Elliot Wimbush

Where: St. Eulalia, 1851 S. 9th Ave., Maywood

Why: Wimbush, a master cantor and musician will release his first CD, "Here’s One" this month.

When Luciano Pavarotti took ill hours before a scheduled performance of "Ave Maria" during a live internationally televised awards show in 1997, producers scrambled to find a fill-in.

Missing opera’s reigning king, the show turned to the Queen of Soul.

Ms. Aretha Franklin, no stranger to gospel music, blew new life into this sacred piece.

She reminded the world that there is soul music, then there is music designed for the soul.

The fact that these two genres can lay side by side, like the lion and the lamb, was no secret to St. Eulalia parishioner Elliot Wimbush.

"I’ve been blessed to witness to people, like Aretha did, through this ministry," said Wimbush.

The Maywood parish’s minister of music said he understands that a human voice lifted in praise can connect to the souls of black folks and white folks, Catholics and other Christians.

The lanky bright-faced cantor also provides music of love and inspiration at six other churches.

Still most people recognize Wimbush from a televised performance.

The cantor was chosen to be the guest soloist at the Mass of Christian Burial for the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin and the installation of Cardinal Francis George broadcast on local and regional television stations.

But his gifts are not confined to liturgical hymns.

This month, Wimbush will release his first solo CD, "Here’s One," a diverse collection of material he describes as "love songs." In the past, he produced a recording for his parish.

When he isn’t seeking new outlets for his ministry aptly named vox humana, Wimbush along with wife, Marijo, is hard at work trying to keep up with his three sons Aaron, Caleb and Samuel.

For more information contact vox humana ministries, 337 Jackson Blvd., Hillside, IL 60162 or sending e-mail to HereZ1@aol.com

BLACK CATHOLIC CHICAGO: A couple of years ago the Christian group DC Talk had a Adult Contemporary radio hit "Just Between Me and You" in which the lyrics could be interpreted as a relationship between a man and a woman or a person and God.

Currently, the song "Love" by Musiq Soulchild is all over Urban Contemporary radio. It’s hard to deny its religious tone. Do you think such songs open listeners up to thoughts on God?

ELLIOT WIMBUSH: When you get somebody like DC Talk singing about God’s love on the radio, people who listen to that station may never hear that message otherwise.

When you open somebody up to the fact that God loves them, especially in a society where people think that nobody loves them and nobody cares about what they do, it is great to have them be reminded that they are loved.

When I do concerts, I do other people’s music including a few James Taylor songs, "How Sweet It Is" and "You Won’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight." Because they are beautiful love songs, I only have to change a few words to make the message more specific.

Hopefully, when people hear the regular James Taylor on the radio, they will think about what they heard at the concert and connect the two, and that connection will bring them back to God. That’s the way that I want to cross over and plant seeds in people's minds that can grow outside of church, because we need it outside of church.

Catholic liturgical music has been criticized for being so slow to change or welcome different elements or song writing structures. It’s not like Methodist services where folks have been listening to Amy Grant for over 10 years.

WIMBUSH: Because Vatican documents are so specific as to what music should or shouldn’t sound like in the context of liturgy, it really is confining.

In a book I’m working on called "Breaking the Bonds of Liturgy" talks about how we should use liturgy as a platform to praise, not as the cage in which we put it. A lot of the things that we do in liturgy don’t lend themselves to the free expression of praise.

If we are doing a song for the offertory in some parishes, once the priest washes his hands, I don’t care where you are in the song, it’s over. You stop. But if you’re doing a song that is beginning to resonate and the assembly is really beginning to sing, we need to let them sing.

If I understand liturgy correctly, and I think I do, liturgy is about the work of the people and about the prayer of the people being united in body. That’s what happens in the Mass. So anything we can do to promote it, to encourage it, to nurture it, to pull it out, then that’s what we need to do. Anything that minimizes it, that truncates it for the sake of scheduling, is something we need to revisit.

When people pick up your CD what will they hear? I’ve read where you’ve described the selections as "love songs." Is that accurate?

WIMBUSH: I would say so. You find all different types of genres on this CD. We’ve got blues and jazz on there. We’ve got a tune that has a country kind of flavor to it.

Did you wear the 10-gallon hat when you were singing?

WIMBUSH: No, not in the studio. (Laughing.) But I have before.

Okay, so what else will people hear?

WIMBUSH: There’s also some straight ahead rock on it. I do "Siyahamba" which is a Zulu hymn. "We are marching in the light of God" is the English translation. In that song in particular we start out with native instruments, with hand drums and rhythms of Africa, while slowly moving toward a more American expression of that. We meld the two together.

Yet, they are all "love songs." They are all songs of joy.

 

Listen to a sample of Elliot Winbush's music.