Bill Carter and the Presbybop Quartet: News

Thanks to all who responded to our recent internet survey for Presbybop Music. Here are the general results:

Should we start a podcast? Overwhelmingly YES (95%), except for a few people like Bill's mom who asked "what's a podcast?"

How frequently should we produce it? About 60% said "monthly," while another 28% said "whenever." Exactly what we were thinking!

What kind of content should we include? Most responses said "insights on jazz and the life of faith," "Bill's sermons and talks on jazz and faith, and "how to use jazz in worship." Clearly, the content will be varied. And a surprising number (48%) said "shameless plugs for Presbybop stuff." Well, OK - your wish is our desire.

What should we call it? A near majority said "Faith in a New Key" (the title of our first CD), but Bill is having second thoughts about that. Our research suggests the title needs to be brief, widely appealing, and edgy. If you have any fresh ideas, send them to bill@presbybop.com. If we pick it, we will send you a free CD.

How long should the podcast be? Answers were divided between "15 minutes" and "25 minutes." So we'll put together something in that range.

And who is our lucky survey winner? It's Ginny VanWie Sulick. She was selected randomly by daughter Meg Carter as "Number 13." -- that is, the thirteenth person to respond to the survey. Ginny will receive a free copy of our new DVD, "Listening to Selah: Psalms Without Words Live."

We appreciate your interest, and the incredible response that our survey received. We will begin production of the podcast in the fall. More news to come!

Here is some exciting news! Our brand-new double CD, "Psalms Without Words" is available for sale on this site. Go to our "CDs and Sheet Music" page, or click directly to http://cdbaby.com/cd/presbybop7.

The companion DVD, "Listening for Selah - Psalms Without Words Live" is also available at http://cdbaby.com/cd/presbybop6. To see two video clips from the DVD on the project blog, at http://psalmswithoutwords.blogspot.com/.

We have received word that the Louisville Institute is supporting our "Psalms Without Words" project with a generous grant. The Institute is a grant-making organization of the Lilly Endowment, based on the campus of Louisville Presbyterian Seminary.

This is wonderful news! We will use the funds to convene and record our cohort of musicians as they interpret Bill's new compositions.

Stay tuned. This will push the project fast-forward, and we'll have much to share in the near future.

Hi everybody - here's a fun little clip that we've compiled from a recent rehearsal session for the Psalms Without Words project. The accompanying tune is "Everybody Dance," an instrumental version of Psalm 150 that I've enjoyed putting together.

Just click the clip, and enjoy the tune!

Hi everybody - We are preparing to go into the studio soon, and begin recording our "Psalms Without Words" project. Bill has begun a new blog to describe the process, post audio and video clips, and reflect on the purpose of the project. We'll also have some special surprises posted along the way!

Check out the new CD blog by clicking http://psalmswithoutwords.blogspot.com/
We hope you will join us for the journey!

Due to popular request, we had posted four MP3 samples online from one of our recent Christmas concerts. Christmas is over, but stay tuned as we start thinking about what we might do with the mew holiday music. Thanks, as always, for your love and support for creative music.

Have a joyful and jolly Christmas!
- Bill and the Presbybop gang

From time to time, people ask if they can contribute to the work that we do. While we are not a tax-deductible entity, we are delighted when good friends become our partners by supporting our work.

So here's your opportunity. Want to support the musical work we do? Interested in supporting our next recording project? We invite you to give generously by clicking here:

We hope you are enjoying the last days of summer.

It seems everybody wants to find the sheet music for "Welcome Home," Bill's beautiful ballad that was the title cut of our most recent CD. Due to popular request, it is now available as a PDF download through our website. You can purchase it safely by credit card by going to our product page on this ssite.

Also available is "Prayer of Confession," one of Bill's compositions for jazz worship services. Based on an F minor blues (and scored for SATB choir), it is an effective piece for bringing a jazz tonality into the church sanctuary.

Want the music for any of our other tunes? Just let us know, and we'll make them available when there is sufficient interest.

The Louisville Institute recently interviewed our piano player for their summer newsletter. It seems that he took a sabbatical last summer and wrote a lot of music. To read about the process, click on www.louisville-institute.org/newsletter/Intersections%20Summer%202007.pdf
By the way: the picture on the article was taken in front of the abbey on the island of Iona, just hours before Bill wrote a new tune for the Quartet called "Iona Morning." To hear a very rough version of it, go to the music page of this site and give the title a click.

We've been overwhelmed by the response to our new music. Apparently it is resonating deeply with our audience. So plans are afoot for a new recording project to take place in late February. It will be an
ambitious two-CD set of many of the "Psalms Without Words" that Bill has been writing. The Quartet will be featured in all kinds of musical configurations, with a number of special friends sitting in.

