Heaven-Speaker(s)

MUSICIANS

DR. WILLIAM EDGAR, educated at Harvard University, Westminster Theological Seminary, and Université de Genève, is Professor of Philosophical Apologetics at Westminster Thejavascript:mceToggle('edit-field_details-0-value', 'wysiwyg4field_details-0-value');ological Seminary and the author of several books. Also a pianist and popular conference speaker, his articles on the history of jazz and blues include "Ain't it Hard: Suffering and Hope in the Blues," and "The Deep Joy of Jazz."

RUTH NAOMI FLOYD is an acclaimed vocalist-composer and recording artist of several CDs, including Root to the Fruit and Fan Into Flame. "My appreciation for gospel singers has always begun and ended with Mahalia Jackson--until, that is, I heard Ruth Naomi Floyd’s Fan Into Flame." -Christopher Louden, Jazz Times. "Ruth Naomi Floyd’s artistry eliminates the need to choose between the sonic pleasure of jazz and the timeless message of the Gospel. Her work is the future." -Teresa L. Reed, author, The Holy Profane : Religion in Black Popular Music. See this documentary on Ruth Naomi Floyd.

JOHN PATITUCCI is one of the leading jazz bassists in the world, having been selected as Best Jazz Bassist in both Guitar Player Magazine and Bass Player Magazine multiple times. He has received two Grammy Awards (one for playing and one for composing), over fifteen Grammy nominations, and his first solo recording went to number one on the Billboard Jazz charts. He has played and recorded with B.B. King, Chick Corea, Dizzy Gillespie, Sting, Wynton Marsalis, Carly Simon and others. In 2003, John was appointed Associate Professor of Jazz Studies at City College. To get an idea of what this guy can do with a bass, check out Bach's Suite for Cello No. 1 in G Major - Prelude, and Jesus in on the Main Line.

JOE SALZANO has been a professional musician and composer for 35 years, teaching and performing on saxophone and clarinet. In January 2000, Joe received Jesus Christ at Canton-Potsdam Hospital Drug & Alcohol Rehab, at which time God set him free from lifelong alcohol and drug addiction and miraculously healed him of a fatal liver disease. As a result of his faith in Christ, his musical direction has changed dramatically and has met its purpose in glorifying God and passing on to the next generation a commitment to artistic passion, integrity, and freedom. His saxophone playing can be heard on this earlier rendition of Heaven in a Nightclub.

MASTER OF CEREMONIES

ANDY CROUCH is editorial director for The Christian Vision Project at Christianity Today and executive producer of intersect|culture, a series of short documentary films on Christians creating "a counterculture for the common good.” Formerly a campus minister with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at Harvard University, and editor-in-chief of re:generation quarterly, he is currently on the editorial board of Books & Culture, and a senior fellow of the International Justice Mission’s IJM Institute. His writing has appeared in several editions of Best Christian Writing and Best Spiritual Writing. Educated at Cornell University and Boston University School of Theology, he is also a classically trained musician who draws on pop, folk, rock, jazz, and gospel.