Crosstown Arts

Soul Kids (Memphis Premiere + Performance)
2022-03-26 14:00 - 16:30 (America/Chicago) | Crosstown Theater, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Featuring in-person Q&A with Director Hugo Sobelman and subjects of the film + performance from 926, the Stax Music Academy Alumni Band
Event presented by Indie Memphis, Stax Music Academy, and Crosstown Arts
Doors open at 6:30pm | Event begins at 7:00pm
Tickets: $15

PURCHASE TICKETS HERE

*In accordance with Crosstown Arts’ COVID-19 policies, any Indie Memphis event hosted at Crosstown Arts will now require that attendees show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test in order to attend.

In Memphis, one of the USA’s most distressed city, the Stax Music Academy is an oasis. Founded in 2000, the academy continues the legacy of Stax Records, the legendary 60s soul label which was a refuge and an active space for dialog during the Civil Rights movement. By learning and understanding soul music in after school programs, teenagers embark into Black Americans legacy and open themselves to new future prospects. Soul Kids is a musical odyssey through history and the concerns of a new generation.

Maeve Gilchrist
2022-03-26 14:30 - 16:00 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Crosstown Arts presents Edinburgh-born harpist and composer Maeve Gilchrist in The Green Room.
TICKETS: $20 plus fees
Doors at 7 pm | Show at 7:30 pm
Crosstown Arts is requesting proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test for this event. Please be prepared to present your vaccination card or a negative Covid test taken within 72 hours at check-in. Masks are required.
Described by one critic as “a phenomenal harp player who can make her instrument ring with unparalleled purity”, Maeve Gilchrist has taken the Celtic (lever) harp to new levels of performance and visibility.
Born and raised in Edinburgh, Scotland, and currently based in Brooklyn, New York, Maeve‘s innovative approach to her instrument stretches its harmonic limits and improvisational possibilities. She is as at home as a soloist with an internationally renowned orchestra as she is playing with a traditional Irish folk group or using electronic augmentation in a more contemporary, improvisatory setting.
She tours internationally as a band leader as well as maintaining a number of collaborations including the progressive folk quartet, DuoDuo (featuring percussive dancer Nic Gareiss, cellist Natalie Haas and Yann Falquet of Quebecois super-group Genticorum), a more electronics based project with Viktor Krauss and as a member of the Irish Music Network-commissioned Edges of Light quartet: a multidisciplinary group featuring the piper David Power, dancer Colin Dunne and the fiddler Tola Custy. Maeve is also a member of the prestigious Silkroad Ensemble. She has appeared at such major music events as Celtic Connections in Glasgow, Tanglewood Jazz Festival, the World Harp Congress in Amsterdam and the historic opening of the Scottish Parliament. She has played with such luminaries as Yo-Yo Ma, Es- peranza Spalding, Tony Trishka, Ambrose Akinmusire, Darol Anger and Kathy Mattea.
Maeve has released five albums to date, including her most recent recording, Vignette, on Adventure Records, with bassist Viktor Krausse while, on her own label, her solo Ostinato Project is a beguiling ex-ploration of the possibilities of her instrument. In 2018 Maeve was a featured soloist on the Dreamworks blockbuster movie soundtrack, How to tame your dragon: The hidden world.
Maeve was the first lever harpist to be employed as an instructor by her alma mater, Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she taught for five years before switching to being a visiting artist in 2018. She has written several instructional books published by Hal Leonard Music. She is also an in-demand composer and arranger, with past commissions including a ground-breaking concerto for lever harp and symphony orchestra co-written with North Carolina-based composer Luke Benton and most recently a new piece for harp and string quartet premiered at the Edinburgh International Harp festival last spring. Maeve is the co-artistic director of the new Celtic Roots and Branches Festival launching in Rockport MA this summer and the assistant music director of WGBH’s Christmas Celtic Sojourn.

Arooj Aftab with Ouri at Crosstown Arts
2022-03-27 14:30 - 16:30 | Crosstown Theater, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Crosstown Arts presents Arooj Aftab at Crosstown Theater with an opening performance by Ouri. This concert is presented in part by Sonosphere, Inc.

Tickets: $25
Doors at 6:30 pm | Show at 7:30 pm
Crosstown Arts is requesting proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test for this event. Please be prepared to present your vaccination card or a negative Covid test taken within 72 hours at check-in. Masks are required.

Arooj Aftab
Born and raised in Lahore, Pakistan, Arooj Aftab came to prominence in Pakistan in the early 2000s when she developed a style that combines Sufi-mystical poetry with the spirit of independent rock. This sound catapulted her to stardom from a then-fledgling underground and online music community in Pakistan. She eventually moved to the U.S., earned a degree at the Berklee School of Music, and now lives in New York City.

Her music is inspired by the poetry and musicality of Rumi, Abida Parveen, and other Sufi poets, as well as the reworking of classical Pakistani and North Indian forms like khayal and kafi. She says Sufi words have impacted her writing: “It is very much about the feeling that (Sufi poetry) leaves you with: calmness, peace, patience, simplicity. And then sadness, longing, wandering, searching, openness, oneness. I try to take all these qualities and weave them into my music.” She is adamant that her music not be defined as retro; instead, she’d prefer that her music be understood as a new approach to an old form. She says her music is, “something new that’s both musically and politically resonant for the contemporary moment.”

In 2011, NPR listed Arooj as one of the Top 100 Young Composers of today, alongside names such as Grammy Award-winning Esperanza Spalding and Fusion Jazz piano virtuoso Vijay Iyer. The New York Times included Arooj in their list of Best Concerts of 2012. TimeOut Magazine rated one of her collaborative projects in the Top 10 Classical Albums of 2013. Most recently, Curious Animal Magazine has listed Bird Under Water among the 10 best albums including Bjork, Sufjan Stevens, and Kendrick Lamar.

Arooj has collaborated with world-renowned artists such as Meshell Ndegeocello, Esperanza Spalding, DJ /rupture, and Abida Parveen to name a few. She has performed her music at major venues such as the Lincoln Center, Highline Ballroom, Le Poisson Rouge, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. She has also been invited to perform at festivals such as The Big Ears Festival, The Ecstatic Music Festival, and the SF Jazz Festival to name a few.

OURI

Ouri is both a producer and a performing artist, a DJ, a cello & harp player, a vocalist, songwriter and composer. Heralded in the electronic music space for a breadth of sound that reaches into the variety of her abilities, Ouri grows beyond its confines for the next phase of her career as a solo artist.
Ourielle Auvé, known professionally as Ouri, grew up in France in a family of afro-carribean descent before arriving in Montreal at the age of 16 to pursue a degree in composition. Here her artistry and vision were able to flourish, establishing herself in the city’s music community as a producer, collaborating with peers like Helena Deland and Mind Bath, and circulating Montreal’s rich, underground rave culture with wizardry late-night DJ sets.
Tapped for Red Bull Music Academy’s 2017 Montréal Bass Camp, it was a quick ascent for the producer turned songstress. Opportunities quickly followed suit. She was invited to headline Boiler Room’s Montreal show, signed to Ghosty (international) & Make it Rain Records (Canada) for the release of her EP ‘Superficial’ — dubbed a “startling, exploratory piece of digital soul” by Clash Magazine — and was asked to make official remixes for the likes of Tokimonsta, Selah Sue, Busty and the Bass and others.
Invited to support Jacques Greene, Yves Tumour & Kllo live in concert, Ouri toured the world through 2019, popping up in America, Europe, the UK and Mexico across a busy year supporting the release of her EP and growing notoriety, as affirmed by millions of streams and praise from Fader, Line of Best Fit, Clash, Jamz Supernova, Red Bull and Majestic Casual.
It was in the many collaborations through Ouri’s journey as a producer that the itch to explore her own abilities as a vocalist and songwriter took shape. Arriving in Montreal Ouri dreamed of being a composer, hiding her identity and womanhood in an enigma behind the laptop, staying hidden and ambiguous as a means of survival. Yet, with a burning sense of limitation, masked in compromise between herself as a producer and the accompanying vocalist, swirled with the catalyst of a breakup spinning ideas of new beginnings, Ouri embraced the inevitable. What comes next is the first manifestation of said change, an initial offering of a project fully imaged and executed by Ouri, the producer, the song-writer and the voice.
Recent times have seen Ouri embrace a period of realignment, finding solace in her artistic practice while staying close to home to work on a new project poised for release next year. On it, she stretches beyond the boundaries of electronica for a deliberate synthesis of moods and sounds that allow for a purity that no longer lives inside her computer.
Ouri’s multi-instrumental talents and classical training steer her approach to melody and bass in entrancingly emotive, bold and playful ways. Pairing traditional song structure with abstract spatial dynamics she creates unparalleled tension between aggressive rhythmic progression and soothing harmonic fluidity. At the centre of it all lies Ouri’s ethereal voice; her words and melodies lay ground for a soulful emotional honesty that swirl around deftly produced arrangements of harp, cello, steel guitar, synthesizer and a mélange of percussion.
Ouri is both fierce and delicate in its most evocative balance as expands her sonic spectrum in her next offering. With single ‘Shape of It’ — a song composed exclusively of her performance on cello and harp — Ouri exposes her bare vocals to find space for vulnerability. She sings of fear in a manner in which to look past it, to build a safe place after abuse, to desire hope as a means of generating hope, to celebrate sex, to celebrate creation, all while in these times of crisis.

