Crosstown Arts

The Bad Plus at Crosstown Theater
2019-12-08 14:00 - 17:00 (America/Chicago) | Crosstown Theater, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Join us for a performance by jazz trio The Bad Plus on the Kemmons Wilson Family Stage at Crosstown Theater.
Tickets: $25
Doors at 7:30 pm | Show at 8 pm
The Bad Plus came together at the end of the 20th century and has avoided easy categorization ever since, winning critical hosannas and a legion of fans worldwide with their creativity, unique sound, and flair for live performance. The intensely collaborative trio has constantly searched for rules to break and boundaries to cross, bridging genres and techniques while exploring the infinite possibilities of three exceptional musicians working in perfect sync.
The band consists of founding members Reid Anderson (bass) and Dave King (drums) and new member Orrin Evans (piano) — a group of passionate collaborators with no single “leader.”
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“Bad Plus have grown from upstart into institution. Best Jazz Album of 2018.”
— Rolling Stone
“A combustible trio with a book of finely orchestrated, catchy original tunes, and a knack for radically reconstituted pop covers.”
— The New York Times
“By any standard, jazz or otherwise, it is moving, mighty music…bad to the bone, hot players with hard-rock hearts.”
— Rolling Stone
“The Bad Plus are the Coen brothers of jazz: Midwesterners, both ironic and dead earnest, technically brilliant, beyond versatile, a little chilly sometimes, but funny, surprising, and pretty hard to pin down.”
— The New Yorker
“One of the great, true groups in jazz of the past 25 years.”
— Joshua Redman

Rob Jungklas at The Green Room
2019-12-10 13:30 - 16:00 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Join us as Rob Jungklas performs songs from his project, “Gone To Water,” at The Green Room.
Tickets: $10
Doors at 7pm | Performance at 7:30pm

Rob Jungklas came roaring back into the Memphis music psyche with 3 new critically acclaimed recordings in a few short years: Arkadelphia, Gully, and Mapping The Wreckage. Ever prolific, he has released four more since his reemergence. The Spirit and The Spine, Nothing To Fade, and Blackbirds on Madjack Records, and 7 Sisters.
He issued his debut LP, Closer to the Flame, in 1987 on Manhattan Records. On the strength of an MTV video aired for the single “Boys Town,” the record garnered airplay and modest chart success for his effort, while creating the iconic regional anthem “Memphis Thing.”
The more reflective Work Songs for a New Moon, that followed two years later on RCA, showcased Jungklas’ nuanced blend of pop songwriting and Memphis style R&B.
Lee Froelich calls Rob’s songs “profane and poetic, haunted by ghost and damnation” and the sentiments are echoed by the likes of Rolling Stones’ David Fricke who describes the sounds as “bloodied bottleneck guitar and choked prayer.”

Family Workshop: Akirash Inspirations
2019-12-11 04:30 - 06:00 | Crosstown Arts, East Gallery, Crosstown Concourse, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Participants will explore Akirash’s work in Asiko: Moments, on display in the East Gallery, and spend 10-20 minutes sketching their own inspired works based on the exhibit.
Afterward, participants will finish their work with acrylic paint in the East Atrium.
All supplies/materials provided. Free and open to the public (children under 12 must be with an adult), RSVP encouraged at joy@crosstownarts.org.

Crosstown Arthouse presents Handsworth Songs
2019-12-12 13:30 - 15:30 | Crosstown Theater, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
The Crosstown Arthouse Film Series showcases a diverse collection of independent, international, historically significant, artistic, experimental, cult, underground and documentary features.
Films begin at 7:30 pm sharp at Crosstown Theater
Tickets are $5 (at the door only)
In October 1985, Britain witnessed a spate of civil disturbances in the Birmingham district of Handsworth and in urban centers of London. These were violent, tragic events, marked by the death of an elderly black woman, Joy Gardner, and a white policeman, Keith Blakelock .
HANDSWORTH SONGS (BLACK AUDIO FILM COLLECTIVE/JOHN AKOMFRAH)/1986/58 minutes) takes as its point of departure these events and the inability of the British media to go beyond its concern with demonizing or rationalizing the rioters and their motives, to break the anxiety-driven loop of morbid responses to the presence of blacks in Britain.
Handsworth Songs explores the idea that the riots represented less a self-contained drama of rage with a single origin and trajectory than a multiplicity of issues, ambivalences , to do with race, longing, and belonging – not all of which could be shored up by recourse to a rhetoric of civil disorder. The film’s sense of multiplicity extends to a rethinking of black British presence and a refuting of the idea of a homogenous black community with a single sense of presence characterized by uniformity of ambition and expression.
Instead the film evokes a broad range of voices, tones, registers. And it is through this panoply of positions and presences that Handsworth Songs approaches the riots and expresses its central idea — that it is not the riots in their dramatic unfolding, nor even in the wake of their violent eruption, which provide us with a route into the drama.
Handsworth Songs contends that the meaning in the malaise is to be found in events outside the frame of contemporary reportage, in moments which seemed to have little affective relation to the expressions of discontent which characterized the riots – in the annals of post war news reportage around race in Britain, transformed in the film into an archive of black (un)belonging, in the expression of hopes of belonging brutally deferred.

