Crosstown Arts, The Green Room

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

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

Step into a facet of your own personal dreamscape with the Grammy award-winning chanteuse, Rizo. Using the portal of glamor, seduction and powerhouse vocals, Rizo welcomes you into her prismatic world where the femme divine reigns.

A joyful, sensorial, combustible mix of rock-and-roll bravado, vintage pop diva and comedic antics, Rizo has won a cult following worldwide. Come join the fun for an evening of radical optimism as she holds the beauty and sorrow of life in her tiny hands.

College friends Kelsey Taylor and Shafer Green reunite for a night of original and eclectic music, collaboration, and good times. They’re bringing an intimate, one-night-only performance to The Green Room. 

Choro das 3 is a trio of three sisters from São Paulo, Brazil, who are highly regarded as some of the best choro musicians in the world. Choro is an enormously appealing musical style that originated in Brazil over 100 years ago and is now popular internationally.

In Brazil, Choro das 3 has been featured on national television, played for the president, and played for huge audiences at national festivals. The band toured the US annually from 2013 to 2019, playing concert venues, festivals, and universities from coast to coast. They’ve also toured internationally and have released 11 CDs.

Are y’all ready? You better get ready. Because Sarah Potenza is not messing around. Her latest release, Road to Rome, shines new light on a songwriter whose career already includes multiple albums as front-woman of Sarah and the Tall Boys, game-changing appearances on The Voice and America’s Got Talent, and an acclaimed solo debut titled Monster. Rolling Stone gushed, “Potenza is to the blues what Adele is to pop: a colossal-voiced singer who merges her old-school influences with a modernistic sound.” She is a songwriter taking the wheel and driving toward her own destination, and you want to be there for the journey.

Kyshona blends roots, rock, R&B, and folk with lyrical prowess. She is both a sought after collaborative vocalist working with artists like Margo Price whom she accompanied on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Adia Victoria who features Kyshona, Price and Jason Isbell in her single “You Was Born to Die”, and a burgeoning performer in her own right whose 2020 release Listen, was voted BEST PROTEST ALBUM of 2020 by Nashville Scene.

Shain Shapiro launches his new book, This Must Be the Place: How Music Can Make Your City Better, in conversation with Music Export Memphis’ Elizabeth Cawein. 

For this performance, Ben Ricketts (piano/vocals/electronics) will be joined by the Vanishing Imaginary Orchestra, a small ensemble featuring Julia Rice (guitar), Dylan Van Zile (bass), and Kole Oakes (tapes/synthesizer/samples). This performance ensemble recreates and reimagines songs from Ricketts’ wide-ranging catalogue, bringing them to life with a mix of tight arrangements, adventurous improvisation, and expansive audio exploration. Local songwriter Rachel Maxann will be opening the show.

In the attempt to pioneer a new sound while exploring his Eritrean origins, trumpeter Hermon Mehari composed an album entirely influenced by the harmonies, rhythms, and melodies of Eritrean music. However this work, "Asmara" (Komos), doesn't only come from his musical side — the songs have an emotional bent and express the different aspects of his perspectives towards his relationship with family and the culture.