Events

In January, encounter MLK Freedom Celebration, which aims to pay homage to capturing the beauty, struggle, and resilience of the Memphis community through music. 

Performing original compositions inspired by the distinct imagery and characters of one of the most famous auteurs in film, Wes Anderson. 

Jazz alto and sopranino saxophonist Wessell “Warmdaddy” Anderson played jazz early on at the urging of his father, who was a drummer. He played in local clubs from his early teenage years, and studied at the Jazzmobile workshops with Frank Wess, Charles Davis, and Frank Foster. He also met Branford Marsalis, who convinced him to study with Alvin Batiste at Southern University in Louisiana.

On Friday, January 26, at 7:30 pm, the multi-hyphenated artist Lawrence Matthews will perform for the first time since retiring his former stage name Don Lifted at the Overton Park Shell in 2022. Independent and sitting on an album and a half of new material, this performance features all new compositions only heard by a select few at private listening events over the last year.

Known for his performances’ visual spectacle, Matthews dials it back offering a undistracted and direct connection between himself and the audience while presenting a full-bodied reflection of the south and its unrelenting hold both spiritually and physically. The new material exists as a musical portal and a radical contemporary extension of the sampled blues, soul, and jazz artists for which Matthews finds himself kin.

Lawrence Matthews’ 7:30 pm concert this Friday has sold out, but never fear! By popular demand, a second show for Lawrence Matthews’ return to the stage has been added! ⁠

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

Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten), a writer of pulp Westerns, arrives in a bombed-out, post-war Vienna at the invitation of his childhood friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles) only to find him dead. Martins develops the ultimate conspiracy theory after learning of a “third man” present at the time of Harry’s death, butting up against interference from British police officer Major Calloway (Trevor Howard), and falling head-over-heels for Harry’s grief-stricken lover Anna (Alida Valli).

The Memphis Symphony Orchestra and Crosstown Arts present Rhapsody in Blue 100th Anniversary in Crosstown Theater.

Featuring the premiere of a brand-new work for wind quintet by George Lewis, commissioned by the ensemble, the City of Tomorrow sets the audience inside a kaleidoscope of culture and memory. Composer, musicologist, and winner of MacArthur and Guggenheim fellowships, George Lewis is currently the Artistic Director of the International Contemporary Ensemble and has written extensively on American experimental music, race, and the decolonization of contemporary music. His music is presented alongside another masterpiece for the modern quintet, De Memorias by Cuban-American composer Tania León. The City of Tomorrow's specialty is creating immersive experiences, in which audiences are carried from one piece to the next in a transformative musical art installation. 

Indie Memphis and Crosstown Arts are honored to continue to showcase films from the most recent edition of the Ann Arbor Film Festival, the oldest experimental and avant-garde film festival in North America. Using various techniques, from puppetry to mixing digital and analog film approaches, these films explore shades of the relationships between humanity and the natural world, between humans and each other, and speculate on their meaning and changing possibilities. 

Growing up in Akron, Ohio, Dan Wilson spent the majority of his youth within the church community, where his musical path began.

Traces of his major guitar influences – including Wes Montgomery, Charlie Christian, Joe Pass, and George Benson to name a few – can be discerned through his playing, but his musical identity has been shaped by everything from gospel and blues to traditional jazz, hip-hop and horn players like Sonny Rollins and Joe Henderson.

Leroy Green (Taimak), a young martial artist living in New York City, trains tirelessly to attain the same level of mastery as the great Bruce Lee. One night, his life changes forever when he rescues television personality Laura Charles (Vanity) from evil businessman Eddie Arkadian (Chris Murney). Impressed by Leroy's bravery, Laura falls for Leroy -- but to keep her safe, he will have to defeat a gang leader named Sho'nuff (Julius J. Carry III), the self-styled Shogun of Harlem.