The Glide Ensemble
Under the musical direction of Zoë Ellis, the Glide Ensemble performs every Sunday in the Glide Memorial Church Sanctuary at 330 Ellis Street at 9am and 11am for our legendary Sunday Celebrations. Listen to us sing, play, clap and sway, spreading the spirit of empowerment and love.
Singing Beyond Sunday
Besides performing at 115 Celebrations every year, the Glide Ensemble takes the church outside the walls for 30-40 additional performances every year. We share our message of love everywhere within the community: from prisons and the projects to stadiums and television, from the streets of the Tenderloin to the silver screen. From Market Street to as far away as Shanghai, China, the Glide Ensemble has sang of justice and empowerment.
Whether they are raising funds for the church or donating their performances to a worthy cause, the dedication of the volunteer choir members who sing beyond Sunday is incredible. Collectively, they donate over 7,000 hours of volunteer labor every year. Their powerful gift is to make people feel faith, hope, and love wherever they travel.
Come Sing With Us!
Want to sing with the Glide Ensemble? If you would like to join our choir, send a 60-90 second audio or video recording of yourself singing your favorite song to Zoë Ellis at zellis@glide.org. Please specify in your email if you want to sing at church services or at hospital beds with our Care Choir, or both.
Whether you’re new to singing or an experienced musician, all are welcome. This is a nurturing environment for self-expression and learning to unleash your unique voice. We see singing as a spiritual practice of collectively releasing a transcendent truth– come share your truth with us!
Glide Ensemble History
The Glide Ensemble was founded in 1966, accompanied by the jazz legend John Handy. Beginning with the first choir director, Faith Winthrop, the Glide Ensemble has benefitted from the direction of such talented leaders as Donnell Hickman, Ronald Sutherland, John F. Turk, Jr., Clifford Coulter, and Vernon Bush.
Touching thousands of people every year, the Glide Ensemble draws together those with disparate spiritual paths and life circumstances to sing of liberation, celebration, truth telling, love and hope. We partner with shining stars of the music industry to bring our message of love to the world: Sammy Davis Jr., Leonard Bernstein, Bobby McFerrin, Joan Baez, Ruby Ibarra, El DeBarge, Goapele Mohlabane, and Destani Wolf are just a few of those who have sung alongsisde us. We also regularly partner with the local young musician’s collective Follow the Music.
Starting with Glide Memorial Church’s first “Happening,” a contemporary worship service that brought jazz music into the sanctuary and hippies dancing in the aisles, music has always been part of what makes Glide Memorial Church an experience to remember. Gone were the dirge-like hymnals; in came the joyous, explosive gospel music of the Black church alongside the rich traditions of jazz, rock, folk and blues.
This music, steeped in protest and visions of a more just and loving world, spirited Glide Memorial Church’s participation in the anti-war and civl rights battles of the 1960s and ’70s. The music has bolstered our work with the Black Panthers and the United Farm Workers, been proclaimed alongside gay liberation and marriage equality, and sung out against Apartheid, domestic violence, economic and social injustice, poverty and hunger.
Much like today, the Ensemble embodied an activist spirituality that provided the congregation and the community an antidote to the layers of repression that characterized many of their previous church experiences. A new world was emerging right outside Glide Memorial Church’s door and Cecil, his rag-tag, multi-colored singers, and Change Band brought that energy right into the sanctuary.
This tradition is carried into today, where no one is rejected; everyone is accepted. Anyone, regardless of vocal talent, is able to join this egalitarian body and break the mold of a stale and sedate church every Sunday.
By using music from a variety of sources, The Change Band honors the truth that the divine can be found in all places. Jazz is an anchoring point for the band because it is a true Black American art form known for bringing spiritual themes to secular places.
The Change Band’s members work full time as musicians and music teachers outside of church services. Their animated and distinctive music style provides verve to Glide Memorial Church’s Sunday Celebration– right down to adding cheerful rimshots every time the minister tells a joke.
The Change Band
The Change Band is the musical manifestation of Glide Memorial Church’s mission to change hearts and change society! It was named by Reverend Cecil Williams, who wanted raucous jazz and soul-filled Sunday Celebrations to spark social change. Its first leader was jazz legend John Handy and some of the Bay Area’s most famous jazz musicians have played in the band over time.
The Change Band is currently an 8-person band with a full 3-piece horn section, and includes musicians of many varied backgrounds: classical, folk, pop and pop as well as jazz. The ability to switch seamlessly between secular and spiritual music, and use both of them as part of a worship journey, has always been one of the band’s great strengths.
