MCUTS Faith & Culture Series

The MCUTS Faith & Culture Series brings speakers and artists to the area to present how the Gospel has come to bear on an aspect of our culture.

Heaven in a Nightclub: The Christian Roots of Jazz

April 21 · University of Memphis Fogelman Executive Center

While African and European music blended in the New World to give birth to jazz and other American rhythms, it was really a marriage made in Heaven, according to pianist/theology professor William Edgar and vocalist Ruth Naomi Floyd.

The duo will perform and discuss Heaven in a Nightclub: the Christian Roots of Jazz on Saturday, April 21, at 7 p.m. at the University of Memphis Fogelman Executive Center. The evening of “harmony, rhythm, heritage and redemption” is presented by MCUTS, the Memphis Center for Urban Theological Studies, as part of its Faith and Culture Series.

Tickets for Heaven in a Nightclub are $25, and are available from the MCUTS office at (901) 324-2014. Co-sponsors of this event include Stax Museum of American Soul Music, Mid-South Jazz Foundation of Memphis, Cultural Development Foundation of Memphis, Hope Christian Community Foundation, Crichton College, Memphis Leadership Foundation, Elliot Perry, and the Reggie Howard Foundation.

Related Online Resources

MP3 Audio File of an earlier presentation of Heaven in a Nightclub by Dr. William Edgar, recorded at Rice University in 2002 (74 minutes)

“The Deep Joy of Jazz:” article by Dr. William Edgar appearing in the current issue of byFaith magazine (Presbyterian Church in America) that is largely based on the content of Heaven in a Nightclub.

Press Resources

View Press Release in printable PDF format

View Fact Sheet in printable PDF format