Crosstown Arts Resident Artist Talk
2022-03-29 13:00 - 15:00 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Crosstown Arts Spring 2022 resident artists Lucy Wang, Kate Roberts, John Rash, Gunter Guapp, and Jasmine Marie will present artist talks.
Free and open to the public. Masks are encouraged at this event.

Lucy Wang is an award-winning published and produced writer, mentor, and performer. Her plays have been performed throughout the U.S. and abroad. Her poetry and prose have appeared in literary and trade magazines. After Wang sold a half-hour TV comedy pilot, feminist icon Gloria Steinem urged her to do stand-up, which was so exhilarating that Wang developed and performed two one-woman shows to sold-out audiences. Her manuscripts are archived at the Huntington Library and CEMA collections at UC Santa Barbara.
Lucy’s work is largely dedicated to fighting for social justice, creating more inclusive roles, and inciting laughter.
“I am a founding member of Honor Roll!, an action advocacy group of women+ playwrights over 40 as well as our women+ over 40 allies, that fights for more inclusion, more visibility in theater. One of the ways I champion change is through comedy. Comedy is revolutionary. I can’t force you to think something is funny. Laughter is involuntary. We all know what canned laughter sounds like. Real laughter has the power to connect us, open our hearts, and change our minds. I never met anyone who said, please, stop, no more laughter. That’s why I love to share stories that tackle complex issues with joy and laughter — it will improve our health and understanding of each other. Live, love, laugh.”

Kate Roberts is an artist and educator working in Memphis, TN. Her practice is a mediation on time and its role in the decay of memories, objects, and the spaces they exist within. Inspiration is drawn from historical objects, the architecture around her, or events and choices that shaped a site. Primarily working with clay in its unfired state, Roberts questions the permanence of these objects and sites. The results are installations that explore the connection between the vulnerabilities of the nature of clay in its many forms from dust, to wet slip, to unfired and the mortality of people, objects, and places. The moments of fragmentation found in-between act as metaphors for change, impermanence, and devices for reinterpretation. Distorted and ghostly, the sculptures and installations result in a fleeting, fragile reminder of the consequences of nature, time, and circumstance.
“I grew up in the Southern part of the United States. The landscape is lush and bountiful and at times can be hauntingly visceral. This is due to the areas’ humidity. It causes the pace to be slow … nearly stagnant. Time does not move in a linear fashion, but is suspended. As southerners we live in suspension between myth and truth, between appearance and reality, between life and death, and between the past and present. In my work I try to find that similar moment in-between.”

John Rash is an artist and documentarian working in lens-based media across the mediums of photography, video, audio, and installation. John’s work is primarily centered on representations of outsider identities, counterculture communities, and alternative lifestyles with a commitment to accountability and promotion of social and racial justice. These stories and images utilize the traditions and innovations of documentary fieldwork and are retold through experimental methods of visual storytelling that highlight the human condition.
“All documentaries are collaborative portraits framed and assembled by a subjective narrative. No story is too small and every person has at least one worth hearing.”

Gunter Guapp is a composer and music teacher based in Memphis, TN, whose work combines interests in noise composition and genre music. His recent work utilizes folk melodies, chaotic textures, and improvisation to explore themes of interpersonal connection and accessibility. Recent premieres include collaborations with Hypercube, the Julius Quartet, Four Corners Ensemble, and Ensemble PHACE to present new pieces in Chicago, Dallas, New York, and Vienna.
“At its best, I think concert music should be physically engaging and allow performers to immediately connect to listeners and invite audiences into performance spaces”

Jasmine Marie (she/her) is a queer Black multidisciplinary artist born and based in Memphis. Her work centers stories of Black southern heritage, spirituality, and black femme identity, most often through afro-surrealist/futuristic imagery. She is half of NuJas, a multidisciplinary art house centering black women and queer folks.
“I think overall I want to make work that holds black folks close and moves us to imagine how love and community free us. Even in pieces that aren’t intentionally futuristic, I want us to feel bigger. Like we are part of something that transcends time and challenges our understanding of our place in the world.”

Bang on a Can All-Stars
2022-03-29 14:30 - 16:00 | Crosstown Theater, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Crosstown Arts presents the Bang on a Can All-Stars, an ensemble that crosses the boundaries between genres, at Crosstown Theater.
TICKETS: $25 first-level seating | $20 second-level seating
$10 students (with student ID at the door)
Doors open at 7:00pm / Performance at 7:30pm
Crosstown Arts is requesting proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test for this event. Please be prepared to present your vaccination card or a negative Covid test taken within 72 hours at check-in. Masks are required.
“A fiercely aggressive group, combining the power and punch of a rock band with the precision and clarity of a chamber ensemble.” – The New York Times
Formed in 1992, the Bang on a Can All-Stars are recognized worldwide for their ultra-dynamic live performances and recordings of today’s most innovative music. Freely crossing the boundaries between classical, jazz, rock, world and experimental music, this six-member amplified ensemble has consistently forged a distinct category-defying identity, taking music into uncharted territories. Performing each year throughout the U.S. and internationally, the All-Stars have shattered the definition of what concert music is today.
Together, the All-Stars have worked in unprecedented close collaboration with some of the most important and inspiring musicians of our time, including Steve Reich, Ornette Coleman, Burmese circle drum master Kyaw Kyaw Naing, Tan Dun, DJ Spooky, and many more. The group’s celebrated projects include their landmark recordings of Brian Eno’s ambient classic Music for Airports and Terry Riley’s In C, as well as live performances with Philip Glass, Meredith Monk, Don Byron, Iva Bittova, Thurston Moore, Owen Pallett and others. The All-Stars were awarded Musical America’s Ensemble of the Year and have been heralded as “the country’s most important vehicle for contemporary music” by the San Francisco Chronicle.
Current and recent project highlights include “In C”, a new dance collaboration with Sasha Waltz & Guests based on Terry Riley’s minimalist classic; Dance Party, a brand new multi-media concert pairing composers and choreographers; a new recording of legendary composer/performer Meredith Monk’s MEMORY GAME; Julia Wolfe’s Flower Power for Bang on a Can All-Stars and orchestra, a multi media concert exploring the sonic landscape of the late 1960s; Road Trip, an immersive and visually stunning concert collaboratively-composed by Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe to commemorate the 30+ year journey of Bang on a Can; the touring performances and recording of Julia Wolfe’s Pulitzer Prize winning Anthracite Fields for the All-Stars and guest choir; Julia Wolfe’s acclaimed Steel Hammer, plus a moving theatrically staged collaboration with SITI Company and director Anne Bogart; Field Recordings, a major multi-media project and CD/DVD now featuring 30 commissioned works by Tyondai Braxton, Mira Calix, Anna Clyne, Bryce Dessner, Florent Ghys, Michael Gordon, Jóhann Jóhannsson, David Lang, Christian Marclay, Steve Reich, Todd Reynolds, Julia Wolfe, and more; the Lincoln Center Festival 2017 world premiere of Cloud River Mountain, a collaboration featuring Chinese superstar singer Gong Linna; the world premiere performance and recording of Steve Reich’s 2×5 including a sold-out performance at Carnegie Hall, and much more. With a massive repertoire of works written specifically for the group’s distinctive instrumentation and style of performance, the All-Stars have become a genre in their own right. The All-Stars record on Cantaloupe Music and have released past recordings on Sony, Universal and Nonesuch.

Crosstown Arthouse Film Series presents THRILLING BLOODY SWORD
2022-03-31 14:30 - 16:00 | Crosstown Theater, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
The Crosstown Arthouse Film Series presents THRILLING BLOODY SWORD at Crosstown Theater.