Up in Arms Collective presents Response 4
2019-12-13 13:00 - 2019-12-15 16:00 | TN
Normal feels like lifetimes ago, and it is uncertain if it will ever return. Tweets undermine truth, and sometimes, it is difficult to keep up with what is real and what is not. We live in uncertain times.
Resistance. Persistence. We continue to raise our voices. Twenty-two artists converge at Crosstown Arts to create original works that explore today’s America. Up in Arms Collective was born out of the need for the dance community to respond to what is happening in America in an open and affirming environment. What originally began as a community of diverse Memphis dance artists has since grown to include local filmmakers, actors, and artists.
Performing artists include Sheri Bancroft, Jasmine Bledsoe, Orixa Bowers, Burton Bridges, Rebecca Rose Cochran, Marie Dennan, Tbj Jones, Louisa Koeppel, Kristen Osborne Lucas, Christina McKinney, Our Own Voice Theatre Troupe, Wayne Smith, and Micah Winter along with artists Suzannah Herbert, Waverly Herbert, Jenean Morrison, and Lesley Young; filmmakers Laura Jean Hocking, Joel Rose, Sallie Sabbatini, Kyle Statham; and photographer Stephanie Wexler.
Through community collaboration, artists are empowered, and through RESPONSE 4, Up in Arms Collective hopes to leave others empowered. Art has the power to change us all and transform the world. Our responses are candid, personal, and as diverse as the artists themselves and explore power, fear, truth, boldness, self-determination, activism, love, support, protection, humor, and revolution.
Tickets are $10 (cash only) and available at the door. Seating is general admission and on a first come, first serve basis.
Donations will be made to Mid-South Immigration Advocates, Memphis for All, and Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi.

Chris Stamey & Friends at The Green Room
2019-12-13 13:30 - 15:30 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Join us at The Green Room for a special concert of Chris Stamey’s New Songs for the 20th Century (Omnivore Recordings), new original compositions inspired by the canon of the Great American Songbook.
With a full acoustic band — including Memphis luminaries Jack Cooper, winds, & Carl Casperson, ac. bass, along with NC’s Charles Cleaver, piano — and guest singers Skylar Gudasz, Brett Harris, Django Haskins, and more.
Tickets: $10
Doors at 7 pm | Show at 7:30 pm
‘Musicians from Rod Stewart to Bob Dylan have turned to the Great American Songbook to revive their creative juices. But Chris Stamey has taken a different approach. Instead of singing other people’s compositions, he’s rearranged a handful of old songs and written a raft of new ones that are akin to material for a 1958 recording session by Frank Sinatra or Ella Fitzgerald.’— Geoffrey Himes review, Downbeat Magazine, September, 2019
‘This is a prodigious project that asks for real attention. Fortunately, the gift of this music pays off in timeless beauty and unlimited inspiration. It’s like the past has been reinvigorated by the present, with nothing lost and everything gained.’ — Bill Bentley review, Americana Highways, July 10, 2019
New Songs for the 20th Century is an amazing album. The songs astound, as if lifted out of a time machine . . . Those familiar with the Great American Songbook will likely be enthralled by this rich collection. Backed by the Mod Rec Orchestra, many great musicians bring Stamey’s new songs to life. The beautiful and luxurious “I Don’t Believe in Romance” features singer Caitlin Cary and has the magic of a Burt Bacharach classic; the wistful “What is This Music that I Hear?” and “On an Evening Such as This” are both bolstered by singer Kirsten Lambert’s affecting vocals. The jazzy “There’s Not a Cloud in the Sky” and more contemporary “I Am Yours” are among the memorable tracks on disc one. The jazzy “Beneath the Underdog” (featuring Marshall Crenshaw, Don Dixon and Django Haskins), the beautiful “In Spanish Harlem,” and nuanced “Lover, Can You Hear Me?” bring equal power to the second disc.’ — Robert Kinsler, Rock ‘N’ Roll Truth (blog)
‘This is a sprawling, brilliant piece of work: 26 songs across two CDs, and each one is a masterpiece. And, even better, there are unmistakable Chris Stamey footprints throughout . . . I’m not sure how old someone has to get before you can’t call him a “Boy Genius” anymore, but at least I know now that it’s post-60.’ — Mike Fornatale, Shindig, July 8, 2019.
‘JazzTimes is honored to present the premiere of the video for “Manhattan Melody (That’s My New York)” by Chris Stamey and the ModRec Orchestra. . . . [B]oth the song and the album aren’t quite what you’d expect based on his résumé’ — the influence of the Great American Songbook is strong, and the overall sound is much closer to jazz than rock. It doesn’t hurt that Stamey brought in some ringers here: Branford Marsalis on tenor sax, Matt Douglas on clarinet, Jim Crew (along with Stamey himself) on piano, Jason Foureman on bass, and Dan Davis on drums. Django Haskins is the vocalist, one of more than a dozen singers who alternate tracks throughout the album, including Nnenna Freelon, Ariel Pocock, and power-pop maestro Marshall Crenshaw.’ — Jazz Times, June 28, 2019

