Here's a recording of the song I wrote for Jazz Sunday on February 28th, 2010. Performers are Andrea Llafet, Piano; Don Barnes, Tenor Saxophone; Ben Lincoln, alto saxophone; Dan Schlesinger, Euphonium; Jeff Lewis, Drums and myself on Bass. Vocals by Carolyn and Lynelle Tarter.



"Out of the Chaos" is based on Psalm 130, aka "De profundis." This song came about when Jeff Lewis suggested I should write something for Jazz Sunday on February 28th, 2010, which falls during Lent. I did some research on psalms, and this one seemed to have the right visuals that I could manipulate into a jazz piece.

I knew I wasn't going to use the lyrics directly from the Psalms - I'm sure the original song in Hebrew works musically, but not so when translated into English - much less Jazz. But the concepts in the Psalm are compelling. The author is apparently writing about how his people are messing up. Things are bad. Things are getting worse. All they can hope for is God's continued forgiveness for a bunch of losers.

Regardless of where you stand spiritually, this strikes me as a really strong message for any of our relationships. We screw up. We're forgiven by whoever we wronged. And then probably screw up again. It's not our intent to mess up our lives, and the lives of those around us. But we do, and then we hope for the best.

Here's the original Psalm 130 as found in the Revised Standard Edition:
A Song of Ascents.
Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.
Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications!

If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?
But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered.

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;
my soul waits for the Lord
more than those who watch for the morning,
more than those who watch for the morning.

O Israel, hope in the Lord!
For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
and with him is great power to redeem.
It is he who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities.

And then, here are the words I used in the song:
Out of the chaos. We call to you
We are still waiting. We call to you
We are still Suffering. We call to you

We will wait for your forgiveness like a watchman waits for dawn

We sin. You forgive
we sin. You forgive
we sin. You forgive.
We sin....

This was probably one of the most complex pieces I've written so far, due to accounting for two vocalists, as well as the instrumentation. It's interesting that I can hear it in my head - but getting it down on paper is difficult. Perhaps it's because a lot of what I hear is the general picture - but the essence is in the details.

If you'd like to perform this, let me know. I have charts for vocals, piano, Eb, Bb and Bass. It assumes that you're going to do some improvisation, so don't plan to play it exactly as written.