Hsin-Yi Chang / 1981 / 89 minutes / Rated R
Tickets: $5 at the door
Films begin at 7:30 pm (sharp!) at Crosstown Theater
If He-Man and the Masters of the Universe dropped acid with the Shaw Brothers while knocking out a martial arts horror-fantasy movie, that movie would be THRILLING BLOODY SWORD. This head-spinning slice of Taiwanese psychotronic cinema builds a movie out of SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS, impossible fight scenes, and wild monsters that include a cyclops, a pterodactyl, and Satan himself! A comet impregnates a queen. She gives birth to a fleshy egg. In disgust, the king tosses the egg in the river. Seven little people stumble onto the egg. They stab it with a knife and find a cute baby inside —one who grows up to be a beautiful princess. One day, she runs into a prince, who is fighting a multi-headed dragon. Of course, the two royals fall in love. Unfortunately, a group of dastardly wizards want to keep them apart, and they’ll use every creature at their disposal to do it! Previously only available via VHS bootlegs, Gold Ninja Video is proud to present this hallucinogenic fantasia in a new 2K preservation from the only known 35mm print in existence.

The Crosstown Arthouse Film Series showcases a diverse collection of independent, international, historically significant, artistic, experimental, cult, underground and documentary features.
Crosstown Arts is requesting proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test for this event. Please be prepared to present your vaccination card or a negative Covid test taken within 72 hours at check-in.

“Taking Over”: Women in the Music Industry
2022-04-01 14:30 - 16:30 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Doors at 7pm | Show at 7:30pm
Tickets: $10 advance | $15 day of the show
PURCHASE TICKETS HERE

Morgan Massey, a graduating senior from the University of Memphis Music Business program, is presenting Taking Over: Women in the Music Industry. The event is a benefit concert for A Step Ahead Foundation and will be held on April 1st at The Green Room in Crosstown Arts. The show will serve to empower and encourage young women who are navigating a male dominated industry. Taking Over features four incredible female performers and a fully female crew. The event will include exclusive shirts for sale to raise funds for donations. Come close out Women’s History Month by supporting these ambitious and passionate young women!
Alexis Jade
Alexis Jade, simply put, is an old soul with a new sound. Her relationship with music was cultivated right on the front porch in Rosemark, TN, sitting next to her grandmother as they sang nostalgic songs such as “You are My Sunshine” and “How Much is That Doggy in the Window?” Raised in a house full of music from the 70s, 80s, and 90s, music was an integral part of Jade’s childhood, and she began writing songs at a very young age. This past fall, Alexis Jade signed on to Blue Tom Records at the University of Memphis. Under Blue Tom Records, Jade will be releasing her first solo single, “Return to Sender.” Out to pave a new path for women in country music, Jade has her sights set on bringing a new sound to the time-old tales of heartbreak and loss.
Trinity Adair
Trinity Adair Miller is a Junior Music Business major at the University of Memphis. Trinity was born in a small town in Illinois and grew up in Nashville. Her parents, Everett and Annetta Miller, have always supported her dreams in pursuing music and have pushed her to become the artist she is today. Trinity has an original single titled “If Only” and will be performing that today. Trinity would like to shout out Morgan for the opportunity to be able to showcase her talent and for considering her to perform tonight. She is so honored to be performing alongside other talented female artists and is excited to continue her journey as an artist and student.
Sarah Spain
Sarah Spain is a Memphis singer-songwriter and student at the University of Memphis studying creative writing. Sarah has participated in many vocal ensembles and has her own solo career. She works as a vocal instructor at the Memphis School of Rock. On top of these endeavors, she has a small business called Strange Moon Mystics where she makes eclectic jewelry by hand. Taking Over is honored to have her as a part of our line-up.
Toni Mack
Memphis-based singer/songwriter, Toni Mack, has been honing her skills in music for the past several years. Pulling inspiration from her own personal experience as well as those around her, she has been able to produce a sound that is not often heard in her hometown, Alternative Soul. Her music consists of soft vocals intertwined with melodic guitar chords. She is currently still attending college, working hard to perfect her craft. She pulls influence from artists like Lianne La Havas, Corrine Bailey Rae, Esperanza Spalding, and many more talented musicians. She hopes to inspire others to find themselves and to be able to relate to her music. Allowing it to be the spirit guide through it all.

Marcella Simien
2022-04-02 14:30 - 16:00 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Crosstown Arts presents a night of eclectic sounds from the Swamp Soul Queen Marcella Simien, featuring the Lovers band and special guests.

TICKETS: $10 advance | $15 day of show
Doors at 7 pm | Show at 7:30 pm
Crosstown Arts is requesting proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test for this event. Please be prepared to present your vaccination card or a negative Covid test taken within 72 hours at check-in. Masks are required.
Marcella Simien was born into one of the first Creole families to settle St. Landry Parish. Daughter of two-time GRAMMY™ Award-winning Zydeco luminary Terrance Simien, Marcella was practically born on-stage and grew up immersed in sound and performance. Visits to the family home from legends such as David Hidalgo of Los Lobos or Taj Mahal, who once sang her “Happy Birthday,” were not uncommon.
Simien holds a degree from Memphis College of Art, which is what originally brought her to Memphis, Tennessee. Feeling a kindred connection to the city’s rich history and bustling community of working musicians, she began planting the seeds of her South Louisiana heritage in the Bluff City. She has since forged her own pathways in the local, national, and international music scenes, following her heart as an artist while wielding the torch of a Creole dynasty.
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. Her lyrics explore themes of love, loss, and healing, and her vocal work embodies feminine strength. 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.
Confident, composed, and courageous, Simien is a bona fide artist in her own right with musical wisdom beyond her years. As legendary record producer and owner of Royal Studios Lawrence “Boo” Mitchell puts it, “Marcella is one of the most soulful artists I’ve heard since the glory days of Memphis soul music. Her sound and stage presence are constant reminders that soul music is still alive and well.”
Simien’s selected career milestones and accolades to date include: “Meet Me In Memphis”—a one-on-one interview feature produced by Southern Living & IKEA USA that has reached over 1.5 million views on Facebook; the honor of being one of only 500 artists in America nominated for a $50,000 USA Artists Fellowship; a feature on the nationally-syndicated radio program Beale Street Caravan; a feature in the Memphis Flyer’s “20 Under 30” cover issue; performing twice on the Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise alongside such greats as Marcia Ball, Allen Toussaint, and Irma Thomas; and lending guest vocals to her father Terrance Simien’s album Dockside Sessions, which won a 2014 GRAMMY™ for Best Regional Roots Album of the Year.
In addition to Marcella & Her Lovers, Simien performs with Gumbo, Grits & Gravy, Marcella & Les Vagues, Magnolias, and Terrance Simien’s Krewe De Monifique. Recently, Simien made her New York City debut at Joe’s Pub and her London debut as a duo with Mark Black of Sweet on drums. She signed with a new management team, Yonas Media, in June of 2020.

Kafé Kirk with Kirk Whalum and Avery*Sunshine
2022-04-03 13:00 - 15:00 | Crosstown Theater, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Crosstown Arts presents Kafé Kirk with Kirk Whalum and Avery*Sunshine at Crosstown Theater.

Doors open at 5pm | Show begins at 6pm
Tickets: General Admission $45 (plus fees)

