Sacred Works New York Performances

*Sacred Works* looks to Duke Ellington’s concert-length sacred compositions, where jazz language is used to frame prayer, testimony, and community ritual. Now at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Appel Room, it brings together Godwin Louis with The JLCO, vocalist Kate Kortum and Preservation, plus tap dancer John Manzari in close dialogue with pianist Luther S. Allison. Ellington first introduced these works in the 1960s, insisting they belonged on major stages rather than in the margins of “church music.” The program’s earned insight is simple: it treats jazz as a civic, spiritual vocabulary, not a style in search of approval.