Reflections of a Jazz Theologian

Off to Harrisburg, PA

This week I'm speaking at a Pastoral enrichment day for the Atlantic and Susquehanna Brethren Conferences in Harrisburg, PA.  Last time I was with these wonderful Christ-followers was in 2007 and I was deeply blessed.  

I'll be speaking twice on Exegeting Your Community and a bonus session on Jazz Theology with a live jazz ensemble.

What's a jazz theologian?

A Jazz Theologian is someone who knows that jazz is more than music.  Therefore,...

We are practicing Christians.  We have spent time in the woodshed learning the old standards.  Now we syncopate, improvise and respond to the call of a Love Supreme.

We walk with Christ, embracing creative tension, joining in the mystery of life in concert.

We have time, rather than time having us.  We develop our ear so that we might listen to the needs of others, then live and love like Jesus.

We live a composed life guided by the eternal melody of the Word of God as we add our own voice.

We sing the blues so as not to waste any pain.  We follow in the footsteps of our "kind of blue" Christ, offering our lives as statements to the renaissance that only He can bring.

We have...found our groove!

So What

"So What," is the first track on Miles Davis' ground breaking album "Kind of blue."

Kind of Blue (part 4--in conclusion)

"The parallels between the lives of African-Americans battling for their freedom as citizens and that of jazz musicians for their freedom from European harmony are too close to be mere happenstance."

Jazz icon, Miles Davis, used to play with his back to the audience. To whites it was offensive. To blacks it was empowering. If a mere negro musician would dare turn his backs on whites in a racist society, then what else was possible? Same drinking fountains, no more lynchings, same schools...voting?

"Harmonic complexity [had become] a hallmark of modern jazz." And "the use of harmonic structure had special, extramusical significance in jazz: it was the aspect of the music that was most deeply rooted in Europe...the use of chords comes out of the European harmonic system. And jazzmen were very aware of this."

Kind of Blue (part 3)

Pre-Kind Of Blue, that is 1959, Conformity was a way of seeking acceptance in America. Jazz musicians needed to make clear the fierce intelligence that was necessary to play [jazz]. The greater society thought of jazz as merely an offshoot of the so-called natural sense of rhythm of African-Americans and believed that it lacked the sophistication of classical music." Conformity was seen as the key to success in America for many African-Americans in general and jazz musicians in particular. Because of this comparison to classical music, "Harmonic complexity became a hallmark of modern jazz." "The rhythms and...melodies of jazz can be traced to Africa. But the use of chords comes out of the European harmonic system."

"...by the late 1930's and early 1940's, there was a restlessness in jazz that would begin gradually and grow to enormous proportions by the time it reached its culmination in the 1950's and 1960's. And with black soldiers fighting a war against racism and fascism in Europe, the idea of returning to a home country in which they were themselves oppressed fanned new winds of change." "Many began to question whether European tradition was the only yardstick they had with which to measure their own music...Many jazzmen began to wonder whether trying to achieve the harmonic complexity of classical music was a desired goal after all."

Kind of Blue was a break from the status quo, a protest…an emergence.

Kind Of Blue (part 2)

America in the 1950's--All a matter of perspective. The war was over, suburbia was being invented and the American dream was being pursued...by some

For black America, the 1950's were a decade of emergence. After 90 years of not being slaves and yet not being citizens either, something had to give. The dehumanization of separate water fountains, segregated schools, lynchings in the South, massive nihilism in the urban North and no voting rights gave rise to discontent. As Fannie Lou Hamer would say, sometimes your just "sick and tired of being sick and tired."

In 1954 racial segregation of schools was ruled unconstitutional. In 1955 Rosa Parks decided to stay seated. And in 1959 Miles Davis recorded Kind of Blue and jazz has never been the same. Four years later, Martin Luther King Jr. called America to emerge, even better, to converge and America has never been the same either.

Jazz anticipates, participates, senses the shift of the wind...listens

Theology like jazz is not meant to be a series of static propositions but rather the job of a theologian (and everybody is a theologian!), is to sense current realities, anticipate the wind of God...to listen.

To be continued...

Kind of Blue (part 1)

It has been said that jazz history can be divided into two segments: “Before Kind Of Blue and after Kind Of Blue.” In 1959 Miles Davis recorded Kind Of Blue and “More than forty years after its release, it is still one of the most-sought-after recordings in the country; in fact, as late as 1998 it was the best-selling jazz album of the year.”

The story behind Kind Of Blue is essential to understanding the sociology of jazz and serves as a good case study for understanding jazz theology. The album was “created…because the most important jazzmen in the modern scene desperately wanted to change the way they played their music. This need was not purely musical; it had more than a little to do with the changes then going on in American society, especially concerning the lives of African-Americans.”

“It should never be forgotten that the depth and beauty of jazz have arisen from centuries of injustice, brutality, fear, and pain, none of which were passively accepted but were met with African-Americans’ resistance, striving, and hope for a more benevolent future.”

Kind Of Blue marked an “end of an era” for jazz music and the beginning of something fresh—not just emergent but also convergent. I see a day that this whole modern/postmodern emergent debate/conversation is divided into two era's: Before Jazz Theology and after Jazz Theology.

What's a Jazz Theologian?

A jazz theologian is someone who balances classical faith with a jazz-shaped faith.  

As we take the stage our ensemble can know that:

-We are practicing Christians.  Having spent sufficient time in the woodshed learning the standards we now syncopate, improvise and respond to the call of a love supreme.

-We creatively embrace unresolved tension as we walk with Christ and invite others to join the mystery.

-We have time rather than time having us.  Developing our ear so that we might serve others like Jesus.

-We seek a composed life that is guided by the eternal melody of the Living Word of God as we add our own voice.

-We sing the blues so as not to waste any pain that may come our way.

-We follow in the footsteps of our "kind of blue" Christ, offering our lives as statements to the renaissance that only he can bring.  

Are you in?

Following the one-handed man in San Antonio (p1)

We were looking for a Starbucks as the one-handed man passed by and over heard our conversation.  "The closest one is a quarter mile away in the hotel,"  he said.  

He offered to take us there and added, "I play the piano.  I could give you a concert while we are there."

With God, no moment is just a moment.  Rather, each is pregnant with the possibility of heaven shining through.  However, as I wrote in my book, the question is, "Do you have time, or does time have you?"  Often this is a defining factor as to whether or not we experience God's little winks and surprises.

To be continued...

Andy Crouch talks Jazz & Classical Theology on theooze.tv

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