Oasis

A Celebration of New York’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine
Limited Edition Box Set

(o.a.sis): watering hole, spring, garden, sanctuary, refuge, haven, shelter, harbor, retreat

Oasis presents a story, through music, writings and photographs, of the community of artists and change-makers that grew out of a vital period at New York’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine, expressing a vision of wholeness, of unity in diversity, celebrating the full potential of human creativity. In the same way that Greek science shaped the worldview of medieval cathedrals, so contemporary understandings of ecology influenced the “green” Cathedral’s vision of the whole world as a sacred space.

A primary goal of Oasis will be to carry the story of the Cathedral to as broad an audience as possible, to catalyze a wider community of support for the Cathedral’s programs and financial stability, present and future.

• Duke Ellington’s Sacred Music Concerts at the Cathedral (late ‘60s);
• The music from Duke Ellington’s funeral at the Cathedral (1974);
• Judy Collins’ recordings in the Cathedral;
• Judy Collins’ “Song for Duke,” inspired by the Ellington funeral ;
• Music from the Dave Brubeck Memorial Concert at the Cathedral;
• Paul Winter Consort: compilations from their 22 albums recorded in the Cathedral, their 35 years of Winter Solstice Celebrations, and 20 years of Summer Solstice Celebrations;
• Paul Winter Consort: album of new recordings for the OASIS project;
• Paul Halley organ and piano recordings;
• Paul Halley and Paul Winter: organ and sax duet recordings

“Ever since St. John’s Day, December 27, 1892, when the cornerstone was thrice stuck into the living rock of Manhattan’s Morningside Heights, St. John has aimed to be ‘a House of Prayer for all People.’ To its great bronze doors have come all the faithful – Christian, Jew, Buddhist, existentialist, best-dressed, lesser-blessed, socially distressed – seeking joy and triumph over the universal demons. In the arboreal stillness of its towering columns and arches, they have listened to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Buckminster Fuller, the Dalai Lama, Rene Dubos, the Mayor of Jerusalem, Jesse Jackson, Secretaries General of the United Nations, Vaclav Havel, Senator Albert Gore, Cesar Chavez, Margaret Mead, Thomas Berry, Nelson Mandela, the Paul Winter Consort, and poet Gary Snyder. Under the jewel light of its 10,000 pane Great Rose Window, they have prayed together for war’s end. Though its keynote is distinctly American, as is that of the Episcopal Church, the Cathedral – affectionately known as ‘Big John’ – peals a message around the globe: ‘Peace on earth, goodwill to all.’”
-Wendy Insinger (from “Hosanna for St. John the Divine” in Town and Country magazine)