PURCHASE TICKETS HERE

Crosstown Arts is requesting proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test for this event. Please be prepared to present your vaccination card or a negative Covid test taken within 72 hours at check-in. At-home and rapid tests are accepted. Masks encouraged.
KIRK WHALUM
Soulful, passionate, stirring…these are the words most often used to describe Kirk’s music. Forged from his Memphis, (TN) gospel roots and his 1980‘s initiation into the thriving Houston, TX nightclub scene, Kirk’s big, rich tenor sound is unmistakably his. The 80’s were highlighted by Kirk’s stepping out of his blossoming sideman role and forming his own band. It was there that Kirk ultimately developed both his “voice” and songwriting in the crucible of the local club scene––especially at a rooftop club called Cody’s. It was also in Houston where jazz pianist Bob James “discovered” him and brought him on tour, which led to five successful albums with Columbia Records, including Cache, Kirk’s first #1 album. As well, Kirk and Bob received a Grammy nomination for their collaboration album, Joined at the Hip. After moving to Los Angeles, Kirk became an in demand session player for top artists like, Barbara Streisand, Al Jarreau, Luther Vandross, Larry Carlton, Quincy Jones and most notably, Whitney Houston, amongst many others. It’s his sax heard on the mega-hit, “I Will Always Love You.” Kirk soon followed that career high point with his phenomenal hit album released on Warner Bros. Records, For You, perhaps the most successful of over 25 solo recordings to date; others include his eclectic, and much lauded, Gospel According to Jazz series, (Chapters 1, 2, 3 and 4). In addition to his many solo projects, Kirk was also a member of the popular soul/jazz group, BWB, which features Kirk as the “W” of the group with Rick Braun (trumpet) and Norman Brown (guitar).
An ordained minister, Kirk has earned a Masters of Art in Religion. It’s in this spirit that he serves his community in various ways when his touring schedule allows. There is also his daily fifteen minute podcast, Bible In Your Ear (BIYE), in which he invites you to listen along as he reads through the Bible in a year. In addition to music and ministry, Kirk has a passion to educate young, aspiring musicians and is currently engaged as a music professor at Visible Music College in his hometown of Memphis.
Kirk is the recipient of numerous awards and acknowledgements for his musical excellence including three Dove Award nominations, an NAACP Image Award nomination and has won two Stellar Awards- Gospel music’s highest honor. A twelve time Grammy nominee, Kirk won his first Grammy award (2011)for Best Gospel Song (“It’s What I Do”––featuring Lalah Hathaway) alongside life-long friend and gifted songwriter, Jerry Peters.
In a career spanning decades, Kirk has a sound that is uniquely his; it is a sound that leaves an indelible imprint on the listener.
AVERY*SUNSHINE
Avery*Sunshine is a singer-songwriter whose music can be described as “the epitome of soul.” A native of Chester, Pennsylvania, her foundation, like many of the great soul singers, is rooted in her experience growing up in the Black church. She honed her craft as a vocal performance student at Spelman College where she earned a Bachelor of Arts. In 2010, Sunshine released her debut album, Avery*Sunshine, a work co-produced by her then musical partner, and future husband, Dana Johnson. The single, “Ugly Part of Me”, hit the airwaves and introduced Sunshine to the world. Her second album, The SunRoom (2014) spawned her first No. 1 single on a Billboard chart with “Call My Name”. She continued to grow her discography with the release of Twenty Sixty Four (2017) and the single “How Will You Remember Me?” (2020).
In 2020, Avery expanded her artistry to the world of beauty, launching Lou*Mack Beauty — a cosmetic company created to encourage women of color to discover, connect to, and celebrate the beauty of our lineage. She also created the Hey Sunshine Show, her own performance platform producing monthly live shows to share with her fans from the comfort of her own home.
Avery*Sunshine’s sound is uplifting, vibrant, and exactly as her namesake suggests, full of sunshine. She brings people together through her riveting stage performances, candid and often humorous stage banter, and optimistic anthems about love and life. She prays that the small space that she occupies in this world reminds everyone to shine as brightly as they can – no matter what. For more visit AverySunshine.com.

Shoot & Splice: Hair & Makeup with Faizah Husniyah
2022-04-05 14:00 - 16:30 | Crosstown Theater, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Doors open at 6:30pm | Event begins at 7:00pm
Crosstown Theater
Free to attend
Complimentary drinks provided by Crosstown Arts

Please join Indie Memphis & Crosstown Arts in a conversation and live demonstration with film & television hair and makeup artist, Faizah Husniyah. Faizah will discuss her flourishing career as well as how filmmaking fundamentals — such as lighting, camera angles, scene-to-scene continuity, and more — all play an important role when strategizing and implementing a style plan for every character on screen. She will also provide a live, on stage demonstration of her work while giving guided insight into her creative process.

Known for her incredible transformations outside of TV & Film, Faizah Husniyah has been a professional hair and makeup artist since 2010, beginning in Memphis, TN. Faizah’s love for production started at the age of 12, where she would help backstage at local theatres’ where her mother was a stage actress. She found herself drawn to the hair and makeup artists who would eventually take Faizah under their wing and mentor her which has contributed to her successes today.
Determined to pursue her career as a professional hair and makeup artist after dropping out of high school, Faizah attended both the Beauty Institute and Paul Mitchell. Faizah ventured into fashion where she became a recognized participant at the notable New York Fashion Week, and later became a sought after artist and is now faithfully invited to work alongside the biggest names in Hollywood.
Faizah has never been afraid to expand to new territories. She set her sights on the film world and landed opportunities that afforded her to work with major production companies such as: CMT, HBO, WETV, NBC, HULU, NETFLIX, DISNEY, GAP KIDS, ABC, SONY & ADIDAS to name a few.
In 2020, Faizah was the winner of an unprecedented award that she received by Emmy and Oscar winning stylists Camille Friend (Dept. Head of hair for Black Panther, Captain Marvel & Guardians of The Galaxy) and Vito Trotta (Grey’s Anatomy) as “The best up and coming artists in tv & film” in which she was paired and mentored by Oscar winning hairstylist Kathrine Gordan.

Shoot & Splice is a FREE filmmaker forum presented by Crosstown Arts and Indie Memphis, featuring a wide variety of technical, educational, and unique topics of interest to the Memphis filmmaking community.

SOLD OUT: Samara Joy featuring Pasquale Grasso
2022-04-05 14:30 - 16:30 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Crosstown Arts presents Samara Joy featuring Pasquale Grasso in the Green Room.

Tuesday, April 5, 2022

Doors open at 7pm | Show begins at 7:30pm
Tickets: $20 advance | $25 at the door (plus fees)

PURCHASE TICKETS HERE

Crosstown Arts is requesting proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test for this event. Please be prepared to present your vaccination card or a negative Covid test taken within 72 hours at check-in. Masks are required.
With a voice as smooth as velvet, SAMARA JOY’s star seems to rise with each performance. Following her winning the 2019 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition, she is currently recording her debut recording, which will feature Samara backed by the Pasquale Grasso Trio.
This rising star still resides in the place of her birth, the Castle Hill section of the Bronx, New York. Growing up, music was a pervasive presence, due to the inspiration of her paternal grandparents, Elder Goldwire and Ruth McLendon, who led the well-known Philadelphia-based gospel group, The Savettes. Her father toured with the renowned Gospel artist Andrae Crouch, and her home was filled with the sounds of not only her father’s songs and songwriting process, but the inspiration of many Gospel and R&B artists, including Stevie Wonder, Lalah Hathaway, George Duke, Musiq Soulchild, Kim Burrell, Commissioned, and many others.
“Although I didn’t grow up singing in church,” explains Samara, “I constantly heard my family singing inspirational music together, which instilled in me an appreciation for my musical lineage. My earliest memory of performing is singing a Jordin Sparks song for my fifth grade graduation. Then, through musicals in middle school, I loved exploring the range of my voice and applying the different colors to fit the characters I played. Finally, during high school, I joined the choir at my church, eventually becoming a worship leader, singing three services a week for nearly two years.”
Samara’s first exposure to jazz was while attending Fordham High School for the Arts, where she performed regularly with the jazz band, eventually winning Best Vocalist at JALC’s Essentially Ellington competition. However, jazz wasn’t really her focus until the time came to choose a college. Wanting to attend a state school close to home, she picked SUNY Purchase, gaining acceptance into their acclaimed jazz program, with a faculty that includes many jazz masters (including Pasquale Grasso and drummer Kenny Washington, who both appear on her debut recording.)
“My friends were all into jazz and started sharing their favorite recordings with me to check out. The turning point was when I heard both Sarah Vaughan’s version of ‘Lover Man’ and Tadd Dameron’s recordings featuring trumpeter Fats Navarro. I was hooked.”
From this point, she began to pursue her jazz studies with an intense passion, eventually being named the Ella Fitzgerald Scholar and entering and winning the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition.
Not yet 21 years old, Samara has already performed in many of the great jazz venues in NYC, including Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, The Blue Note, and Mezzrow, in addition to working with jazz greats such as Christian McBride, Pasquale Grasso, Jon Faddis, Kirk Lightsey, Cyrus Chestnut, and NEA Jazz Master Dr. Barry Harris.
As she begins work on her debut recording (to be released in the spring of 2021), Samara Joy looks forward to sharing her passionate love for jazz as a uniting force and as a catalyst for change in the years to come.

GOLDINGS/BERNSTEIN/STEWART Organ Trio
2022-04-06 14:30 - 16:30 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Crosstown Arts presents GOLDINGS/BERNSTEIN/STEWART in the Green Room, featuring Larry Goldings, Peter Bernstein, and Bill Stewart.

