Eddie Bonnemère and Saint Peter's

Eddie Bonnemère playing the piano during a jazz liturgy at Saint Peter's in 1971, courtesy of Lutheran Standard. ⁠

Today, in honor of Black History Month, we’re looking at another founding Jazz Ministry member, Eddie Bonnemère.

In addition to being a pianist, composter, and avid church musician, he was a public-school teacher in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx for over thirty years. He was a lifelong learner as well, holding two master’s degrees from New York University and Hunter College, respectively, and a doctorate from Union Graduate School in Yellow Springs, Ohio. ⁠

In 1965, he wrote—influenced by Mary Lou Williams, a prolific composer, pianist, and mentor collaborating on Catholic masses at the time—the Missa Hodierna for jazz ensemble and choir, which was first presented in 1966 during a service in Harlem's St. Charles Borromeo Church, becoming the first Jazz Mass for a Catholic church in the country. Eddie Bonnemère played with Howard McGhee, featured last Tuesday, performing Missa Hodierna at Town Hall Together.⁠

Bonnemère, during the ministry’s early years, had a standing engagement performing the first Sunday in every month, leading his eight‐piece orchestra and Jesu Choir in a liturgical service. In 1971, in a subsequent performance at Saint Peter's Church, Bonnemère melded jazz with Latin American rhythms to the Lutheran liturgy with his composition, "Missa A Nuestro Dios." ⁠

Courtesy of Black American Vol. 14, 1970.