Oxford Centre for Religion and Culture presents: ‘Jazz Spiritualities: The Natural Noise of Good‘

Our second session features Rommi Smith who will speak on ‘Sarah Vaughan’s Spiritual Sonics’

Trinity Term Week 3 – Wednesday 13th May at 5pm, The Collier Room, Regent’s Park College, Oxford.

Places are limited, register for free here:

Photo credit (c) Lizzie Coombes

Dr Rommi Smith writes: Sarah Vaughan (nicknamed “The Divine One”) was the contralto-darling of Birdland and The Famous Door. Musicologist Gunther Schuller called her the “the greatest vocal artist of the twentieth century.” Vaughan’s influence can be heard upon artists such as Dr. Dianne Reeves, Cecile McLorin Salvant and Samara Joy. Yet, whilst she is seen as one of the defining voices of “jazz”, like many other practitioners classified as jazz musicians, she disliked and refused the term.

In my talk, I examine Vaughan’s dislike of the term “jazz”, whilst centering her spiritual and artistic practices. I re-read Vaughan, as a spiritual and political activist, via her art.

DR ROMMI SMITH

Rommi Smith is a freelance writer, academic and broadcaster. Winner of the Northern Writers Prize for Poetry, Rommi has been awarded prestigious fellowships, residencies and commissions, from organisations and institutions ranging from the BBC to The British Council. In 2025, she was appointed a judge for the Forward Prizes for Poetry.

Rommi is the inaugural British Parliamentary Writer-in-Residence. She was Writer-in-Residence for Keats’ House, the Wordsworth Trust and most recently, the inaugural Writer-in-Residence for Harewood House, writing in response to its exhibition about Jane Austen & JMW Turner.

Rommi is a librettist and collaborates with the composer Roderick Williams. Their works include: Cusp (premiered at The Southbank Centre), The Blacke Songs (premiered at The Tower of London) and Three Dimensions (commissioned by and premiered at St Paul’s Cathedral).

Rommi was commissioned by Lubaina Himid and The ICA to create Tracing the Thin Black Line (a new performance work marking the 40^th anniversary of the exhibition The Thin Black Line). The work premiered at the Institute of Contemporary Art in 2025.

Rommi’s academic scholarship centres jazz and blues women and civil rights. She is honoured to have interviewed leading contemporary musicians, from Dr. Dianne Reeves to Dr. Esperanza Spalding, Professor Terri Lyne Carrington to Cassandra Wilson, as part her academic research. Rommi’s work is published by, amongst others, Routledge and New York University Press.

Rommi has written and presents the celebrated BBC series Full Moon on Progress St, inspired by her academic research. Both of the current series of the programme are available on BBC iPlayer. The series was selected by The Radio Times as a Highlight.

A collection of poems inspired by her research is forthcoming.

www.rommi-smith.co.uk