Tickets: $25 advance | $30 at the door (plus fees)
Doors open at 7pm | Show begins at 7:30pm

PURCHASE TICKETS HERE

Crosstown Arts is requesting proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test for this event. Please be prepared to present your vaccination card or a negative Covid test taken within 72 hours at check-in. Masks are required.

“The trio of Larry Goldings, Peter Bernstein, and Bill Stewart is the best organ trio of the last decade.”
– The New York Times

“Goldings belongs to that elite and small group of ‘great piano players”
– Pat Metheny

“Peter Bernstein is the most impressive guitarist I’ve heard. He plays the best of them all for swing, logic, feel and taste, and has paid attention to the past as well as the future.”
– Jim Hall

“An authentic organ trio with all the size and scope of Mount Everest, and twice the cool”
– Jazz Times

“[Bill Stewart’s] true speciality is making a good band sound inexplicably better”
– The New York Times

GOLDINGS/BERNSTEIN/STEWART
In the mid 1990s, The New York Times described Larry Goldings, Peter Bernstein, and Bill Stewart as “the best organ trio of the last decade.” The trio, which has now been together for over 30 years, has been recognized for charting new ground, with its synergistic playing, and thoughtful music. They have over a dozen recordings, all of which display their distinctive sound, whether exploring the depths of jazz standards, or playing their own original compositions.
Of their newest offering, Toy Tunes (Pirouet), Downbeat said, “The whole album subtly subverts organ-trio cliches, offering not chicken-shack party stomps but instead some hip after-hours atmospherics…4 stars”
Larry Goldings
With his signature Hammond organ style and versatility on many keyboards, Boston native Larry Goldings (b. 1968) has traversed not only the wide spectrum of jazz where he is perhaps best known, but also the worlds of funk, pop, and electronic music. High in demand as a sideman, Goldings’ sound can be heard on scores of albums by artists in a variety of musical genres.
Over the years, Goldings has been closely associated with John Scofield, Michael Brecker, Jim Hall, Maceo Parker, Madeleine Peyroux, Pat Metheny, and pop artists James Taylor and John Mayer. In 2007, Goldings, Jack DeJohnette and John Scofield, received a Grammy nomination in the category of Best Jazz Instrumental Album Individual or Group for their album, Trio Beyond – Saudades (ECM).
Goldings also is active as a composer, arranger, and producer. His compositions have been recorded by Michael Brecker, Jim Hall, John Scofield, Jack DeJohnette, Sia, Vulfpeck, Lea Michele, Bob Dorough, Jane Monheit, Gaby Moreno, Curtis Stigers, and Toots Thielemans. Goldings’ music also has been featured in television shows and motion pictures, including, The Office, Proof, Funny People, and Neighbors. He scored his first feature film, Dealin’ With Idiots in 2013, directed by Jeff Garlin, and is currently the composer for the upcoming Netflix mini-series, Madam CJ Walker, starring Octavia Spencer.
Peter Bernstein
Jazz guitarist Peter Bernstein (b. 1967, New York City) has been a part of the jazz scene in New York and abroad since 1989. During that time he has participated in over 200 recordings and numerous festival, concert and club performances with musicians from all generations. As a leader, Peter has released 12 albums and a DVD, Live at Smoke.
He got his first break while attending the New School when he met the legendary guitarist Jim Hall. Hall asked Peter to participate in his Invitational Concert as part of the 1990 JVC Jazz Festival. The event featured such guitarists as John Scofield and Pat Metheny and was released as “Live at Town Hall Vol. 2” by Music Masters. Hall noted that Peter “…has paid attention to the past as well as the future. He is the most impressive guitarist I’ve heard. He plays the best of them all for swing, logic, feel and taste.” Also in 1990, Peter Bernstein was discovered by alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson and took part in the first of four recordings with him. He was a regular member of his group throughout the 1990s. “Some people just have it.” Donaldson said. “…most of the time you have to teach someone what to do, but Peter knows it all.” Peter has also enjoyed long musical associations with legendary drummer Jimmy Cobb (Cobb’s Mob), as well as organist Larry Goldings and drummer Bill Stewart as a member of their highly acclaimed trio. The New York Times called them “the best organ trio of the last decade”. Together they recorded a dozen of records, all of which display their distinctive sound, whether exploring the depths of jazz standards or playing their original compositions. From 1995 through 1997, Peter was a member of Joshua Redman’s band and played on Redman’s Freedom in the Groove CD. He played with Diana Krall’s quartet from 1999 through 2001 and with Dr. Lonnie Smith, the legendary organist who made his debut on the George Benson Cookbook albums. He has also recorded five CDs with organist Melvin Rhyne, known for his association with Wes Montgomery. In addition, Peter has appeared in groups led by Sonny Rollins, Bobby Hutcherson, George Coleman, David Fathead Newman, Etta Jones and Nicholas Payton.
Current Projects include a solo record, “Solo Guitar – Live at Smalls” in 2013, the albums “Let Loose” w/ Gerald Clayton, Doug Weiss, and Bill Stewart in 2016 and “Signs LIVE!”, featuring pianist Brad Mehldau, bassist Christian McBride and drummer Gregory Hutchinson, in 2017, both released on Smoke Session Records as well as the highly acclaimed organ trio with organist Larry Goldings and drummer Bill Stewart with whom he has released numerous albums and toured world wide for almost 30 years. The most recent releases are “Ramshackle Serenade” (2014) and “Toy Tunes” (2018), both on Pirouet records.
Bill Stewart
Originally from Des Moines, Iowa, drummer/composer Bill Stewart (b. 1966) made his name as the rhythmic force behind guitarist John Scofield since 1990 and still collaborating with him regularly since 1990. He is now one of the most sought after jazz drummers in the world.
Stewart’s playing is distinguished by its melodic focus, and its polyrhythmic, or layered, character. Although his drumming bears the influence of various melodic and swinging drummers who preceded him, Stewart’s voice is clearly his own, and has influenced a younger generation of drummers.
Stewart has toured extensively with John Scofield, Pat Metheny, Maceo Parker, Kevin Hays, Joe Lovano, Joshua Redman, Charlie Haden, Steve Wilson, Marc Copland, Bill Carrothers, Nicholas Payton, Joe Henderson and many others in addition to leading his own band on tours in Europe and at the Village Vanguard in New York City.
An excellent composer in his own right, Stewart has made several records as a leader that predominantly feature his own music, bearing the same thoughtfulness, humor, and impeccable taste that one hears in his playing. He has recorded 6 cds as a leader. Stewart’s Blue Note recording “Snide Remarks” was selected as one of the top 10 cds of 1997 by The New York Times, and his latest is Band Menu (2018, self released on cdbabyitunes/amazon), a trio with Walter Smith III and Larry Grenadier.

Crosstown Arthouse presents THE FILMS OF MAYA DEREN with live score by Optic Sink
2022-04-07 14:30 - 16:00 | Crosstown Theater, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
The Crosstown Arthouse Film Series presents THE FILMS OF MAYA DEREN with live score by Optic Sink at Crosstown Theater.

Maya Deren / Multiple Years / 60 minutes / Rated M
Tickets: $5 at the door
Films begin at 7:30 pm (sharp!) at Crosstown Theater
Maya Deren is one of the most important American experimental filmmakers of all time. Along with being a filmmaker, Deren was a choreographer, dancer, film theorist, poet, lecturer, and photographer, and she brings all of these disciplines together in her dreamlike and ecstatic films. The history of avant-garde film is unthinkable without her. For this presentation Deren’s films will be curated and performed with a live score by Memphis no-wave and Goner Records recording artist OPTIC SINK.

The Crosstown Arthouse Film Series showcases a diverse collection of independent, international, historically significant, artistic, experimental, cult, underground and documentary features.
Crosstown Arts is requesting proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test for this event. Please be prepared to present your vaccination card or a negative Covid test taken within 72 hours at check-in.

Crosstown High Theatre Presents: You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown
2022-04-08 14:00 - 16:30, 2022-04-09 09:00 - 11:30, 2022-04-09 14:00 - 16:30, 2022-04-10 09:00 - 11:30 | Crosstown Theater, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Crosstown High Theatre Presents: You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown at Crosstown Theater, April 8th-10th!⁠
Friday, April 8th at 7pm⁠
Saturday, April 9th at 2pm & 7pm⁠
Sunday, April 10th at 2pm⁠
⁠
Adult Tickets $15
Student tickets $10
Child tickets $5⁠
PURCHASE TICKETS HERE
Tickets can be purchased at the door or at the link above.
⁠
Crosstown High Theatre is proud to present their rendition of You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown by Clark Gesner. They will be performing at the Crosstown Theater located directly behind the main atrium and next to Farm Burger. Bring out the whole family, your friends, and your friends’ kids to this heartwarming and funny musical! House will open 45 minutes before showtime and concessions will be available. Tickets will be available online as well as at the door. We hope to see you there!⁠

Postponed: Hood 2 Hood Recitals at Crosstown Arts
2022-04-08 14:30 - 16:30 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
This event has been postponed. New date to be announced soon!

