Priests, seminarians in Vatican III to perform jazz in East Taunton which everyone knew. Thus began the first iteration of Vatican III — or a Vatican Trio, if you will. “Later that semester, we played a little gig in the common room at the seminary with that lineup: Pat on guitar, Larry and myself on electric bass,” Father Gill said. It wouldn’t take long for
Above, members of the jazz-funk fusion group Vatican III include, from left, Father Patrick Fiorillo, drums; Father Matthew Gill, bass; Larry Valliere, guitar; and Matthew Laird, saxophone. The band will be performing at Holy Family Parish in East Taunton on Friday, May 24 at 7 p.m. By Kenneth J. Souza Editor
kensouza@anchornews.org
EAST TAUNTON — St. Francis once prayed, “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.” About five years ago, a group of young seminarians decided to take up literal instruments to form a jazz ensemble known as Vatican III. Despite its name, the fourmember group — Father Patrick Fiorillo on drums, Father Matthew Gill on bass, seminarian Larry Valliere on guitar, and seminarian Matthew Laird on saxophone — is not an ecumenical council, nor is it sanctioned by the Holy See. It’s just a group of musicians with a vocation, sharing their God-given talents with people who appreciate the gift of music. Vatican III will be sharing that gift during a special benefit performance at Holy Family Church in East Taunton on Friday, May 24 at 7 p.m. According to Father Matthew Gill, parochial vicar at Our Lady of Victory Parish in Centerville and Our Lady of the Assumption Parish in Osterville, he remembers first getting together with Father Fiorillo in the summer of 2013. 2
“We were both seminarians at St. John’s, and I brought my bass over to his house and we played — just bass and drums and it was neat,” Father Gill recently told The Anchor. “I don’t think we were intending to play in a band at the time, we were just happy to dust off the instruments from our college years.” Later that fall, Father Gill said he once again teamed up for another jam session — this time with newly-enrolled Larry Valliere — at the Brighton seminary. “I knew Larry (also) played electric bass, and I asked him one evening if he wanted to play,” Father Gill said. “We were playing a few tunes, and Father Fiorillo happened to walk by and came into the room.” “I heard the sound of a 12bar blues jam coming out of the one of the rooms,” Father Fiorillo told The Anchor. “I peeked in, and there were Larry and Matt, jamming on the bass. And then I noticed an extra acoustic guitar sitting on the cabinet, so I picked it up and started adding chords.” When that impromptu jam finished, Father Fiorillo suggested a Herbie Hancock tune entitled “Watermelon Man,”
† May 17, 2019
Father Fiorillo to invite his bandmates over to his parent’s house, where he kept his beloved drum kit. “Drums have always been my main instrument,” Father Fiorillo said. “But they had never left my parents’ basement since I entered the seminary.” “When Father Fiorillo
brought his drums to the seminary to play, we called ourselves ‘The Feastdays,’” Father Gill recalled. “We would ask brother seminarians to play with us as special guests. We had seminarians playing trumpet, clarinet, keyboards, trombone, and even sing with us, too.” 8 Turn to page four