Rev Dr Tim Boniface talks about his life as a jazz musician, composer and Church of England priest, reports churchofengland.org
As a jazz musician, composer and priest, Rev Dr Tim Boniface is frequently asked which profession ‘comes first’. His response: “I am 100% priest and 100% musician.”
“Praying and playing are both rooted in the same place within me, and I don’t think of my life as one part priest, one part jazz musician – the whole is for God,” he says.
“Being a jazz musician is part of my vocation as a Christian person: I am called by God when I am playing just as much as I am when ministering as a Church of England priest.”
Rev Boniface first knew he wanted to be a jazz player when his father took him to a concert aged 11. He began paid jazz gigs at 18, before going to university to study theology and later training for ordained ministry at Westcott House in Cambridge.
He is now the part-time Chaplain at Girton College Cambridge, overseeing the life of the Chapel and leading its worship. He is part of the College’s overall welfare structure and offers support to all members of the community.
In his remaining time, he is a professional freelance musician whose job includes leading ensembles and collaborating with other jazz musicians.
He brings his musical contacts to life at the College and the wider university. Pianist James Pearson (Director of Ronnie Scott’s, the renowned London jazz venue) is a jazz musician in residence at the College, and Rev Boniface is taking the lead on Girton Jazz, a programme of jazz workshops and concerts within the College.
As a specialist in alto and tenor saxes and piano, Rev Boniface extols the ‘deeply spiritual’ elements of jazz music. His recent projects as a composer include jazz suites The Infant: A Jazz Suite for Christmas and The Eight Words, based on the eight sayings of Jesus in the St John Passion. His composition, Psalter: Themes for Peace, premiered at St Albans Cathedral in January