Henry Booker, also known as Sir Henry, is a versatile musician who performs across the Mid-South with several bands. Henry started the Hood 2 Hood Recitals to promote nonviolence, peace, and positivity in urban neighborhoods in Memphis and beyond by playing classical music and R&B hits after he was in a tragic incident that nearly ended his life. The Hood 2 Hood Recitals began with Henry setting up his keyboard in public neighborhood locations so that music could be brought out into the community, for the community. Learn more about Henry Booker’s Hood 2 Hood Recitals: https://dailymemphian.com/article/26003/henry-booker-shooting-survivor
He can be heard performing with his band MainStreet Band on Beale Street, at weddings, and at other special events. MainStreet Band has performed all over the Southeast, with performances in Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, Texas and all across Tennessee.

Folk All Y'all presents David Wilcox
2022-04-09 14:30 - 16:30 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Folk All Y’all presents singer/songwriter David Wilcox.
Doors open at 7pm | Show begins at 7:30pm
Tickets: Minimum ticket price is $30 but you can name-your-own price above that if you’re feeling it. 100% of ticket revenue goes to Folk All Y’all artists.
PURCHASE TICKETS HERE
More than three decades into his career, singer/songwriter David Wilcox continues to push himself, just as he always has. Wilcox, by so many measures, is a quintessential folk singer, telling stories full of heart, humor, and hope, substance, searching, and style. His lyrical insight is matched by a smooth baritone voice, virtuosic guitar chops, and creative open tunings, giving him a range and tenderness rare in folk music. His innate sense of adventure and authenticity is why critics and colleagues, alike, have always praised not just his artistry, but his humanity, as well.
David was the first artist Folk All Y’all reached out to host, way back in 2014. After that first (more-than-)sold-out show, David’s come back and played six more. We’re thrilled to welcome David Wilcox back to The Green Room at Crosstown Arts inside Crosstown Concourse, a space that has inspired him for years.

Minimum ticket price is $30 but you can name-your-own price above that if you’re feeling it. 100% of ticket revenue goes to our artists (you can see where any fees go in the check-out breakdown). Yep, all of it. Folk All Y’all is volunteer-run and subscriber-supported. Shows are presented in partnership with Crosstown Arts at The Green Room in Crosstown Concourse.
The Green Room currently requires proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a negative test from the previous 48 hours to attend shows. Masks are recommended. Your purchase indicates acceptance of this policy and any updates that may be required for community health. Tickets are transferable but non-refundable unless the show is postponed or canceled.
About The Green Room: Operated by Crosstown Arts, The Green Room is committed to providing the best possible environment for the two most important components of a musical performance: the artists’ work and the audience’s listening experience.
About Folk All Y’all: Intimate, attentive performances by exceptional singer-songwriters, proudly presented in Memphis, Folk All Y’all is a public listening room series dedicated to providing artists and audiences with unforgettable music experiences.

Memphis Quarantine Closing Ceremony
2022-04-10 10:00 - 12:00 | Crosstown Arts Galleries, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
The Memphis Quarantine exhibit is coming to an end. Join photographer Jamie Harmon for a closing reception Sunday, April 10, from 3 – 5pm in the Crosstown Arts Galleries. Anyone that has a photo in the exhibit is welcome to take it home with them at no charge. The prints are large so if anyone wants to order a reprint at a custom size Jamie will be taking orders for those as well (there is a reasonable fee for re-prints).

Roland Barber Quintet
2022-04-11 14:30 - 16:30 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Crosstown Arts presents the Roland Barber Quintet in the Green Room.

Doors open at 7pm | Show starts at 7:30pm
Tickets: $18 in advance | $23 at the door
This tour is made possible with the support of Jazz Road, a national initiative of South Arts, which is funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation with additional support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

PURCHASE TICKETS HERE

Roland Barber, based in Nashville, Tennessee, has achieved a powerful, soulful and spirited artistry as a jazz performer, so much so the legendary Curtis Fuller (John Coltrane’s only trombonist) exclaimed upon hearing him, “Now THAT’s what jazz trombone is all about!” Roland’s style is a synthesis of exciting elements – a fusion held together by a compelling sense of “voice” that reaches audiences on many levels. Roland employs a warm, personal tone that is lyrical and full, reminiscent of trombone masters J.J. Johnson and Al Grey – and displays with a melodicism well informed by many traditions from the blues and gospel wail of the South to the bebop founded in New York City, from the swagger of New Orleans to the flavor and verve of Afro-Cuban traditions.
Roland is also known for his masterful plunger-mute playing – a gem in the music of jazz that goes back to Tricky Sam Nanton of Duke Ellington’s orchestra and a study that has been passed down the generations, most directly to Roland through mentors Steve Turre and Al Grey. Roland has performed with titans of jazz music as well as young lions, including Stefon Harris, Sean Jones, Clark Terry, Branford Marsalis, Houston Person, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Wynton Marsalis and Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Duke Ellington Orchestra, the Chico O’Farill Afro Cuban Jazz Orchestra, Lainie Cooke and the Grammy-winning New Orleans Jazz Ensemble.
Roland Barber has performed in venues the world over, from Manhattan to Estonia, including Carnegie Hall, Birdland, the Blue Note, the Smithsonian, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and Madison Square Garden. Beyond the jazz realm, Roland has performed with a “who’s who” of the music scene, including the Wooten Brothers, Slavic Soul Party, Lauryn Hill, the Nashville Symphony, Lady A, Chaka Khan, Aretha Franklin, Lauren Daigle, Taj Mahal, Keb’ Mo, the Wood Brothers, Ron Isley, La India, Roberto Blades, Take 6, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Kirk Whalum, the NBC Saturday Night Live Band and the Spanish Harlem Orchestra.

TANGO! Jason Vieaux & Julien Labro with Pablo Aslan and the Ceruti String Quartet
2022-04-12 14:30 - 16:00 | Crosstown Theater, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Concerts International presents TANGO! Jason Vieaux & Julien Labro with Pablo Aslan and the Ceruti String Quartet at Crosstown Theater.
GRAMMY-Winning Classical Guitarist Jason Vieaux & Bandoneónist Virtuoso Julien Labro perform an all Piazzolla Concert.
Doors open at 7pm | Concert begins at 7:30pm
Tickets: $55 ($10 student tickets available at the door with student ID)
PURCHASE TICKETS HERE
From the dance halls of Buenos Aires to the heat of Cuba, classical guitarist Jason Vieaux and bandoneón virtuoso Julien Labro will take you on a Latin-inspired journey. The bandoneón is the signature instrument of the tango. Bassist Pablo Aslan, an internationally recognized leader in traditional and contemporary tango, joins Jason and Julien for this fiery evening of musical delights. Memphis’ own Ceruti String Quartet completes this perfect combination for a “don’t miss this one” evening.

Jason Vieaux & Julien Labro’s Collaboration:
After meeting at a post-gig hangout in 2007, Labro and Grammy-winning classical guitarist, Jason Vieaux, decided that the only thing better than playing classical music on their “not-so-typically classical” instruments – would be to do it together. The duo has since toured throughout North America with their chamber program – taking audience members on Latin-inspired journeys through original arrangements of music by Piazzolla, Gnattali, Brouwer, etc. from their albums Piazzolla and Infusion. The duo have also collaborated with numerous orchestras, such as the Orchestra of St. Luke, A Far Cry and many more to perform the works of Astor Piazzolla, including his Double Concerto & Labro’s arrangement of Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires.

Concerts International is in its 49th and a half season of bringing world-class chamber music concerts to Memphis area audiences. It’s as if, for each of our five concerts a season, Carnegie Hall were magically transported to Memphis — with affordable ticket prices. We are also committed to introducing chamber music to new audiences, through outreach activities at schools, colleges, retirement communities, museums, and many other places throughout the greater Memphis community.
​Concerts International is a non-profit 501 (3)(c) organization run by a volunteer Board of Directors, with only one administrative employee, so we rely heavily on the active participation of our board members. You’ll see them welcoming you at our concerts, giving out programs, and taking tickets, but they also select and hire the musical ensembles, arrange publicity, market our subscriptions and ticket sales, handle the accounting, and act as host families for the visiting musicians.
The concerts depend on the continuing generosity of our donors, subscribers, concert sponsors, and ArtsMemphis, with its support from the Tennessee Arts Council and from First Tennessee Bank, AutoZone, and individuals.

