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Crosstown Arts presents Alex Greene & the Rolling Head Orchestra in The Green Room.
The Green Room at Crosstown Arts
Saturday, May 27, 2023
Doors open at 7 pm | Show begins at 7:30 pm
Tickets: $15 in advance | $20 at the door
Session keyboardist and composer Alex Greene (Reigning Sound, Big Ass Truck, the Kropotkins, Deepstaria Enigmatica) has over three decades of experience in Memphis and New York, and has performed and recorded albums and soundtracks with the Rolling Head Orchestra since 2009. Whether he’s in singer/songwriter mode or leading a jazz band, his compositions combine strong melodic lines with unexpected, shape-shifting harmonies. Combining themes worthy of the Golden Age of Hollywood with more modernist sonic textures, and echoing artists as diverse as Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, and Sun Ra, the classic jazz sextet of the Rolling Head Orchestra is now augmented by the eerie wail of the Theremin.
In 2010, the Rolling Head Orchestra scored the documentary Citizens Not Subjects: Reawakening Democracy in Memphis, leading to the album Depression Jubilee. The group has gone on to perform original scores for silent films since 2019, when Greene was a Resident Composer at Crosstown Arts, including soundtracks for A Trip to the Moon; Aelita, Queen of Mars; Buster Keaton’s The Cameraman; Flesh and the Devil with Greta Garbo, and, as commissioned by the Indie Memphis Film Festival in 2022, Häxan.
In this one of a kind show at The Green Room, Greene and the Rolling Head Orchestra will focus on these cinematic set pieces as stand-alone works. Free to stretch out over Greene’s compositions, the band, featuring some of Memphis’ finest players, will bring the music to life as never before, blending jazz rhythms and horns with the haunting tones of the Theremin.
