Amen! I got chills reading your post. So true the defined and open contradiction of Jazz; ensemble pieces with wildly individual improvisation.

Jazz is an American brand born out of Jim Crow, slavery, the Gospel, and sweat, but ironically, it's thrown wide open to the international community. The music of the oppressed, liberates. Imagine that.

I pray that I, too, would be a Jazz Christian, to share my songs of pain and watch God transform the notes to to beauty, strength and salvation, intermingling with the notes of other brothers and sisters, creating irresistible praise music that others want to listen to...and join.