Past Events › The Green Room

Kortland Whalum returns to The Green Room for an evening of sophisticated style and music. Kortland is an intriguing, bold performer, whose repertoire includes original compositions and covers of classic jazz, soul, and R&B tunes. Kortland, the product of an age of popular and gospel music, is a storyteller, blessed with the power to marshal all at once a batch of skills that includes timing, phrasing, pronunciation and acting ability to make the listener feel myriad emotions, particularly on ballads. Spend an evening with Kortland, where he shares his life, his story, and his voice.

Lukah has set himself apart as a powerful voice in Memphis hip-hop. Whatever the format—whether it’s through sellout records, acclaimed locally in The Commercial Appeal and nationally in NPR, Bandcamp Daily, and The New York Times; commanding live performances that have won audiences in The United States and Europe; or on the big screen in his three visual collaborations with Studio 143, all selected by the Indie Memphis Film Festival—Lukah is a undeniable giant of deep, meaningful storytelling.

The Crosstown Strictly Jazz Series, presented by Crosstown Arts in collaboration with Strictly Jazz Entertainment, is designed to salute classic jazz music as contemporary musicians perform the work of the legends.

John Scofield’s guitar work has influenced jazz since the late 70’s and is going strong today. Possessor of a very distinctive sound and stylistic diversity, Scofield is a masterful jazz improviser whose music generally falls somewhere between post-bop, funk-edged jazz, and R&B.

Longtime Memphis musician Paul Taylor is returning home to play his first show back in the Bluff City in over three and a half years!

He’s bringing his brand new band, Three Springs, along with him all the way down from his new home of Door County, Wisconsin, to help him perform material he’s written during those last few years, which has been greatly inspired by the vastly different northern environment.

Tony Dagradi is most well known for his work with Astral Project, an adventurous quartet made up of top New Orleans players dedicated to playing cutting-edge improvisational music. Over the years the band has performed throughout the world, garnering universal praise as one of the most innovative, compelling jazz bands anywhere. For more information on Astral Project click here to visit the band website.

Ellisa Sun cuts her heart out and leaves it on the stage, which is why she never wears white. Inspired primarily by R&B, soul, jazz, and bossa nova, Ellisa’s music is a unique blend of genres that creates a textured sound with authentic, heartfelt lyricism.

Marcella Simien founded and serves as bandleader in Marcella & Her Lovers — a hybrid of classic Memphis soul with the freewheeling swagger of New Orleans funk. Featuring an ensemble cast of Memphis musicians, Simien emerges as an undeniably powerful frontwoman. With each angelic holler and pump of the Creole accordion, she reinvents the mold of Memphis music while giving a wink and a nod to her ancestors. In addition to Marcella & Her Lovers, Simien performs with Marcella & Les Vagues, Magnolias, and Terrance Simien’s Krewe De Monifique. 

Sparks Quartet is an ensemble composed of Eri Yamamoto, Chad Fowler, William Parker, and Steve Hirsh. This group of free jazz improvisers came together in New York in 2021 with a plan to spontaneously compose new folk music, a task made richer by the diverse cultural backgrounds each member brings to the table. Yamamoto originates from Kyoto, Japan; Fowler from Arkansas; Hirsh is a New York native currently living in the Minnesota wilderness; and Parker is a key figure in the New York avant-garde movement.

This concert is the first stop on a national tour that will take the group along the Mississippi River to Iowa and Minnesota. It is a special occasion for the quartet, celebrating the release of their second album, “Live at Vision Festival XXVI,” and launching a national tour. Attendees can look forward to an evening that subtly blends jazz and folk elements with collaborative improvisation and the varied influences each member adds to the quartet’s collective sound.