Nat Reeves with the Ted Ludwig Trio
2022-04-12 14:30 - 16:30 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Crosstown Arts presents jazz bassist Nat Reeves with Ted Ludwig (guitar), Michael Shults (alto saxophone), and James Sexton (drums).
Ticket: $15 advance | $20 day of the show ($10 student tickets available at the door)
Doors open at 7pm | Show begins at 7:30pm
PURCHASE TICKETS HERE
During the past 40 years, Nat Reeves has been one of the top bassists in jazz. His supportive and stimulating playing has uplifted a countless number of sessions and recording dates (most notably with the great altoists Jackie McLean and Kenny Garrett) and he has led his own CD State of Emergency. Both as a performer and an educator, he has made a strong impact on the jazz world.
Nat Reeves was born and raised in Lynchburg, Virginia. “My grandfather played the banjo, mandolin and guitar. One day I picked up his guitar and started playing the bass part. He noticed and, for my 16th birthday, he bought me an electric bass.” Nat had grown up hearing bluegrass, rock and soul records but did not get an opportunity to listen to jazz until he was already a bassist. “As a teenager, I listened closely to the radio, learning everything by ear. Originally I gravitated towards soul artists such as Marvin Gaye and the music of the time. In high school, I worked for a time with a band called the Dynatones. We learned all of the top 40 songs as soon as they came out. Whenever a new hit record was released, we would purchase the recording, go in the basement, put it on the turntable, and learn the song. Quite often the same day we would play the song for dances.”
Nat admired Stanley Clarke, Jaco Pastorius and all of the top electric bassists of the time, being interested in all of the styles. “As a bassist it is my function to concentrate on the foundation of the band and make everybody else sound good. To become a better bass player and learn more about the instrument, I started listening to jazz. In jazz there is much more freedom to create one’s own bass part and to develop my own bass sound. It is my job to always learn and not merely play the bass but be a bass player, projecting more than just my notes and always sounding fresh and alive.”
When he was 22 and living in Richmond, Virginia, Nat joined a band led by trumpeter Tom Mitchell and guitarist Randy Johnston. Johnny Coles, trumpeter for Ray Charles who frequently sat in with the band, convinced Nat to switch to acoustic bass. Without taking a lesson, Nat taught himself the new instrument and quickly developed his own individual voice.
In 1979, Nat Reeves moved to New York City. “I listened, played on the streets, listened some more, and learned. It was at the same time that Kenny Garrett, Mulgrew Miller, Tony Reedus and James Williams also came to New York. We were all friends and played together.” He first toured with Sonny Stitt in 1982 during what would be the great saxophonist’s last tour. That year he met Jackie McLean, who became his mentor.
“Jackie McLean had a major impact on me as both a musician and a man. I remember that he told me that people saw you before they heard you so it was important how I dressed and how I talked to people. He introduced me to Dizzy and Miles in the 1980s. I performed with him on and off from 1987-2004 and he is still a major part of my life. Some of the things that Jackie said to me at the time make more sense to me now than they did originally. I still learn from him and I became a teacher because of him.”
Nat began teaching at the University of Hartford (The Hartt School jazz program was organized and run by Jackie McLean) and the Artists Collective (an arts organization founded by Jackie and his wife Dollie). “I originally felt that I didn’t have anything to teach but Jackie would always say to me that I had to share what I learned. It became something that I do very naturally.” After teaching part-time for years, in 2001 Nat began a full time teaching career at The Hartt School where the African American Music Studies Program had been renamed the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz. “I build on what my students already know and try to convince them to be more aggressive with learning. I’ve learned a lot from my students particularly about technology. I often teach what I want to learn. I love helping the students. I think of teaching similar to playing a gig: being well organized, accomplishing goals and solving problems. It is a lot of fun and it makes me a better musician.”
Early in his career, Nat Reeves not only performed with Jackie McLean but such greats as tenor-saxophonist Benny Golson, trumpeter Donald Byrd, drummer Art Taylor and pianists Mulgrew Miller, Kenny Kirkland, Walter Davis, Walter Bishop, Larry Willis and Kenny Drew. He became a longtime member of altoist Kenny Garrett’s group in 1994 and in recent times has worked and recorded with many of the who’s who of jazz including tenor-saxophonists Pharoah Sanders, George Coleman and Eric Alexander, trombonist Steve Davis, pianists Harold Mabern, George Cables, David Hazeltine and Anthony Wonsey, and drummer Joe Farnsworth among many others. Asked which of his recordings are among his favorites, Nat named Jackie McLean’s J-Mac Attack, Kenny Garrett’s Grammy-nominated Songbook and Seeds from the Underground, Steve Davis’ Say When, Joe Farnsworth’s My Heroes and Eric Alexander’s Temple of Olympic Zeus. “I actually like every recording that I’ve been on. They have all been learning experiences. Recording my CD State of Emergency with pianist Rick Germanson, trumpeter Josh Bruneau and drummer Jonathan Barber was a bit of a challenge because we were in the middle of a huge snowstorm and it was tricky getting all of the musicians into the studio although it turned out great. There is more music to those sessions that hopefully will be released someday.”
During the past year, Nat Reeves has traveled the world including performing in India and Japan, at the San Francisco, New Orleans, Detroit and Atlanta Jazz Festivals, and with Pharoah Sanders at Dizzy’s at Lincoln Center.
Committed to carrying on Jackie McLean’s legacy at The Hartt School, Nat also looks forward to leading more recordings in the future and, in addition to playing with many of his favorite musicians, to work more often as a leader, “I’m still busy after moving to Hartford. Now at 63, it is time to do more of my own projects.”

Ata Kak with opening DJ set by Qemist
2022-04-14 14:30 - 16:00 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Crosstown Arts presents Ata Kak, the mysterious Ghanaian electronic/rap/highlife icon of the Awesome Tapes From Africa phenomenon, with an opening DJ set by Qemist.
TICKETS: $15 advance / $20 day of show
Doors at 7 pm | Show at 7:30 pm
This performance is presented with support from Sonosphere, Inc.
Crosstown Arts is requesting proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test for this event. Please be prepared to present your vaccination card or a negative Covid test taken within 72 hours at check-in. Masks are required.
Ata Kak is the mysterious Ghanaian electronic/rap/highlife icon who kick-started the whole Awesome Tapes From Africa phenomenon. After a long wait, he’s presenting his first-ever live performances in Europe and the United States.
Ata Kak’s Obaa Sima cassette fell on deaf ears when it was first self-released in Ghana in 1994, but when American musicologist Brian Shimkovitz stumbled upon the tape at a street stall in Cape Coast, Ghana, eight years later it became the stimulus for him to launch his Awesome Tapes from Africa blog. In his inaugural post, he wrote, “This is it. The song is called Moma Yendodo. You may never hear anything like this elsewhere. No one I know in Ghana listens to this frenetic leftfield rap madness.”
The music on the recording – an amalgam of highlife, Twi-language rap, funk, hip-hop, and electronica – traverses a pop music landscape that encapsulates international modes while reflecting contemporary Ghanaian music of the period. Presented with the sweaty passion of a Prince record and the lo-fi recording charm of early Chicago house music, Obaa Sima’s joyous soul and casual brilliance made the enigmatic Ata Kak an underground internet sensation and a party-starter the world over. After more than a decade of searching, Brian finally tracked down the singer and released the LP officially in March 2015.

Crosstown Arthouse presents FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT
2022-04-14 14:30 - 16:00 | Crosstown Theater, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
The Crosstown Arthouse Film Series presents FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT at Crosstown Theater.

Alfred Hitchcock / 1940 / 120 minutes / Rated M
Tickets: $5 at the door
Films begin at 7:30 pm (sharp!) at Crosstown Theater
When Hitchcock’s REBECCA won Best Picture in ’41, he also had another film in contention: FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT. Expertly paced, it finds Hitchcock honing the formula of a breathless chase across multiple locations, even sketching out ideas later to appear in NORTH BY NORTHWEST. The impulsive slugging of a cop by reporter John Jones (Joel McCrea) gets the attention of his editor, who seeks a scribe to cover Europe’s unstable situation without the biased tone of a foreign correspondent. Things get sinister when Jones’ first interview subject, a Dutch diplomat, is assassinated in a spectacularly Hitchcockian sequence involving a gazillion umbrellas. From there, Jones is embroiled in a deadly plot to undermine the stability of the Western world. A flawless example of a classic Hollywood thriller with perfect balance between comedy, tension, and visual ingenuity. The film is also a harbinger of things to come from the director, who also dabbled in war-themed shorts and chronicled WWII’s evolution in SABOTEUR and LIFEBOAT, followed by a perverse look at its aftermath in NOTORIOUS.

