Thriving on a Riff: Jazz and the Spiritual Life

In Thriving on a Riff, Presbyterian minister and jazz pianist Bill Carter shows us how jazz, in its quest for transcendence, bridges the gap between the secular and the sacred and, further, that these two worlds are not mutually exclusive—jazz is spiritual.

Carter traces jazz from its origins in the twilight of American slavery, to its evolution from dance music to serious art form during the American civil rights movement, and its eventual...