If you’ve got the Blues you may know that 2008 is ‘Duke 2008’ – a celebration of the life of Edward Kennedy ‘Duke’ Ellington.
The main event, ‘Ellington 2008’, comes to London for Spring Bank Holiday weekend [May 22nd-26th]. A 75th anniversary of his first European tour, aiming to ‘bring the spirit of the life and music of Duke Ellington back to London’. It will include a Bank Holiday Monday all-day jazz festival.

His career in jazz spanned from the 1920s to his death in 1974 – adapting to swing and Sinatra, sacred music and theatre scores. His popularity survived the Great Depression and the 1950s arrival of Rhythm & Blues and Rock & Roll. ‘In jazz he was a giant among giants.’ [www.allaboutjazz.com ]
Ellington said that his 1965 Concert of Sacred Music was ‘the most important thing I’ve ever done’. Jazz and Christian spirituality may seem an odd mix, but they do have something in common – freedom!

It was the experience of the first generation of freed American slaves that gave rise to jazz: ‘It is a music birthed out of freedom. And that is the closest thing I know to Christian spirituality.’ [Blue Like Jazz, p237, by Donald Miller].
All jazz has a ‘tune’ – a lead melody, accompanied by a keyboard chord sequence. As this is repeated, the melodist improvises his own solos around it. So jazz reflects its roots in freedom. But what about Christianity?
Jesus Christ said: ‘If you hold to my teaching you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’ [John 8:31-32]. His hearers responded with the same confusion as we might have done: ‘We have never been slaves to anyone. How can you say we shall be set free?’ [John 8:33]
But Jesus was talking about an even greater freedom from something that enslaves us all: ‘I tell you the truth, whoever sins is a slave to sin. If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.’ [John 8 v 34-36].

Do you, with me, recognise a natural bias to sin? Feeling enslaved, unable to live life loving God, unable to live his way? But although we shut God out, in Christ he came to us. He frees us from our path away from God, a path that continues into eternity. What greater freedom is there, than to be able to know God now and enjoy him forever!

So as the jazz soloist is free to improvise around the structure of chord sequences, the Christian has freedom to live their life in ways that please God, around the structure of his word – the Bible.
Duke 2008 promises to be a great event – ‘all for the love of Duke’. Whether or not that’s for us, have we discovered that in Christ there is freedom to live ‘all for the love of God’?