Christmas and Easter and greatly enriched our Lenten experience.
On sabbatical, James Walker visits Dallas, Chicago, New York City, Boston, London, Paris, Taize, Cape Town and Johannesburg. And is selected to spend June and July with Helmuth Rilling in a Conducting Masterclass at Oregon Bach Festival.
Concerts on Bainbridge Island and in Seattle, morning service in Seattle, and an Evensong on Mercer Island.
It wasn't long after his arrival as rector that Ed Bacon wanted to add services. And that never stopped during his tenure. In October 1996, we offered our first in a series of evensongs. Prior to that time, we would have one evensong each year, usually sung by a quartet on the 4th Sunday of Advent. The almost-monthly evensongs that began with this event, deeply enriched our liturgical life over the years. They offered a different type of repertoire for the choirs to work on and an evening service, contemplative in nature, as a complement to our morning eucharists.
This was my first Induction Service, and it felt a little bit closer to a Coronation because of the intensity I brought to it. I certainly wanted to make an impression with my new boss, as we inducted Ed Bacon as the ninth rector of All Saints Church. We had both Canterbury and Coventry sing, along with brass quintet, for which I composed my arrangement of Ralph Vaughan Williams' Psalm 91. I remember Ed to be over-the-top excited about all of it, including much care in the choice of all hymns and service music, adding several new congregational pieces to our repertoire, all in that one service.