No Meat Meet-Up Vegan Potluck
2019-12-15 09:00 - 11:00 | Cafe at Crosstown Arts, 1350 Concourse Ave, Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Join us at the cafe at Crosstown Arts for a vegan potluck. Bring a vegan dish to share, and mingle with like-minded folks.
This event is open to everyone — vegans, vegetarians, and the veg-curious, but please bring a dish prepared without meat, dairy, and eggs. There’s no set standard for how many people your dish should serve, but a dish that serves 8-10 people is a good bet.
The cafe is located in Suite 280 of Crosstown Concourse. Come up the red spiral staircase.no mea

Folk All Y'all: Cory Branan's Birthday Show
2019-12-15 13:30 - 15:30 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Cory Branan’s turning 45. That’s hilarious in so many ways. But regardless, let’s celebrate with him. Maybe there will even be surprise guests, who knows?
Tickets: $20
Doors at 7 pm | Show at 7:30 pm
About Corey Branan:
Singer-songwriter Cory Branan hails from Southaven, Mississippi. He has five full-length releases: The Hell You Say, 12 Songs, Mutt, The No-Hit Wonder, and his latest ADIOS. His music has received critical praise from the likes of Rolling Stone, NPR All Things Considered, Noisey, Wall Street Journal, Paste Magazine, Oxford American, Consequence of Sound, Southern Living, and many others.
About Folk All Y‘all:
Our mission is to present world-class singer-songwriters in an intimate, attentive environment. Our guests and artists are here to connect and do not distract themselves or other guests with photography, recording, or other diversions during the show. We are entirely volunteer-run and 100% of ticket sales go directly to the artist.

A Performance of Big Star's Third & More
2019-12-15 14:00 - 17:00 | Crosstown Theater, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Join us for a performance of Big Star’s Third and more on the Kemmons Wilson Family Stage at Crosstown Theater.
Tickets: $30
Doors at 7 pm | Show at 8 pm
Featuring Big Star’s Jody Stephens and conducted by Carl Marsh, the album’s original arranger. Plus, Mike Mills (R.E.M.), Chris Stamey (the dbs), Mitch Easter, Skylar Gudasz, Django Haskins (the Old Ceremony), Brett Harris, Charles Cleaver, Dale Baker, Jimmy Stephens, and members of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra.

MicroCinema Club: 2019 Documentary Shorts Festival Encore
2019-12-17 13:00 - 15:00 | TN
Monthly screening of short films presented by Indie Memphis and Crosstown Arts.
This month: Catch ann encore screening of documentary shorts in competition from the 2019 Indie Memphis Film Festival, curated by Senior Programmer Brighid Wheeler. Pay what you can.
Film line-up:
DARLIN
Isabel Castro, 0:15:32
IN DOG YEARS
Sophy Romvari, 0:10:41
OKLAHOMA IS BLACK
Melinda James, Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, 0:03:12
ON THE BIT
Ashley Brandon, 0:14:14
SIDELOTS
Atieno Nyar Kasagam, 0:16:00
STAN
JP Olsen, Kristen Nutile, 0:08:45
THE MAGNITUDINOUS ILLUMINOUS
Rachel Mills, Maya Tippett, 0:11:35
WALKER’S
Kyle Myers-Haugh, 0:11:43

The Sanctuary Jazz Orchestra in The Green Room
2019-12-17 13:30 - 15:30 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Join us in The Green Room at Crosstown Arts for a special performance from The Sanctuary Jazz Orchestra.
Tickets: $10
Doors at 7pm | Performance at 7:30pm
The Sanctuary Jazz Orchestra has performed in a variety of venues including local music festivals such as the annual Memphis Heritage Festival, The Bartlett Festival, The Whitehaven Jazz Festival (which featured Donald Brown and John Birdsong); The Center for Southern Folklore; Rhodes College; Tennessee Cultural Heritage Preservation Society Benefit Galas; and church galas. The Orchestra has performed with Memphis’ premiere jazz, blues, and gospel vocalist Erliz Taylor in a benefit jazz concert for missions charity relief for Haiti at Bridges of Memphis.

Panel Discussion: Can We Talk?
2019-12-18 11:30 - 12:30 | Crosstown Arts East Atrium, 1350 Concourse Avenue, Memphis, TN, United States
Inspired by the work of Joey Slaughter, participants will engage in a conversation about controversial topics before spending 10 minutes creating visual representations of how the conversation affected them via drawings of wavelengths.

