Letting Music Speak in Church Setting

Inspired by the 27-year history of Jazz Vespers programs at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in New York, actor and music fan Steve Rowe has initiated a similar service at the First Lutheran Church of Glendale.

“I wanted to create a place for the music to speak in a church setting,” says Rowe, a member of the First Lutheran congregation who started Jazz Vespers there in September. “To me, improvisation is the pure expression of spirituality, and it opens me up to a lot of things in scriptural readings that I can understand for the first time.”

The Jazz Vespers at First Lutheran are nondenominational, and while there are readings--mostly of Psalms from the Old Testament--the accent is on the music, Rowe says. “The music carries the service,” he says. “The possibility of new listening in this space is provoked by the music, not by the word. And the musicians have acknowledged that it is a place to have their music listened to without the hubbub of a club.”

Guitarist Bennett Brandeis and pianist Cecilia Coleman are among those that have led ensembles at First Lutheran. Each group has played selections of its own choosing. Black/Note, the strong L.A.-based group, appears this Sunday at 6:30 p.m.

“It was really a spiritual kind of thing,” Coleman says of her experience at First Lutheran. “The setting seemed to give the music a little more meaning, and you could tell the people were really into it.”

Rowe says attendance at the services, which are held the second or third Sunday of each month, has been around 200. Rowe pays the musicians a small fee and hopes to raise additional funds from donations. A fund-raising dinner will be held Sunday, 5 p.m., at the church, located at 1300 E. Colorado Blvd., Glendale. A $10 donation is requested.

Information: (213) 245-4000, (818) 240-9000.

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Changing Plans: Joe Zawinul’s group Zawinul Syndicate, scheduled to make a rare six-night club stand at Catalina Bar & Grill starting Tuesday, has canceled. Zawinul, who lives in Malibu, cited the earthquake and recent inclement weather for the decision. Saxophonist Odean Pope, a longtime member of Max Roach’s quartet, will appear Tuesday through Feb. 20 in place of Zawinul. . . . Dave Koz, the pop-jazz saxman whose “Lucky Man” Capitol Records release is currently No. 3 on the Billboard magazine Contemporary Jazz chart, will perform Feb. 19 at the Strand in Redondo Beach. Shows are at 8 and 10:30 p.m. Tickets are $21.50. Koz had been scheduled to appear that evening at the Henry Fonda Theatre in Hollywood, but that venue has been closed due to earthquake damage.

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Jazz in Alhambra: In a desire to expose more people to music, Vicki Pedrini of Pedrini Music in Alhambra has been spotlighting jazz artists at her Main Street store. In a performance space fashioned from what used to be a demonstration room for electronic keyboards, Pedrini hosts free concerts each Saturday, from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Bill Cunliffe’s trio plays Saturday, guitarist Ron Affif’s quartet appears Feb. 19 and the New York-based Hardbop quintet, with pianist Keith Saunders, is set for Feb. 26.

Pedrini Music also hosts a free vocal workshop on Feb. 19 with jazz singer Cathy Segal-Garcia, and schedules other events, from classical concerts to “Meet the Composer” programs.

Information: (213) 283-1932, (818) 289-0241.

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Critic’s Choices: Fine San Francisco Bay Area guitarist Bruce Forman heads into the Club Brasserie in the Bel Age Hotel on Tuesday and Wednesday. . . . Cecilia Coleman’s quintet holds forth tonight and Saturday at Atlas. . . . Bill Holman’s dynamic big band appears Tuesday at the Moonlight Tango Cafe in Sherman Oaks.