Willie Sordillo Trio

The Willie Sordillo Trio is comprised of Willie Sordillo on alto saxophone, voice and musical direction; Linda Brown-San Martin on piano and voice; and Doug Rich on bass. All are seasoned musicians with long histories playing for worship as well as in a wide variety of musical settings including jazz, Latin, R&B and funk. The three have played together off and on since 2001 when they formed the nucleus of a band to accompany the Mystic Chorale. Willie helped found Jazz Worship at Old South Church in 2005. Frequent guests since the beginning, Doug and Linda became steady members of the trio in June 2010. Doug and Linda play regularly for worship at other churches, while Willie is a frequent guest at churches throughout the Commonwealth, introducing congregations to jazz worship. Linda also directs the gospel choirs at Regis and Leslie Colleges, and the Eastern Mass. Gospel Choir. Doug and Willie frequently freelance together, and are part of an R&B ensemble, Enfusion, which backs up a James Brown impersonator.

While jazz and gospel music are the group’s mainstays, repertoire for Jazz Worship is very broad, encompassing hymnody, folk, blues, popular and world music traditions. The musical direction on a given week is determined by the music’s relevance to the themes addressed by the sermon.