It's Christmastime with The Nick Black Band
2019-12-18 13:30 - 15:30 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
The Nick Black Band is home for the holidays, and you’re invited out to an unforgettable night of songs, laughs, and special guests at The Green Room at Crosstown Arts.
Tickets: $15+ (see below for more ticket information)
Doors at 7 pm | Show at 7:30 pm
Memphis born-and-bred soul singer-songwriter Nick Black is taking a detour down Christmas lane, through the seven levels of the candy cane forest, through the sea of swirly-twirly gum drops, through the Lincoln Tunnel, and all the way back home to the Mid-South to celebrate Christmas like only he and his band can. This is going to be a night to remember.
Nick and his band are doing their first tour on the West Coast from January 9th-17th, and they want you to be a part of it. This Christmas extravaganza will help to fund part of their trip. Purchase a general admission ticket for $15 or add a little extra to help fund the tour (and get a reward in return).
Ticket levels/rewards:
* General Admission Ticket ($15)
* The Christmas Card ($20): Ticket and a Family Christmas Card to YOU from the whole band
* The Recap ($30): Ticket to the show, a Family Christmas Card, and a digital download of the Christmas show
* The Cousin Eddie ($50): Ticket to the show, a Family Christmas Card, a digital download of the show, and a signed shirt from Nick’s new collection
* The Superfan ($80): Ticket, digital download, a Family Christmas Card, a signed new collection shirt, and a poster from the show signed by the whole band.
* The Secret Santa ($100): Ticket, digital download, a signed new collection shirt, a Family Christmas Card, a poster from the show, and a super secret wrapped gift.
* The Carolers ($150): You get everything above, and if you live in Memphis, Nick and his band will show up at your house and sing Christmas Carols before Christmas.

Family Workshop: Once Upon a Story
2019-12-19 04:30 - 06:00 | Crosstown Arts, Screening Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
After viewing Ezra Johnson’s film What Visions Burn, on view in Selected Animations in the Screening Room, participants will spend some time reflecting on an exciting story from their life.
Using four pre-cut squares, participants will create a four-panel storyboard to share with the group.
All supplies/materials provided. Free and open to the public (children under 12 must be with an adult), RSVP encouraged at joy@crosstownarts.org

The Music of Nat King Cole
2019-12-20 13:00 - 15:00 | Crosstown Arts, East Atrium, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, United States
Join us for a jazz tribute to American jazz pianist and vocalist Nat King Cole featuring Kennard Farmer (vocals), Carl Caspersen (bass), Darryl Sanford (piano), Jonathan Bass (guitar), and Mike Assad (drums).
Tickets: $15
Doors at 6:30 pm | show at 7 pm
Location: Crosstown Arts East Atrium
The Crosstown Jazz Series, presented by Strictly Jazz Entertainment in collaboration with Crosstown Arts, is designed to salute classic jazz music as contemporary musicians perform the work of the legends.

About Strictly Jazz Entertainment:
Strictly Jazz Entertainment is committed to cultivating a growing community in the knowledge and appreciation of jazz. We facilitate dialogue and collaboration between the devoted supporters of jazz and the brand new constituents – those new to the genre – for the furthering of the jazz community. We provide a bridge between leading artists and a community that typically does not embrace jazz by promoting concerts in various venues to generate an atmosphere that is viable for the absorption of pure jazz.

Kirk Whalum's "A Gospel According to Jazz" Christmas
2019-12-20 14:00 - 17:00 | Crosstown Theater, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Grammy Award-winning saxophonist Kirk Whalum presents his 8th annual “A Gospel According To Jazz” Christmas Tour with John Stoddart and Kevin Whalum, along with this year’s featured guests, vocalist Maysa and guitarist Adam Hawley.
Tickets: $45-$75
Doors at 7 pm | Show at 8 pm
This show will be in support of Room In The Inn.

SOLD OUT D'Monet at the The Green Room
2019-12-21 13:30 - 15:30 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
This event has sold out! Sorry for the inconvenience.
Join us in The Green Room at Crosstown Arts for a special performance by D’Monet.
Tickets: $10
Doors at 7 pm | Show at 7:30 pm
How an artist starts a journey can say a lot about their destination; belting out melodies from the womb is a divine beginning. Having received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Vocal Music Performance at LeMoyne Owen College, along with studying under some of opera’s greatest powerhouses such as Grace Bumbry, Vera Little, even abroad in Pisa, Italy under world-renowned Pilralba Sorga, the classically trained voice known as D’Monet cannot be defined as a Jazz, Rhythm, and Blues or a Pop singer, but she has redefined the meaning of the traditional soul artist in what she calls “Alkaline Music” (music that heals).
D’Monet allows you to travel on contorted twists of loves’ successes and failures; all while exercising her massive vocal prowess to the center stage. Nurturing her vocal gifts from the tender age of four, along with developing her ear for the piano by age seven, she now is a seasoned veteran. D’Monet has shared her soul from New York to Los Angeles, but it’s only natural she makes Memphis, Tennessee the home of her “Futuristic Soul.”
As D’Monet inspires those within her artistic circle, she soaks inspiration from classic triple threat artists such as: Anita Baker, Oleta Adams, Celine Dion, Luther Vandross, Stevie Wonder, and Rachelle Ferrell. D’Monet has a gift for building bridges between a song and her audience, crossing cultural and musical genres. This elegant songstress approaches each note with a sophisticated passion, which leaves the listener wanting more.
D’Monet’s recordings can only be matched by her live performances in various venues around Memphis, TN. She has been featured on numerous stages and sets and her sound has allowed her to branch out across several genres. She was honored to perform as the special guest for Black Enterprise’s Women of Power Summit in 2012. Having shared the stage with Soul Crooner Eric Roberson, and also having a brief stint as a background singer for Blackstreet’s Dave Hollister, D’Monet has become a musical mainstay, particularly in the city of Memphis. In 2011, D’Monet was featured on Markevius Faulkner‘s hit single ‘Day One’, which received major radio airplay on WHAL-FM’S 95.7 Hallelujah FM. In the wake of Day One’s success, D’Monet released her debut single, Oooh Baby (Got Your Back)!
In 2013, D’Monet uprooted herself from her hometown and moved to Des Moines, IA, where she unsuspectedly became the Assistant Minister of Music and Vocal Director at a local church, the front woman and keyboard player for two funk/soul bands R.S.V.P. and The Tighten Up band, and also made two appearances on KCWI’s “Great Day” Morning Show performing her original music. After returning to Memphis a few years later, she began releasing more original music.
On February 28, 2019, D’Monet released her new single “Dry” which is now available on all major digital outlets and streams. Her next single “Trauma” soon followed on May 31, 2019, which talks about a physical assault that left her traumatized for a long time. On September 6, 2019, D’Monet released her Chrysalis EP, which signifies the evolution of her life and her music. Stay tuned for what’s next. Her quest to continue along her musical journey is just beginning.

