The Trees Community

The Trees Community was an Episcopal Church-affiliated Christian community and a music group. They were also known simply as The Trees, and originally as "The Symphony of Souls." They were at first a disparate set of unlikely young acquaintances that bonded in a sense of common brokenness that permeated young men and women in the United States at the time, and that resulted in a wide-ranging "search for Truth". From this simple beginning in a loft in Manhattan in 1970, the group evolved into a community with a formal, religious order. Based at The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine in New York City, they worked closely with James Parks Morton who was Dean of the cathedral at the time they were artists in residence there. Canon Edward Nason West, upon whom novelist Madeleine L'Engle based the fictional character Canon Tallis, was their spiritual advisor. The group was mentioned in an article on Dean Morton in Time magazine:

Contents

• The trees community psalm 42
• The trees community birth
• Songs
• References

Morton is pleased that at least one group of young people has chosen the cathedral as the base for one of those alternatives: a religious community. The five men and three women, ranging in age from 20 to 30, went through a virtual catalogue of religious experiences before undergoing their Christian conversions. Now known as the Trees Group, they live in an apartment near the church, regularly give concerts at the cathedral and also perform tasks like guiding cathedral visitors. This fall they will take preliminary vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.

The group purchased a bus and traveled extensively throughout the United States and Canada giving music concerts. They visited and performed at a wide variety of Christian communities, from the Hutterites at the Community Farm of the Brethren in Bright, Ontario, to the Church of the Redeemer in Houston, Texas, to the Trappist monks of Gethsemani Monastery in Trappist, Kentucky.

Musically, the collective were known for their highly spiritual, ethereal vocals, with musical backing by a wide range of instruments from all over the world, such as sitar, tamboura, koto, Venezuelan harp, and bells. Almost all their music is original.

They only released one album in their seven-year lifespan—1975's The Christ Tree—though there were other recordings made of the group, notably by the monks at the Abbey of Gethsemani and composer Calvin Hampton.

In 2007, a fan of the group, Timothy Renner of Hand • Eye, salvaged the LP master and these other recordings, digitally remastered them and produced "The Christ Tree Box Set.", of four CDs. He then produced "The Christ Tree" single CD, currently commercially available.