Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the OnScript Podcast. This is Matt Lynch coming to you from Regent College in Vancouver.

In this episode, we're going to feature one more episode from Blue Note Theology, from my friend Mark Glanville, where he interweaves music, jazz music, and theological reflection.

And in this one, it's called I Practice Scales to Become a Saint,

featuring John Coltrane, Christ Followers, and artists. So I think you're really going to enjoy it.

Check out Mark's podcast, Blue Note Theology. He's got more episodes up. And be sure to listen

and follow and give him ratings and reviews to help other people learn about the unique work that he's doing there.

So enjoy the episode and thanks for listening.

Hello and welcome to the Blue Note Theology podcast. I'm your host Mark Glanville. I'm a scholar of theology and I've written five books, but I started my career as a jazz pianist. I still play professionally, gigging with the very best musicians, and I've pasted in creative justice-seeking churches for 14 years in Canada and

Australia. I'm putting my two loves, jazz and theology, into conversation with each other.

Blue notes in jazz and blues music create tension and some of the deepest creativity and imagination

is found in that space. Scripture also has so many blue notes, places of deep tension and beauty, where I believe there is immense opportunity for us to creatively imagine ways of building fresh expressions of Christian community. Churches that display the tenderness of Jesus. Today we're going to talk about the value of beauty for Christian communities,

scales and saints.

The great tennis saxophonist John Coltrane once reflected, I practice scales to become a saint, points us to a

commonality between artists and Christ's followers. John Coltrane was one of the greatest jazz

musicians who's ever lived. Every jazz musician since his time have been influenced and impacted by his genius,

including myself. John Coltrane spearheaded the idea of improvising with what we call

pentatonic scales or five-note scales, pent-five. Let me illustrate.

Music So that kind of modern jazz sound.

John Coltrane was so influential in shaping that.

When he says, I practice scales to become a saint,

I think he's speaking about a particular way of knowing that artists share,

not just jazz musicians, but other artists as well.

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