Liturgical Jazz and Mid-Twentieth Century Black Catholic America

Welcome to another episode of “Religion in the American Experience”, the podcast that equips listeners to be more effective stewards of religion’s positive role in the American experiment in self-government. Today we will be exploring the surprising, fascinating, and little-known story of post-Vatican II liturgical jazz music in mid-twentieth century Black Catholic America.   Season 4, Episode 24 – Liturgical Jazz and Mid-Twentieth Century Black Catholic America   Guest Bio Deanna Witkowski is a pianist, composer, scholar and author of Mary Lou Williams: Music For The Soul, winner of the 2022 ASCAP Foundation Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Award and the 2022 Jazz Journalists Association Award for Biography of the Year. Deanna has taught for Jazz at Lincoln Center and performed Williams’ compositions as a featured guest with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. In 2024, Witkowski completed her PhD in jazz studies at the University of Pittsburgh and is currently writing her second book based on her doctoral dissertation, “Jazz in the Pews: Experiments in Sunday Worship in the 1960s.” Show notes: Mass for Every Season Mass for the Lenten Season (Stonewall Chorale + DW Trio)--starts at 12:30 Jazz in the Pews Podcast Support Scholarly support provided by Dr. Lauren Turek, Associate Professor of History at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. Technical audio and video assistance provided by Dr. Randall Stephens, a Professor of American and British Studies at the University of Oslo. Religion in the American Experience is a podcast of the private, digital-first National Museum of American Religion, which tells the story of how religion has shaped America and how America has shaped religion. This includes the establishment of religious freedom in the United States Constitution’s Article II, Section 1 “Oath or Affirmation” clause; Article VI “no religious Test” clause; and the free exercise and non-establishment clauses in the Bill of Rights.