The Crosstown Arthouse Film Series showcases a diverse collection of independent, international, historically significant, artistic, experimental, cult, underground and documentary features.
Crosstown Arts is requesting proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test for this event. Please be prepared to present your vaccination card or a negative Covid test taken within 72 hours at check-in.

Represent!
2022-04-15 14:30 - 16:00 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Join us for the One-Woman Comedy show with Lucy Wang in the Green Room.
Free and open to the public.

MonoNeon at Crosstown Theater
2022-04-15 14:30 - 16:30 | Crosstown Theater, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Crosstown Arts presents MonoNeon at Crosstown Theater.

Doors open at 6:30pm | Show at 7:30pm
TICKETS:
Orchestra Pit seats $40 | General Admission $30 (seated balcony & GA standing) plus fees

PURCHASE TICKETS HERE

Crosstown Arts is requesting proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test for this event. Please be prepared to present your vaccination card or a negative Covid test taken within 72 hours at check-in.
Dywane Thomas, Jr., also known as MonoNeon, is an American bassist and experimental musician from Memphis, Tennessee. He is known for his presence on YouTube playing bass guitar and being one of the last people to work with Prince. Thomas is a GRAMMY Award-winning artist, for his participation on the 2020 Nas album King’s Disease.
Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers has referred to Mono as “the greatest fucking electric bass player”.
MonoNeon has collaborated with artists such as Ne-Yo, Mac Miller, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Pete Rock, Ghost-Note, and more.
“MonoNeon is a musician who plays bass and is unbelievable. He’s Jimi Hendrix and Basquiat and Skittles, all combined” – Eddie Murphy, The New York Times, 2020.

Artist Residency Open Studio
2022-04-16 11:00 - 13:00
Join us for a FREE Open Studio event featuring Crosstown Arts resident artists Jasmine Marie, Lucy Wang, Richard Echols, Kate Roberts, Brandon Blvd., Gunter Gaupp, and John Rash.

From 4-5:30pm, guests can tour the studios of Jasmine Marie, Lucy Wang, Richard Echols, Kate Roberts, and John Rash. Brandon Blvd. presents his work on the East Atrium Stage during this time. At 5:40pm, Gunter Gaupp presents a musical performance in the Green Room (doors will open at 5:30pm).
Learn more about the artists here.

Waxahatchee with Madi Diaz at Crosstown Theater
2022-04-16 15:00 - 17:30 | Crosstown Theater, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Saturday, April 16, 2022
Doors open at 7pm | Show begins at 8pm
Tickets: $25 General Admission Advance | $45 Balcony Seated (plus fees)
* All tickets previously purchased for Growlers 4/16 will be honored.
Presented by Reaction Presents & MFG Promotions
PURCHASE TICKETS HERE
All guests must provide proof of full vaccination or negative Covid-19 test within 72 hours of event. Masks encouraged.
What do we hold on to from our past? What must we let go of to truly move forward?
Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield, a lyricist who has always let her listeners know exactly where she is at a given moment, spent much of 2018 reckoning with these questions and revisiting her roots to look for answers. The result is Saint Cloud, an intimate journey through the places she’s been, filled with the people she’s loved.
Written immediately in the period following her decision to get sober, the album is an unflinching self-examination. From a moment of reckoning in Barcelona to a tourist trap in Tennessee to a painful confrontation on Arkadelphia Road, from a nostalgic jaunt down 7th Street in New York City to the Mississippi Gulf, Crutchfield creates a sense of place for her soul-baring tales, a longtime staple of her storytelling.
This raw, exposed narrative terrain is aided by a shift in sonic arrangements as well. While her last two records featured the kind of big guitars, well-honed noise, and battering sounds that characterized her Philadelphia scene and strongly influenced a burgeoning new class of singer-songwriters, Saint Cloud strips back those layers to create space for Crutchfield’s voice and lyrics. The result is a classic Americana sound with modern touches befitting an artist who has emerged as one of the signature storytellers of her time.
From the origins of her band name—the beloved creek behind her childhood home—to scene-setting classics like “Noccalula” and “Sparks Fly,” listening to Waxahatchee has always felt like being invited along on a journey with a steely-eyed navigator. On Saint Cloud, Crutchfield adds a new sense of perspective to her travels. Reflecting on this, she says, “I think all of my records are turbulent and emotional, but this one feels like it has a little dose of enlightenment. It feels a little more calm and less reckless.”
Many of the narratives on Saint Cloud concern addiction and the havoc it wreaks on ourselves and our loved ones, as Crutchfield comes to a deeper understanding of love not only for those around her but for herself. This coalesces most clearly on “Fire,” which she says was literally written in transit, during a drive over the Mississippi River into West Memphis, and serves as a love song to herself, a paean to moving past shame into a place of unconditional self-acceptance. Coming from a songwriter long accustomed to looking in other directions for love, it’s a stirring moment when Crutchfield sings, “I take it for granted/If I could love you unconditionally/I could iron out the edges of the darkest sky.”
Which is not to say that Saint Cloud lacks Crutchfield’s signature poetry on matters of romantic love. Still, her personal evolution in this area is evident too, as this time around, Crutchfield examines what it really means to be with someone and how it feels to see our own patterns more clearly. On “Hell,” she sings: “I hover above like a deity/But you don’t worship me, you don’t worship me/You strip the illusion, you did it well/I’ll put you through hell.”
Crutchfield also looks at what it’s like to be romantically involved with another artist, someone in search of their own truth, on “The Eye”: “Our feet don’t ever touch the ground/Run ourselves ragged town to town/Chasing uncertainty around, a siren sound” and “We leave love behind without a tear or a long goodbye/as we wait for lightning to strike/We are enthralled by the calling of the eye.”
And of course, even when Crutchfield is taking a more nuanced approach to love, her ease with all-encompassing sentiments is still clear, with lines like “I give it to you all on a dime/I love you till the day I die” which sound culled from a classic torch song.
Over the course of Saint Cloud’s 11 songs, which were recorded in the summer of 2019 at Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, TX, and Long Pond in Stuyvesant, NY, and produced by Brad Cook (Bon Iver, Big Red Machine), Crutchfield peels back the distortion of electric guitars to create a wider sonic palette than on any previous Waxahatchee album. It is a record filled with nods to classic country (like the honky tonk ease of “Can’t Do Much”), folk-inspired tones (heard in the confessional lilt of “St. Cloud”), and distinctly modern touches (like the pulsating minimalism of “Fire”).
To bolster her vision, Crutchfield enlisted Bobby Colombo and Bill Lennox, both of the Detroit-based band Bonny Doon, to serve as her backing band on the record, along with Josh Kaufman (Hiss Golden Messenger, Bonny Light Horseman) on guitar and keyboards and Nick Kinsey (Kevin Morby, Elvis Perkins) on drums and percussion. Bonny Doon will also perform as Crutchfield’s live band during her extensive tours planned for 2020, which include the US and Europe.
Saint Cloud marks the beginning of a journey for Crutchfield, one that sees her leaving behind past vices and the comfortable environs of her Philadelphia scene to head south in search of something new. If on her previous work Crutchfield was out in the storm, she’s now firmly in the eye of it, taking stock of her past with a clear perspective and gathering the strength to carry onward.

Memphis Jazz Collective at Crosstown Arts
2022-04-19 14:30 - 16:30 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Join Southern Comfort Jazz Orchestra, 901 Jazz, and University of Memphis Jazz Singers for a special performance at Crosstown Arts!

Doors at 7pm | Show at 7:30pm
Tickets: $10 general admission | Free for U of M students and faculty with ID

PURCHASE TICKETS HERE

Enjoy an evening with the very best jazz Memphis has to offer! Featuring three powerhouse performances by Southern Comfort Jazz Orchestra, 901 Jazz and University of Memphis Jazz Singers. Audiences will enjoy an eclectic showcase featuring jazz legends and newcomers.
901 Jazz ignites the evening’s performance with high energy, melodic beats playing the music from bebop legends. Headlining the evening, Southern Comfort Jazz Orchestra, featuring the University of Memphis Jazz Singers, spotlights homegrown talent with new student work.