Gamble Brothers Band & CYC at Crosstown Theater
2019-12-21 14:00 - 17:30 | Crosstown Theater, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
The Gamble Brothers Band and CYC join forces for a double bill reunion at Crosstown Theater.
Tickets: $25
Doors at 7 pm | Show at 8 pm
About Gamble Brothers Band:
The Memphis-based Gamble Brothers Band formed in 2001, released three albums, and toured the U.S. with their guitar-less sound of R&B, soul and rock. The four-piece band played their last show at Mud Island Amphitheater when they opened for the Black Crowes in fall of 2006. Since then, Art Edmaiston, Al Gamble, Blake Rhea and Chad Gamble have all gone on to record and tour internationally with other well-known groups. Those artists include Grammy-winning Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, the Gregg Allman Band, JJ Grey and Mofro, Marc Broussard, St. Paul and the Broken Bones, and more.
About CYC:
Seamlessly mixing funk, rap, metal, and jazz, CYC first made their name in Midtown coffee shops and beer joints, and ended their run as late-night stalwarts on Beale. The band became a springboard for launching Memphis music internationally as CYC members have since toured and collaborated with Justin Timberlake, Jay-Z, Buddy Guy, Gregg Allman, Yo Gotti, 8Ball & MJG, Dr. John and many more. It has been twenty years since CYC last performed but the grooves are fresh as ever and the band has been waiting for the opportunity to unleash the gems from the archives.

SOLD OUT Don Bryant feat. The Bo-Keys
2019-12-27 13:30 - 16:00 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
This event has sold out!
Join us in The Green Room at Crosstown Arts for a performance by Don Bryant feat. The Bo-Keys.
Tickets: $15
Doors 7pm | Show 7:30pm
You know that old song that O. V. Wright did so well in 1971, and no one can ever do that song again — “Nickel and a Nail”? O. V. Wright has held tight to that song and rightfully so. But not no mo. Not to take anything from O.V., but after nearly half a century, now you gotta step aside. Don Bryant is here.
Though it ain’t like he just showed up. The roots of this record are in the Memphis church, where Don Bryant began singing when he was 5. He joined his father’s family vocal group, then formed a gospel quartet for a high school radio gig. Broadcasting broadened the audience, and they went secular, singing pop at WLOK on Dick “Cane” Cole’s popular show. After parting with the DJ, they took a very real step toward careers when, as the Four Kings, they began fronting Willie Mitchell’s band.
Willie Mitchell led the swingingest, groovin’est band in the Memphis-Mississippi-Arkansas area — the American music floodplain (He would later discover Al Green and make him a star.) Willie’s band was known for instrumental records, but when they’d play at Danny’s in West Memphis, Don’s group fronted them. The group broke up and Willie, who was touring concert venues and dance halls, needed a vocalist who could play with his supple, slinky, funky beats and anointed Don Bryant as his leading man.
Don could also write songs. He was still in his teens when, in 1960, Willie was producing the 5 Royales, and Don handed him “I Got To Know.” The 5 Royales put it on wax. Don was hot in the spotlight and in the writer’s room.
As Willie Mitchell carved out his place at Hi Records, Don was close by. Don cut songs at Hi under the Four Kings moniker (“That Driving Beat”) and as a solo artist (“Don’t Turn Your Back On Me”). He wrote material for other Hi artists, including Janet & the Jays and Norman West. In 1969, still in the age of 7” singles, Don was popular enough to release an album — though the big breakout hit stayed elusive.
Around 1970, Willie put Don with the Hi label’s newest act, Ann Peebles, who burst on the scene with “Part Time Love.” Don looked at this slight young lady and penned “99 Lbs” for her: “You wouldn’t know what I’m talking ’bout/ If you never had a love like this/… 99 lbs of natural born goodness/99 lbs of soul.” The relationship warmed, they co-wrote the hit “I Can’t Stand the Rain” in 1973 and were married the following year. Ann’s performing career continued, as did Don’s writing, and they began raising a family. Occasionally, Don returned to the microphone, dueting with his wife, sometimes releasing gospel material. Always, he continued to write songs.
And all the while, that voice was maturing, mellowing, until these recordings that find him, at age 74, in peak form and taking O. V.’s song. The band is a mix of lifelong cohorts and upstart stalwarts. They understand where he’s been and where he wants to go, making his song “How Do I Get There,” a rhetorical question, because they have clearly found the way.
I was lucky and popped by the end of the recording sessions. They’d just cut “One Ain’t Enough” and were listening to playback. Veteran drummer Howard Grimes, also of Willie Mitchell’s tutelage and the drummer on many of Don’s Hi sessions—he couldn’t keep from keeping the beat and he stepped to the middle of the control room floor. The Soul Train line formed.
Howard’s arms came up and his feet went down. His eyes took a distant look and he was transported beyond the slow grind. His backbone slipped, he began to dip, everyone shouted and clapped. This kind of music moved audiences then and it moves them now. Even the music makers can’t stand still. Soul survivors, young and old — nothing holds them back.
–Robert Gordon, Memphis, 2017

