Make it Swing: An Interview With Dwight Andrews | Reflections
The accomplishments of Dwight Andrews M.Div. ’77, M.Phil. ’83, Ph.D. ’93 cover the worlds of jazz, church, seminary, Broadway, and TV soundtracks. He is senior minister of First Congregational United Church of Christ in Atlanta and associate professor of music theory and African American music at Emory University. He has served as pastor of the Black Church at Yale and as resident music director at the Yale Repertory Theater. He collaborated with the late playwright August Wilson, serving as music director for the Broadway productions of Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, The Piano Lesson, and other plays. As a composer, his film credits include PBS Hollywood’s The Old Settler, Louis Massiah’s documentary W.E.B. DuBois: A Biography in Four Voices, and HBO’s Miss Evers’ Boys. He has been a multi-instrumentalist sideman on over 25 jazz albums. He has written on the future of race and the church. He is now completing a book on the spirituality of jazz giants John Coltrane, Duke Ellington, Mary Lou Williams, Sun Ra, Dave Brubeck, Albert Ayler, and Yusef Lateef.
Reflections: The relationship between churches and artists, belief and creativity is often complicated. Why?
Dwight Andrews: Today there is a tension between the individual’s creative voice and the needs of institutions to control its expression. For centuries, the church was a powerful authority over how art was to be used to tell its story. Artists these days aren’t as willing to be constrained by the church or any other authority. They want their work to be driven by their own personal vision of faith.
This challenge to the status quo is also one of the reasons behind the dramatic rise of non-denominational churches in America. New perspectives on autonomy, power, authority, economics, and the very understanding of “church” reflect major shifts in our culture. The explosion of megachurches and so-called “prosperity gospel” ministries also mirror these shifts.
The worship and music experience as well as the commerce of church music is affected. The demise of the denominational hymnal suggests that akey method of binding a particular faith community and tradition together no longer has the same influence. Musicians, supported by new technologies for dissemination and reproduction of their music, want to create their own songs about Jesus. As you can see, the tension between artist and church is both fascinating and problematic.
- See more at: http://reflections.yale.edu/article/divine-radiance-keeping-faith-beauty/make-it-swing-interview-dwight-andrews#sthash.kuXYM2bz.dpuf
(Ficklin Media Note: As I reflect upon my being a graduate of Yale Divinity School I have become increasingly proud of attending a place where in the midst of doctrine, tradition, historical weight and sometimes blind obedience, I was still allowed to thrive and explore with no personal conscious desire to enter the ministry. The opportunity to pursue my value proposition quest was priceless. The YDS quarterly magazine is free to all to read on line and whether you are a saint or sinner or somewhere in between it provides hearty food for body-mind-soul.)
The
accomplishments of Dwight Andrews M.Div. ’77, M.Phil. ’83, Ph.D. ’93
cover the worlds of jazz, church, seminary, Broadway, and TV
soundtracks. He is senior minister of First Congregational United Church
of Christ in Atlanta and associate professor of music theory and
African American music at Emory University. He has served as pastor of
the Black Church at Yale and as resident music director at the Yale
Repertory Theater. He collaborated with the late playwright August
Wilson, serving as music director for the Broadway productions of
Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, The Piano Lesson, and other plays. As a composer, his film credits include PBS Hollywood’s The Old Settler, Louis Massiah’s documentary W.E.B. DuBois: A Biography in Four Voices, and HBO’s Miss Evers’ Boys.
He has been a multi-instrumentalist sideman on over 25 jazz albums. He
has written on the future of race and the church. He is now completing a
book on the spirituality of jazz giants John Coltrane, Duke Ellington,
Mary Lou Williams, Sun Ra, Dave Brubeck, Albert Ayler, and Yusef Lateef.
Reflections: The relationship between churches and artists, belief and creativity is often complicated. Why?
Dwight Andrews: Today there is a tension between the individual’s creative voice and the needs of institutions to control its expression. For centuries, the church was a powerful authority over how art was to be used to tell its story. Artists these days aren’t as willing to be constrained by the church or any other authority. They want their work to be driven by their own personal vision of faith.
This challenge to the status quo is also one of the reasons behind the dramatic rise of non-denominational churches in America. New perspectives on autonomy, power, authority, economics, and the very understanding of “church” reflect major shifts in our culture. The explosion of megachurches and so-called “prosperity gospel” ministries also mirror these shifts.
The worship and music experience as well as the commerce of church music is affected. The demise of the denominational hymnal suggests that akey method of binding a particular faith community and tradition together no longer has the same influence. Musicians, supported by new technologies for dissemination and reproduction of their music, want to create their own songs about Jesus. As you can see, the tension between artist and church is both fascinating and problematic.
Reflections: The relationship between churches and artists, belief and creativity is often complicated. Why?
Dwight Andrews: Today there is a tension between the individual’s creative voice and the needs of institutions to control its expression. For centuries, the church was a powerful authority over how art was to be used to tell its story. Artists these days aren’t as willing to be constrained by the church or any other authority. They want their work to be driven by their own personal vision of faith.
This challenge to the status quo is also one of the reasons behind the dramatic rise of non-denominational churches in America. New perspectives on autonomy, power, authority, economics, and the very understanding of “church” reflect major shifts in our culture. The explosion of megachurches and so-called “prosperity gospel” ministries also mirror these shifts.
The worship and music experience as well as the commerce of church music is affected. The demise of the denominational hymnal suggests that akey method of binding a particular faith community and tradition together no longer has the same influence. Musicians, supported by new technologies for dissemination and reproduction of their music, want to create their own songs about Jesus. As you can see, the tension between artist and church is both fascinating and problematic.
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