The Rev. Tim Boniface, curate of St. Nicholas Church in Chislehurst, Kent, talks with Mandy Carr about his recording The Eight Words:
Late 2015, I had a conversation with Martin Evans (ex-Greenbelt director) in which we agreed I’d write a new jazz suite for the community ‘ArtsFest’ to be held in Holy Week at St. Paul’s Church in Cambridge. After searching around for some inspiration, I recalled having read Michael Sadgrove’s book The Eight Words of Jesus. I decided to write a suite examining each of the eight sayings of Jesus in St John’s passion. I was thrilled to work with three absolutely stunning jazz players based in London and we premiered it in Holy Week 2016. Shortly afterwards, I agreed with Westcott House in Cambridge that we would jointly release a studio recording of the project, with the profits going towards their development project. The CD, The Eight Words, is now available, and we’re performing it around the place a bit too — not least at St. Nicholas in Chislehurst on 8th April.