SOLD OUT The Love Light Orchestra at The Green Room
2019-12-28 14:00 - 16:00 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
This event is sold out!
Join us in The Green Room at Crosstown Arts for a special performance by The Love Light Orchestra.
The Love Light Orchestra celebrates the Memphis big band blues-style found on the 1950s and ’60s singles of Bobby “Blue” Bland, B.B. King and Herman ”Junior” Parker. The band of seasoned Memphis musicians derives their name from Bland’s 1961 hit “Turn On Your Love Light.” Their sound is completed with the soulful voice of bluesman John Nemeth.
Tickets: $10
Doors at 7:30 pm | Show at 8 pm
In addition to dipping into the catalogs of Buddy Ace, Freddie King, and Percy Mayfield, the band demonstrates their deftness with uptown blues via the solid originals “Singing For My Supper, “Lonesome and High,” and the Ray Charles-inspired opener “See Why I Love You.” Casual fans of Memphis music might only recognize their cover of Al Green’s iconic “Love and Happiness,” but it’s reset here as a shuffle, building upon riffs that horn player, Marc Franklin, says were inspired by Charles Mingus’ “Fables of Faubus.”
The Love Light Orchestra’s overall sound, says Franklin, was inspired by Joe Scott whose work Franklin discovered after he was hired to play with Bland in the early ‘90s. “The first time I heard his work, it sounded like Ellington, but more down-home with extended harmonics that you don’t necessarily hear on blues or soul records. It’s a jazz thing, throwing extra notes into the chords—at Stax they didn’t do 6th chords.”
Grammy-winning producer/engineer Matt Ross-Spang cut the record live at the tiny DKDC bar in Memphis, and recalls “it was more or less done after we cut it. This music is really supposed to be heard live, to be in the room to feel the horns, and it turned out magically — lightning in a bottle twelve times in just a couple hours.” — Scott Baretta, former editor of Living Blues

Family Workshop: Hang It Up
2020-01-04 04:30 - 06:00 | Crosstown Arts, East Gallery, Crosstown Concourse, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Drawing inspiration from Akirash’s beautiful hanging sculptures in Asiko: Moments in the East Gallery, participants will use bottles, cans, plastics ,and other recycled items to build their own hanging piece.
All supplies/materials provided. Free and open to the public (children under 12 must be with an adult), RSVP encouraged at joy@crosstownarts.org.

Shoot & Splice: The Business of Acting
2020-01-07 13:00 - 15:00 | Crosstown Theater, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Join Indie Memphis & Crosstown Arts for Shoot & Splice: The Business of Acting with Jade Abrielle. Jade will discuss the many facets of being a professional actor, both on set and off, including how to market yourself, identifying your type, how to get an agent, audition taping, budgeting for your career, and more. Whether you are an actor or a filmmaker looking to learn more about the actor’s process, you don’t want to miss this presentation.
Doors at 6:30 pm | Presentation at 7 pm
Free and open to the public
Jade Abrielle is a Memphis native, known for her raw and powerful vulnerability in dramas and dry sarcasm in comedies. She is represented by Kathleen Schultz Associates. She lived in Atlanta for six years while pursuing her Bachelors in Mass Communications and Film Production from Clark Atlanta University. During her years in Atlanta, she appeared in commercials, web-series, independent films, and television shows such as Discovery ID’s “Homicide Hunter” and TV One’s “Justice By Any Means.”
Since returning to Memphis, she’s made her debut on the Hattiloo Theater stage. She just wrapped a TV pilot for BET and is currently working on an indie feature and a short film. She’s looking forward to participating in more projects in her hometown. “My mission as an artist is to create work that helps heal the human spirit, evolve the thought process, and ultimately inspire change within myself and others.”

Shoot & Splice is presented collaboratively by Indie Memphis and Crosstown Arts.

After-School Workshop: Wheel of Color
2020-01-09 09:30 - 11:00 | Crosstown Arts, West Gallery, Crosstown Concourse, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Students will engage with work from Color Schemes: The Value of Intensity in the West Gallery. They will then create their own inspired works based on randomized criteria, which will be determined by spinning a giant color wheel.
Over the course of four weeks, students will complete 3-5 works each, to be displayed in a pop-up gallery the following week (February 1-6).
This four-part workshop will be held on January 9, 16, 23, and 30.
Free; registration is required.

