Mark Harvey Group, 50th Anniversary Of A Rite For All Souls

Join us on October 28 for a Live Zoom Conversation, with video and musical excerpts, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of A Rite for All Souls, an extraordinary performance by The Mark Harvey Group five decades ago. “Harvey and his colleagues created something which was part performance art, part jazz concert, and part religious ritual, in the hope of marshaling all manner of resources, both musical and spiritual, for the struggle for peace.....Harvey and his partners are indeed wrestling with demons here, and it is a potent thing to behold.” (Troy Dostert, AllAboutJazz.com)

On October 31, 1971, with American democracy in turmoil, The Mark Harvey Group (Mark Harvey, brasswinds; Peter H. Bloom, woodwinds; and their late colleagues Craig Ellis and Michael Standish, percussion) composed and performed A Rite for All Souls at Boston’s venerable Old West Church – a powerful aesthetic response to the times and an evocation of “the better angels of our nature.” ...

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Join us on October 28 for a Live Zoom Conversation, with video and musical excerpts, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of A Rite for All Souls, an extraordinary performance by The Mark Harvey Group five decades ago. “Harvey and his colleagues created something which was part performance art, part jazz concert, and part religious ritual, in the hope of marshaling all manner of resources, both musical and spiritual, for the struggle for peace.....Harvey and his partners are indeed wrestling with demons here, and it is a potent thing to behold.” (Troy Dostert, AllAboutJazz.com)

On October 31, 1971, with American democracy in turmoil, The Mark Harvey Group (Mark Harvey, brasswinds; Peter H. Bloom, woodwinds; and their late colleagues Craig Ellis and Michael Standish, percussion) composed and performed A Rite for All Souls at Boston’s venerable Old West Church – a powerful aesthetic response to the times and an evocation of “the better angels of our nature.”

A Rite for All Souls was a single extended musical work of instrumental movements punctuated by brief recitations. The diversity of sonic experiences, the musical and poetic interactions, the theatrical gestures and stagecraft all combined to create a profound experience.

A superb live concert recording of the 1971 performance, lost for nearly 5 decades, was re-discovered in 2018. The original reel-to-reel tapes were digitally remastered to create an audiophile-quality 2-CD set (with booklet) documenting the event. The album A Rite for All Souls was released in July 2020

Mark Harvey and Peter Bloom, surviving members of the Mark Harvey Group, will hold a Live Zoom Event on October 28, 2021 at 7:00 pm to mark the 50th anniversary of A Rite for All Souls. The evening will include brief introductions from Mark and Peter, and an encore viewing of their 2020 video-interview with veteran jazz writer Bob Blumenthal (with excerpts from the CD). After the video, everyone will return to the Live Zoom room for questions and conversations.
Free admission, registration required. See the ticketing link to sign up.

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