In 2015, I wrote Jonestown, a multimedia opera based on the events of the mass murder-suicide of November 1978. This opera incorporates audio recorded by Jim Jones and his followers in Peoples Temple, spanning several years of the organization’s existence. These recordings are all available on this website.
Leading a mostly Black congregation, Pastor Jones was greatly inspired by charismatic Black preachers of his time and adopted a very musical cadence in his sermons. However, his sermons were not meant to turn souls to God, but proselytize for social and economic justice through atheism and communism. As a leftist and atheist originally raised in the Black Pentecostal church, I could see how his followers were caught up in his message. In fact, Jones had high-profile supporters in California’s progressive political circles in the form of Angela Davis, Harvey Milk, George Moscone, and Willie Brown, among others, before he removed 1000 members of the Temple to Guyana in 1977.
During those final years in California, however, his sermons became more and more dangerous and megalomaniacal, as he slowly poisoned the minds of his followers, convincing them that “revolutionary suicide” was the only way to achieve their aims.
While choosing the audio to incorporate in the opera and editing the material that I did go on to use, I was keenly aware that I was not using this audio to its full sonic and emotional potential, and I have always hoped to return these sermons. Thus, came the impetus for The Jim Jones Etudes for saxophone quartet and audio playback. Unlike the narrative-driven Jonestown, the Etudes take a more detached approach, using Jones’ voice as a “sound object.” Inspired by the work of composers like Steve Reich and Jacob ter Veldhuis, Jones’ voice is used like a musical instrument performing in unison, and at times, in counterpoint with the quartet.
The Jim Jones Etudes were commissioned by ~Nois. The work will be premiered November 2, 2025 at Constellation in Chicago. The work employs strong language and themes, and may not be suitable for all listeners.
(Evan Williams‘ previous article for the jonestown report is Words Fail: Reflections on Writing Jonestown: A Multimedia Chamber Opera.)