One of the game-changing effects of Crosstown Concourse’s opening in 2017 was the increase — by orders of magnitude — of live jazz performances in Memphis, thanks to The Green Room at Crosstown Arts. In 2023, under then-music programmer Jenny Davis, Crosstown Arts leaned into this strength and booked all of March as “jazz month,” and now it’s an annual thing, migrating to April last year under current music programmer Delara Hashemi. This aligns it with the nationwide Jazz Appreciation Month celebrated every April since 2001 by the Smithsonian National Museum of American History and many others.
“Jenny went all-out the first year and created an incredible foundation,” says Hashemi, “and it was well-attended in its inception. But it feels like the energy is growing. I see more shows sell out now, and the buzz has spread a little bit.”
That’s an understatement. Last week’s Memphis Women in Jazz show, featuring Deborah Swiney, Patrice Williamson, and Joyce Cobb, was sold out, as is the show slated for Sunday, April 12th, Strictly Jazz: The Music of David Sanborn ft. Dr. Bill Hurd. By way of emphasizing that it takes a village, Hashemi notes that the latter series is curated by Dennis Adams. “All I do is help facilitate logistics between the space and the artists for the Strictly Jazz series, but picking the artists is up to Dennis. And he’s an interesting person, who’s been in Memphis a long time, and he curates a lot of jazz here. I would say he’s an ambassador of jazz, and he knows so many musicians in the city, because he’s been here for so long.” The series continues beyond Jazz Month, so keep an eye out for future Strictly Jazz shows.
Crosstown Arts is also an important outlet for some of the city’s greatest jazz educators, and there will be plenty of their performances on hand this month. Wednesday of this week will see a special edition of Crosstown Arts’ Modern Masters series, with a show by the Ben Markley and Michael Shults Quintet. Both have won accolades in DownBeat magazine, and Shults is not only associate professor of saxophone at the University of Memphis, but musical director of the Memphis Jazz Orchestra, which has long held a weekly residency at Alfred’s on Beale Street. (That orchestra will also back up Michael Dease, DownBeat’s 2021 Trombonist of the Year, on April 25th.)
Hot on the heels of the Markley/Shults quintet’s appearance will be the Friday, April 10th show dubbed “Stand Up for Your Rights,” by Johnny Yancey and The Power to the People Orchestra. Yancey, a trumpeter, attended Southside High School with legendary Memphis pianist Donald Brown and went on to study with him. Now he’s an instructor for the Memphis Jazz Workshop, a program dedicated to teaching jazz to the city’s youth, founded by pianist Stephen M. Lee, who will also be featured during jazz month on April 24th.
Other teacher/student collaborations will take to the Green Room stage as well, including the University of Memphis Southern Comfort Jazz Orchestra and Jazz Singers, with The Central High School Jazz Band, winner of last year’s Essentially Ellington competition hosted by Jazz at Lincoln Center, opening the show on April 28th.
But the show voted “most likely to sell out” may well be 2021 JUNO Award winner Jocelyn Gould’s appearance on April 22nd. Her 2022 album, Golden Hour, reached No. 1 on Canadian and No. 9 on North American college radio jazz charts, and was notable for debuting the artist’s singing voice. As a guitarist, composer, and singer, Gould is a triple threat, well-situated to reach the stratospheric heights of, say, Diana Krall. And, citing Wes Montgomery, Grant Green, Joe Pass, and Kenny Burrell as her primary influences, she’s carrying the torch of classic jazz guitar into the future.
Finally, the spirit of unbridled innovation will be represented by drummer Steve Hirsh and friends, performing an album release show as Echo Party on April 30th (full disclosure: I’m one of the friends). While the doggedly improvisatory combo can’t be considered pure “jazz,” Echo Party’s spirit of sonic exploration simmers with fresh delights.