Before World War II, American churches, black and white, regarded jazz and blues with suspicion or outright hostility as "the devil's music".
It was only after World War II that a few jazz musicians began to compose and perform extended works intended for religious settings or expression.
The societal changes of the 1960s included changes in attitudes toward the arts in both the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches, which slowly became more open to the liturgical use of jazz.
Other artists including John Coltrane, Dave Brubeck, Lalo Schifrin and Vince Guaraldi performed and recorded major sacred jazz works.
One of the most popular figures in the modern form of the genre is the African American saxophonist Kirk Whalum, whose fusion of jazz and Black Gospel music has garnered a litany of Grammy Award nominations and a number of bestselling albums.
[12] In 2013, Versace put forth bassist Ike Sturm and New York composer Deanna Witkowski as contemporary exemplars of sacred and liturgical jazz.
[14] Pianist Cyrus Chestnut grew up performing gospel and hearing jazz in Baltimore before obtain a master's degree from Berklee College of Music.