Big Band Resources for Christians and Churchgoers

Every once in awhile I get an email from someone looking for big band charts that are of the “religious” nature – charts that are based on Christian tunes and the like.  I have to admit, I never even knew that people had written big band charts for performing in church on Sunday.  (I mean…where’s the free beer?)  I do know that the religious (Christian especially) market is a huge multi-billion dollar per year industry.

 

And amazingly enough  it turns out there quite a few churches around that have big bands that perform for worship services.  I live in western Michigan and we have more churches around here than you can shake a stick at – and some with a lot of dough to dole out to musicians for worship services as well.

 

Anyway, I was surfing around the internet and found a couple of good websites for those of you that are interested in checking out some Christian related big band sites.  Here they are:

 

For listening:

www.bigbandpraise.com - We play music from groups that have done big band arrangements of old hymns as well as original works. We play selections from modern day bands as well as ones from Duke Ellington (his Sacred Concerts), Glenn Miller (Swing Low, Sweet Chariot), Louis Armstrong (Oh When the Saints, I Hope Gabriel Likes My Music), etc...(this is a pretty cool site actually)

 

www.dcjb.com  - The Dallas Christian Jazz Band is a nondenominational big band dedicated to bringing meaningful and exciting Christian music to audiences across Dallas-Fort Worth and beyond.  Founded in 1994, the DCJB is made up of saxophones, trombones, trumpets and a rhythm section. The group's members, led by Music Director David Kelley, are dedicated musicians of all ages, backgrounds and church affiliations.The DCJB features dynamic arrangements of familiar hymns, spirituals and other Christian music. Christmas music is played each year during the holiday season.

On Fire Big Band is a Christian Jazz big band playing a range of jazz styles from Swing to Latin, Funk to Blues, soul-searching Ballads to Gospel.

If I find any others of note, I’ll let you know.  If you have a Christian big band tip that is worthwhile, just make a comment to the blog.