Bill Carter and the Presbybop Quartet: News

"Welcome Home" is now available. Our long-awaited CD collaboration with Warren Cooper can be found and heard on this site.

During Bill's sabbatical (June 19-August 20), it will be available through CD Baby (www.CDBaby.com/cartercooper), a fine purveyor of independent music. To purchase your copy, follow the links on this site.

All the best to you and yours!

Hi everybody -

We sent the new CD with Warren Cooper to the manufacturer today. We're calling it "Welcome Home," and it should be ready in about four weeks. The official release is set for June 1.

Want to hear it? You can play all the tracks on this website at "Listen to the Music."

Give it a listen and let me know what you think!

We're beginning to see the signs of spring in northern Pennsylvania, although a robin just flew by in a winter coat.

Last week we had the opportunity to present a slick Jazz Vespers for Lent in Clarks Summit. A couple of friends did readings from Langston Hughes, Ann Weems, and Garrison Keillor. These were interspersed with jazz laments in minor keys.

My personal highlight was a setting of William Billings' piece "When Jesus Wept," sung as a round with soprano Susan Kelly, and reharmonized as a haunting jazz waltz.

Plans for the sabbatical are moving along, although church responsibilities are at the forefront as always (i.e. got four sermons to write and preach in eight days). But you can check out the latest Jazz Psalm Sabbatical thoughts on the blog, at http://psalmsabbatical.blogspot.com
Love to all...

Happy New Year! I hope that the change of the calendar brings you more happiness, abundant joy, and deepended faith.

In recent weeks, I have received word that my plans for a sabbatical in summer 2006 will be funded by a grant. I have started a Blog to keep everyone up to date. You can find it on http://psalmsabbatical.blogspot.com I am hopeful that it will be a time of renewal for me and my ministry. Check the blog regularly for updates.

I spent some downtime last week working on some scores of my Banff suite -- looks like it will be seven movements. Sometime next month, I hope to have a rehearsal with the guys to start working through the new music.

And speaking of calendars, if you want a Limited Edition Presbybop Refrigerator Calendar, drop me a line at bill@presbybop.com. Only 85 left!

Hey everybody - thanks for the encouraging words and kind wishes. It's been great to hear from so many.

The new CD with Warren Cooper is coming along. Now we're whittling away at the words to accompany the tunes. The working title is "Welcome Home," and we're very proud of it!

Stay tuned!

Hey everybody - Hope the autumn leaves are brightening your day!

Two new music clips are posted in the "Listen to the Music" section. One clip is an old Gospel hymn from an upcoming release with Warren Cooper. The other is a live version of a new composition called "Peyto Lake", which is part of a six-movement suite that I've been writing for the Quartet. Click and enjoy!

We're birthing a new album. This one's with Warren Cooper, and is almost exclusively a jazz vocal album. The working title is "Welcome Home," based on a tune from the Fragile Incarnation album that I wrote words for. We've "reimagined" the hymnbook for this project, and Warren nails it. Check back for sound samples! We hope to announce the birth of the album in the near future.

I'm thinking about jazz as a possible form for contemplative prayer. What do you think?

Traces of the idea have been with me since I began to get serious about the music in college. At the end of the day, if my roommates didn't object, I found myself playing some music on the stereo. Sometimes it was a great way to wind down and sum up the day's thoughts and activities. Other times, it gave me permission to "zone out" and reflect freely.

Never thought about this very much until recently. "Contemplative prayer" sounded like an activity best left for the monks, and therefore not for me. It wasn't until my friend Terry put the words "jazz" and "contemplative prayer" in the same sentence that something clicked -- and it made deep sense.

After a busy stretch, I find myself longing for more time to listen -- not merely for enjoyment or general consumption -- but as a time-apart for sorting through the movement of God in my own life. For me, that's often best done to the sound of music. And not merely to the overproduced "slick jazz" or the synthesized sound washes of the New Agey stuff. My spirit is cracked open by soulful sounds, not simplistic ones.

What about jazz as a potential soundtrack for contemplation?

Drop me a note and let me know if this makes any sense to you. You can post a response here, or e-mail me through the site.

Well, that was a first. We were leading a Jazz Vespers at Lancaster Seminary with Warren Cooper. We were preparing to play for the final hymn, which was "From All That Dwell Below the Skies, when Warren invited the crowd to "dance in the aisles during the last hymn."

They did.

I guess it can only happen in a church where they don't have seatbelts in the pews.