World Soul Project in The Green Room
2020-01-09 13:30 - 15:30 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Join us in The Green Room at Crosstown Arts for a special world music concert by World Soul Project.
The World Soul Project consists of Gerard Harris (guitar), Ben Flint (keyboards), James Sexton (drums), and Ekpe (percussion, flute, and Kalimba). This band’s musical blend includes Brazilian and African beats, hip hop, jazz, and funk.
Tickets: $10
Doors at 7 pm | Show at 7:30 pm
This group of musicians celebrates the wealth of music traditions from around the world by blending them into a brilliant collage. The result is, at times, exhilarating, and, at other times, soothing.

In Consideration
2020-01-10 12:00 - 15:00 | TN
Art exhibition
Organized by the artists

Folk All Y'all: An Evening with Mia Borders
2020-01-11 13:30 - 15:30 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
This show is sponsored by Folk All Y’all patrons and presented in collaboration with Crosstown Arts.
Tickets: $20
Doors at 7 pm | Show at 7:30 pm
Born and raised in New Orleans, Mia Borders’ powerhouse vocals and charismatic songwriting have made her a perennial figure in the regional music scene.
Heralded locally and nationally as one of the city’s best talents, Borders has performed at such renowned venues as The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Essence Festival, and The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and shared bills with B.B. King, Corinne Bailey Rae, Lee Fields, and Marc Broussard, among others.
Her live shows are regularly praised as “deeply funky” (USA Today) and “confident and cool” (The Times-Picayune). You don’t want to miss this one, y’all.
About Folk All Y’all: Our mission is to present world-class singer-songwriters in an intimate, attentive environment. We are entirely volunteer-run and 100% of ticket sales go directly to the artists. Our guests and artists are here to connect and do not distract themselves or other guests with photography, recording, or other diversions during the show.

Modern Masters Jazz Series feat. Ed Petersen
2020-01-14 13:30 - 15:30 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Crosstown Arts presents The Modern Masters Jazz Series, a monthly series featuring jazz soloists from around the country.
For January’s performance, New Orleans-based saxophonist Ed Petersen will be featured in an unforgettable performance with the series house band, the Ted Ludwig Trio.
Tickets: $15
Doors at 7pm | Performance 7:30pm
About Ed Peterson:
Ed Petersen is the Associate Chair of the Department of Music and Coordinator of Jazz Studies at the University of New Orleans. He is a featured saxophone soloist and arranger with Dee Dee Bridgewater and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra (NOJO). He has performed at major festivals and concert halls in the United States (Rose Hall-Lincoln Center, Newport Jazz Festival, and many other venues), France (Jazz a’Vienne, L’Olympia), Switzerland (Festival Ete, Jazz Ascona), Finland (Pori Jazz Festival), Norway (Molde Jazz Festival), Hungary (Jazz Veszprem Festival), Canada (Saskatoon Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival), Netherlands (North Sea Jazz Festival), Australia (Sydney Recital Hall, Melbourne Jazz Festival), South Africa (Capetown Jazz Festival), and New Zealand (Wellington Jazz Festival).
The Modern Masters Jazz Series is guest curated by renowned two-decade New Orleans jazz guitarist Ted Ludwig, who has received an ASCAP award, the Louis Armstrong award, and the Overture to the Cultural Season award and is a member of The Arkansas Jazz Hall of Fame. Each month in 2020, Crosstown Arts welcomes jazz artists from New Orleans, NYC, LA, and beyond, who will perform with the Ted Ludwig Trio. Highlights include Roseanna Vitro, who has sung with Christian McBride, Elvin Jones, and Lionel Hampton; Ed Cherry, of Dizzy Gillespie’s band; GRAMMY-winner Victor Atkins; and Dee Dee Bridgewater saxophonist Ed Peterson.

Panel Discussion: Colorful Conversation
2020-01-15 11:30 - 12:30 | Crosstown Arts, West Gallery, Crosstown Concourse, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Artists Anthony Lee, Susan Maakestad, and Justin Bowles, who have work on view in Color Schemes: The Value of Intensity, will join a panel moderated by Dr. Todd Richardson (co-founder of Crosstown Arts), discussing their work and use of color in their art.

