Inspirational Music Ministry of Dr. J. Donald Dumpson

When Dr. J. Donald Dumpson was a young man, he went to a performance at the Academy of Music that became an inspiration to him.

At the podium was James Frazier. In addition to being an internationally renowned conductor and the minister of music at Zion Baptist Church in North Philadelphia, Frazier was also a teacher at several schools in Long Island City and the Borough of Queens in New York, using pieces like the Oscar-winning theme from “Shaft” to instruct children about classical music, according to a New York Times story from that time.

At the Academy of Music, Frazier conducted an orchestra and a majority Black choir through a series of compositions that ranged from classical to the rhythms of the Black church.  

Dumpson was inspired. Especially since the Academy of Music wasn’t seen as a place where Black church music and classical music connected.

“I remember like it was yesterday,” he said. “The impact that it had to see someone who looked like me downtown at the Academy of Music, conducting a broad range of music, was transformative for me. That was a portal into not only church music ministry, but ministry and community outreach into the community.”

For the last 50 years, Dr. J. Donald Dumpson, creator, and artistic director of Ensemble Arts Philly’s A Soulful Christmas, has hoped to provide the kind of inspiration through the power of music and creativity that he received from James Frazier.  

The Philadelphia native was led to his music ministry through a combination of education and the Black church, Dumpson said. When he was young, he would accompany his parents to choir rehearsals at the Greater Mount Olive African Methodist Episcopal Church when it was located at 19th and Fitzwater Streets in South Philadelphia.

The encouragement of the musicians at that church, combined with the kindergarten teacher who recognized his talent as an organist, made him believe in the combination of education and Black church traditions, Dumpson said.  

“The ministry found me,” he said. “What I mean by that is I was always in the church and the Black church has a way of undergirding talent, supporting the nurturing of talent. I would sit by Miss Yvonne McKinney Mapps’ seat at the piano, and I would listen to her play. And then I would be allowed to play, to improvise. That was my start with not only music ministry, but with music in general. And it started in the Black church.”

“I will also say, my kindergarten teacher, Marie Todd, I still look for her today,” Dumpson continued. “She called my parents and communicated with them and told them that I had a talent. And the rest became history.”

After graduating from Overbrook High School and participating in the school’s Gospel Choir, Dumpson went to Temple University and has earned several degrees in Music Education, including his doctorate. He also studied piano with Blanche Burton-Lyles, founder, and president of the Marian Anderson House and the first African American Graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music.

Dumpson went on to teach in the School District of Philadelphia, including a stint at the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts in South Philadelphia, where he worked with the school’s choir…and some students that went on to do remarkable things.

“I had the privilege of teaching at the Performing Arts High School during the era when Boyz II Men were students,” he said. “I remember so fondly listening to them in the practice room singing.”

Dumpson is currently the minister of music and arts for the Arch Street Presbyterian Church. He also taught at Westminster Choir College, now part of Rider University, in Princeton, New Jersey, for 17 years, serving as the founding conductor and artistic director of the Westminster Choir Jubilee Singers. He was also the director of Cheyney University’s Concert Choir and the university’s Center for Cultural Enrichment and Appreciation. 

Dumpson is the president and CEO of Diverse Arts Solution and has worked with a variety of choirs including the Philadelphia Heritage Choir, and the choirs of Morgan State University, Delaware State University, and Lincoln University. Dumpson has also collaborated with renowned singers, composers, and conductors, including composer Hannibal Lokumbe, opera singers Kathleen Battle and Denyce Graves, and performers like Chaka Khan and Philadelphia’s own Patti Labelle.

Dr. Dumpson began his music ministry at the Morris Brown AME Church in North Philadelphia. He had gone to other churches to share his gift and unbeknownst to him, the minister of a church similar to Zion Baptist had noticed him.

That minister? The late Rev. William H. Gray III. Before becoming a powerful member of the United States Congress, Gray was the pastor of Bright Hope Baptist Church. For 25 years, Dumpson served as the church’s minister of music; with that heightened profile, he received the chance to emulate Frazier’s Academy of Music performance through his church choir, and through these experiences led to the birth of A Soulful Christmas.

The chance to combine the experience of the Black church and classical music through his work at Bright Hope was a full-circle moment that he hopes will do for someone else what that night at the Academy of Music did for him, Dumpson said. 

“A Soulful Christmas is a comprehensive experience,” he said. “What I mean by that is, it's the minister. It’s the church choir. It’s a church director. We have a youth division. Right now, we have over 100 youth signed up to be a part of the Soulful Christmas Youth Mass Choir. None of this rings true to me without the youth presence.”

“For me, I want to recreate what happened with me when I was at the Academy of Music,” he continued. “I want to be a part of passing that on.”