We are beginning to look for funding partners for the project. Do you believe in what we are doing? Want to help us make some faith-based jazz? Would you find some deep inner joy by making our art possible?
Here is your opportunity! Let Bill know of your interest by dropping him a note at bill@presbybop.com

The band will get around a bit this fall. The annual jazz communion extravaganza at Bill's church will take place on September 2 and will
feature the bebop of Thelonious Monk. It seems the famed composer traveled with a Gospel group before hooking up with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, and loved to play the hymn "Abide with Me."

Other travels will take us to Jersey, Carolina, and Central PA. See the site for the dates!

We are also planning a big collaboration with the Lyric Consort, an eight-voice acapella choir that specializes in early polyphonic music. In early May, we will present a concert of jazz and Gregorian
chant. Stay tuned for more information!

Hi everybody - just back from a tour of Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Erie. Check out the blog report at http://graceandthanks.blogspot.com/2007/05/on-road.html
Keep in touch!

The folks at APCE have posted four of my sermons on their website. You can read them at http://apcenet.org/events/annual-prev.htm

Winter is a time for reflection and rest - - but we have been busy.

We had a wonderful trip to Philadelphia last month. Bill was the featured preacher for the Association of Presbyterian Church Educators, who gathered for an annual conference. The band arrived for a concert at the end of the week and led a jazz service for the conclusion of the conference. The Christian Educators know how to have a good time! Some time next week, APCE will post his four sermons on their website. For more information, check out www.apcenet.org
From four nights in the Philadelphia Marriott, we went on to engagements in Wayne, PA (immortalized in the book *Bobos in Paradise*) and the Abington (PA) Presbyterian Church. Our drummer Ron Vincent came down with a nasty illness at the beginning of the tour, but showed extraordinary strength and couage. Watch out for those nasty germs out there!

A jazz vespers will take place this Sunday, March 11, at our "home base" in Clarks Summit. We will play a series of new compositions that Bill composed during last summer's sabbatical. As of late, he has been thinking more and more of jazz as a form of contemplative prayer -- shaped by the psalms. This was the heart of his sabbatical reflections, and has been a fertile source of new music for the band.

Since it is a cold day here in the northern mountains of Pennsylvania, we have loaded an appropriate sound clip on our website. It is a live version of one of Bill's unrecorded tunes, titled "Winter Must Thaw." We play it whenever we need a cheerful reminder that the present cold snap will come to an end. Until the snow melts, it will be posted at http://www.presbybop.com/music.html. Give it a listen -- and hang on to your hope!

I have a new blog. Check it out at http://graceandthanks.blogspot.com/
Keep in touch - a late winter newsletter will soon appear!

I'm packing to do some mission work with our church. Tomorrow we fly to Gulfport, Mississippi, to rebuild homes after Hurricane Katrina. Usually I'm not allowed to work with power tools -- but this is important. Our team will be in D'Iberville for a week.

Meanwhile, I've begun to rehearse some new music with the guys. Over the summer, I wrote about twenty-five new compositions based on the biblical psalms. It was part of a sabbatical project funded by the Lilly Endowment.

A lot of the new tunes will be premiered at a concert in Clarks Summit on Sunday, November 19. Check out this site for more details!

Hey everybody - I'm back from a wonderful summer sabbatical. This has been a restful and creative summer for me and my family, and we're grateful to have had this time! If you are interested in how we spent the time, check out the blog at www.psalmsabbatical.blogspot.com.

The quartet will be returning to a modest schedule of jazz services and concerts. Yesterday, some of my friends joined me for our annual jazz service in Clarks Summit. We played some of the new music that I've been writing, and it was a wonderful celebration of God and good music.

We have also set up a site on MySpace, the hot new web spot from friends to meet. Feel free to check out www.myspace.com/presbybop, where we've posted a live version of our tune "Tomorrow Will Be My Dancing Day."

Check back on this website for updates and details!

Hello everyone -

I'll be taking a sabbatical until August 20, 2006. During this time, I'll be enjoying the gifts of God and recharging my spiritual batteries.

It is unlikely that I will check my e-mail or respond to phone calls during this two month period. If you need to get in touch about some burning issue regarding Presbybop Music, you can write a note by snail mail, in care of the address listed elsewhere on this site.

Meanwhile, feel free to keep up with my thoughts and activities by checking out our sabbatical blog, at http://psalmsabbatical.blogspot.com
All the best to you and yours,
Bill Carter

"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.