The Brophy Sisters at The Green Room
2020-01-15 13:30 - 15:30 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Crosstown Arts presents the Brophy Sisters, featuring violinist Linnaea Brophy and pianist Maeve Brophy in the Green Room at Crosstown Arts.
The program will feature works for violin and piano by Eugene Ysaÿe, Amy Beach, Lili Boulanger, Clara Schumann, and William Grant Still.
Tickets: $10
Doors 7pm | Performance 7:30pm
About the artists:
Maeve Brophy gave her first solo recital at age 9 and made her orchestral debut at 15. She has given solo and collaborative performances in Wells, England; the Amalfi Coast; Kiev, Ukraine; New York; San Francisco; Seattle; Aspen; Nashville; and Memphis. She has performed for the Memphis Chamber Music Society and the Artist Ascending Series in Memphis and is a regular performer with the Luna Nova Ensemble. She is also the pianist for Nashville’s alt-classical group chatterbird.
Maeve has performed as soloist with the Chernygev Symphony in Kiev as well as the Paducah Symphony and the Central Florida Philharmonic. She has a BA from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and a Master of Music in Piano Performance from Texas Christian University. She also studied at the Manhattan School of Music and at the New England Conservatory of Music with Russell Sherman. She is also a Licensed Massage Therapist and Registered Yoga Teacher.
Maeve is former adjunct faculty of the Blair School of Music and Belmont University in Nashville, and she currently lives in Memphis where she works as a freelance pianist and piano teacher. She teaches at Brown Missionary Baptist Music Academy and is the Music Director of the Open Heart Spiritual Center. She has played for Opera Memphis and the Memphis Symphony and is a collaborative pianist at the University of Mississippi. She is passionate about musical advocacy and includes composers from marginalized groups on her programs.
A scholarship student of Donald Weilerstein and Lucy Chapman at the New England Conservatory, Linnaea has performed repertoire ranging from solo Bach to duos with piano to chamber and orchestral music. She has participated in master-classes with Vadim Repin, Ivry Gitlis, Alexander Vinnitski, and Hagai Shaham at the Keshet Eilon Summer Mastercourse and the Interharmony Music Festival.
From 2013-2014, she was a member of the Discovery Ensemble. In April of 2015, she won second place in the Bales Violin Competition at the New England Conservatory. In February 2014, she was featured as the conductor/soloist of NEC’s Chamber Symphony when she performed the concertino 1st violin part of the Handel Concerto Grosso in C Major. In addition, she was invited to participate in the NEC Chamber Gala Concert with her chamber group in a performance of the Brahms Horn Trio in May of 2015.
In 2005, she won first place in the Music Teachers National Association junior division and played the winner’s recital the next year in Toronto. She attended the Perlman Music Program from 2005-2007 and played a solo debut recital sponsored by the PMP at the Neue Galerie in New York. Also as a PMP member, she participated in orchestral and chamber music performances, including a tour with her TNT quartet to the Neue Galerie and West Palm Beach, Florida. Orchestras with which Linnaea has performed as soloist include the Nashville Symphony, the Alabama Symphony, and the Delta Symphony.

The Cutaway Acoustic Guitar Series: Alberto Lombardi
2020-01-17 13:30 - 15:30 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Crosstown Arts presents The Cutaway Acoustic Guitar Series, a monthly concert series showcasing internationally acclaimed guitarists.
This series is in partnership with the Little Rock-based Argenta Acoustic Music Series. January’s performance features Italian virtuoso guitarist Alberto Lombardi in an intimate, solo performance.
Tickets: $15
Doors 7pm | Performance 7:30pm
Italian virtuoso guitarist Alberto Lombardi is an internationally renowned acoustic solo fingerstyle and electric rock player. His captivating acoustic performances are comprised of elaborate arrangements of great classics both of the Italian and international tradition, incorporating fingerpicking, flatpicking, some looping and singing, but also original songs and compositions.
He toured extensively in Europe and USA, playing major guitar festivals like Muriel Anderson’s All Star gui/tar Night, Peter Finger’s International Guitar Night, Chet Atkins Appreciation Society, Sarzana and also in clubs like NYC Rockwood music hall and Nashville’s City Winery.
Included among the eight guitarists to watch in 2018 by Vintage Guitar Magazine and among the best ten emerging fingerstyle guitarists in the world by Guitar Masters Poland, Alberto is a Taylor Guitars and B&G guitars supported artist.
His arrangement of “Volare” gained Stefan Grossman’s attention, resulting in Grossman releasing an instructional video of Alberto’s work. Alberto then went on to release multiple albums and instructional videos for Stefan Grossman and Peter Finger. His records have received many great reviews, first of all from the master himself Tommy Emmanuel (“It sounds beautiful ,and your playing and arrangements are very powerful! Big admiration to you!”), but also from renowned magazines such as Acoustic Guitar, Fingerstyle Journal, Vintage guitar, Minor 7th, Chitarra acustica.
As an electric soloist, Alberto has rocked stages as big as Italian Stadiums like Olimpico and San Siro, or Pavillao Atlantico in Lisboa. He’s now touring with the Alberto Lombardi Stratocaster tribute, interpreting all the great music performed on the Strat by legends like Clapton, Hendrix, Gilmour, SRV, etc.
His arrangements are very personal, derived from the different musical experiences Alberto has in rock, jazz, country, and pop as a session player. Yet they’re rooted in the style of the great Chet Atkins and Tommy Emmanuel. He digs into complex arrangements of Italian and american classics, translating them on the guitar (Georgia on my mind, Volare, ‘O Sole Mio), picking up clever harmonic movements from those great arrangers and composers and making them his own, on the six string.
Alberto has also been a session player, studio owner and record producer/arranger/mixer for 25 years, based in Rome Italy. His collaborations are diverse and range from pop artists like Robbie Dupree and the original singers of the band Chic, to legend mixing engineer Bob Clearmountain (Springsteen, Rolling Stones, Bryan Adams).
