This month, be sure to join us in-person on Sunday, July 20th, 2025 at 4:50pm when we continue our 2024-2025 Jazz Vespers series in our recently renovated St. James Lutheran Church building — our special guest musician for this live performance is Dmitri Matheny on flugelhorn.
Musical accompaniment by Mike Horsfall on piano, Laurent Nickel on bass, and Tim Rap on drums. Della Simone is serving as cantor, and Pastor David Knapp is our liturgist.
Next month we invite you to attend again in our St. James sanctuary and we ask you to make a freewill donation (offering) to help support our musicians as we conclude our 2024-2025 season — with a performance by our guest Mieke Bruggeman on baritone sax — at 4:50pm on Sunday, August 17th, 2025. You can find the complete 2024-2025 Jazz Vespers guest artist roster further down on this webpage. Although we have resumed our St. James Jazz Vespers series in-person — please remember that you may also continue to enjoy our prior Jazz Vespers on video.
You may now choose to listen below to the most recent recording of our Jazz Vespers Service from Sunday, July 20th, 2025. Click the link below to listen to this latest recording …
You may also continue to find links to some of our previous Jazz Vespers recordings by navigating to “Communications > Music” on the main navigation menu at the top of the page. Or you can click here to be linked directly to the “Music” page.
This 45 minute jazz musical setting of the Evening Prayer liturgy is held on the third Sunday of each month. Professional jazz musicians and vocalists lead this reflective service with scriptural reading, psalms, hymns, and prayer. Preludes and postludes from the broad jazz repertoire precede and follow the service.
Jazz Vespers on Sunday, July 20th at 4:50pm, features guest Dmitri Matheny on flugelhorn …
Jazz Vespers is held every 3rd Sunday at 4:50pm. Once again this year, we were very pleased to be a venue for the PDX Jazz Festival.
Born on Christmas Day, 1965 in Nashville, Tennessee, Dmitri began piano lessons at age 5, switched to the trumpet at age 9, and took up the flugelhorn at 18. He attended the prestigious Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, then the Berklee College of Music, Boston, graduating magna cum laude in 1989.
At 29, after launching a busy recording career on the West Coast, Matheny made his New York debut at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, then began touring internationally. He has traveled to 19 countries and has performed with many Motown and popular music acts including the Temptations, Martha Reeves, the Four Tops, and Frankie Avalon, among others.
Celebrated for his warm tone, soaring lyricism and masterful technique, American musician Dmitri Matheny has been lauded as “one of the most emotionally expressive improvisers of his generation” (International Review of Music). Matheny’s discography lists over 120 albums on which he appears as a composer, arranger, producer, annotator or flugelhorn soloist. Matheny presents clinics, lectures, master classes and workshops at leading universities and conservatories, and is gratified to have staged more than 500 free, curriculum-based concerts for kids, introducing over 50,000 school children to jazz. Today, Dmitri leads the Dmitri Matheny Group, “an all-star jazz band featuring some of the most accomplished musicians in the western United States” (All About Jazz).
Come hear Dmitri and the Mike Horsfall Trio on Sunday, July 20th. Pre-Vespers music starts at 4:50pm.
This marks the eleventh Jazz Vespers of the 2024-25 season. You can find the complete Jazz Vespers guest roster further down on this webpage.
Other highlights – Pastor David Knapp will guide our liturgy by creatively weaving the lyrics of a selected jazz song into his message. The congregation will be singing an original, jazz-influenced liturgy composed by Marguerite Luc. Della Simone will be our cantor. The Mike Horsfall Trio includes Laurent Nickel on bass, and Tim Rap on drums. We look forward to seeing you.
–Mike Horsfall, Director of Jazz
Be sure to join us for what’s sure to be a vibrant evening of music! The Vespers will be held in our St. James sanctuary. Pre-Vespers music begins at 4:50pm. Freewill offering.
Dmitri is joined by our St. James house band: Mike Horsfall, piano; Laurent Nickel, bass; Tim Rap, drums; and Della Simone, cantor.
NOTE: During the months of July and August — in the Pioneer Chapel — the Visual Artists’ Group at St. James presents an exhibit titled “Inspired by Her” by MIX which is a Portland-based group of fiber artists who meet regularly to share ideas, explore designs and create original work around shared themes. Please join us for an artists’ reception at 6:00pm on Sunday, July 20th, 2025 — immediately following our Jazz Vespers performance.
Next month’s featured guest: Join us as we conclude our 2024-2025 season of Jazz Vespers — with a performance by our guest Mieke Bruggeman on baritone sax — at 4:50pm on Sunday, August 17th, 2025. You can find the 2024-2025 Jazz Vespers guest artist roster listed below.
The St. James Jazz Vespers series is alive and well! Since the completion of construction — we are holding our services back in our newly renovated St. James Lutheran Church building — at 5:00pm every 3rd Sunday of the month, with the prelude music starting at 4:50pm. The service consists of an original jazz-tinged liturgy, composed by Marguerite Luc, that involves the congregation and the cantor accompanied by a jazz trio. The pastor’s message is linked to a chosen jazz tune, which is performed after the sermon. The service is punctuated by thematic jazz standards featuring a special musical guest.
St. James Jazz Vespers 2024-2025 Season …
Join us on the third Sunday of each month for our Jazz Vespers series. You won’t want to miss it!
**** The 2024-2025 Jazz Vespers guest artist roster:
Sep. 15th, 2024 – Renato Caranto, tenor sax
Oct. 20th, 2024 – Cheryl Alex, flute
Nov. 17th, 2024 – Della Simone, voice
Dec. 15th, 2024 – Kerry Politzer, piano; Mike Horsfall, vibes
Jan. 19th, 2025 – Eddie Parente, violin
Feb. 16th, 2025 – Dan Balmer, guitar
Mar. 16th, 2025 – John Stowell, guitar
Apr. 20th, 2025 – Pete Petersen, tenor sax
May 18th, 2025 – John Moak, trombone
June 15th, 2025 – Haley Horsfall, voice & percussion
July 20th, 2025 – Dmitri Matheny, flugelhorn
Aug. 17th, 2025 – Mieke Bruggeman, baritone sax
Pre-Vespers music begins at 4:50pm. Freewill offering.
Another new feature in this year’s series is the artwork used for the postcards, posters, and bulletins. The artist, Joel Nickel, and his piece “Breaking Out of the Box” — which is displayed at the top of this webpage — conveys colorful concepts, jagged rhythms, and reflections on Christian life that make up the music and messages at a Jazz Vespers service. Please join us as we celebrate this new season and feature these musicians!
NOTE: New “St. James Jazz Vespers – We’ll Be Together Again” CD Released!
The new CD, “St. James Jazz Vespers – We’ll Be Together Again”, has arrived! These musical highlights are a collection of tunes played during the pandemic shutdown from July 2020 to July 2021 by The Mike Horsfall Trio and guests of the St. James Jazz Vespers. You can purchase one for $20 at the St. James office. Enjoy!
NOTE: “Come Sunday – Jazz Standards from Jazz Vespers” CD is currently out of print.
The recording “Come Sunday” was jointly produced by St. James Lutheran and St. Luke’s Episcopal churches. The Mike Horsfall Trio, with Laurent Nickel on bass and Brent Follis on drums, is featured on the CD, along with some guest performers.
The St. James Jazz Vespers is held starting at 4:50pm every 3rd Sunday of the month. It is a welcoming, inclusive, meditative message, delivered in part by a beautiful, original liturgy, punctuated with select jazz standards throughout. The music is performed by the Mike Horsfall Trio, and features a special guest each month. All are welcome.
