Events

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.

Marcella 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. 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. In addition to Marcella & Her Lovers, Simien performs with Marcella & Les Vagues, Magnolias, and Terrance Simien's Krewe De Monifique. 

Join us for a beautiful day at Crosstown Concourse and enjoy delicious local craft beers at this family-friendly weekend event — featuring 160+ of the best curated local and regional crafters, makers and artists! 

Ellisa Sun cuts her heart out and leaves it on the stage, which is why she never wears white. Inspired primarily by R&B, soul, jazz, and bossa nova, Ellisa’s music is a unique blend of genres that creates a textured sound with authentic, heartfelt lyricism.

Join us for a beautiful day at Crosstown Concourse and enjoy delicious local craft beers at this family-friendly weekend event — featuring 160+ of the best curated local and regional crafters, makers and artists! 

Desert ants suddenly form a collective intelligence and begin to wage war on the inhabitants. It is up to two scientists and a stray girl they rescue from the ants to destroy them. Acclaimed graphic designer Saul Bass’s only feature film is a visually striking curiosity that, originally a box office flop, garnered cult status a year after its release. Interpreted by some as an ecological commentary, by others as political, and by others as a runoff of the anxieties of the time, Phase IV is as spellbinding as the movie posters and title sequences for which its director is known. Featuring an otherworldly score by composer Brian Gascoigne and starring Michael Murphy and Nigel Davenport as the scientists.

Longtime Memphis musician Paul Taylor is returning home to play his first show back in the Bluff City in over three and a half years!

He’s bringing his brand new band, Three Springs, along with him all the way down from his new home of Door County, Wisconsin, to help him perform material he’s written during those last few years, which has been greatly inspired by the vastly different northern environment.

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.

John Scofield’s guitar work has influenced jazz since the late 70’s and is going strong today. Possessor of a very distinctive sound and stylistic diversity, Scofield is a masterful jazz improviser whose music generally falls somewhere between post-bop, funk-edged jazz, and R&B.

The first film in Abbas Kiarostami’s sublime, interlacing trilogy of films set in the northern Iranian village of Koker takes a premise of fable-like simplicity — a boy searches for the home of his classmate whose school notebook he has accidentally taken — and transforms it into a miraculous, child’s-eye adventure of the everyday. 

Lukah has set himself apart as a powerful voice in Memphis hip-hop. Whatever the format—whether it’s through sellout records, acclaimed locally in The Commercial Appeal and nationally in NPR, Bandcamp Daily, and The New York Times; commanding live performances that have won audiences in The United States and Europe; or on the big screen in his three visual collaborations with Studio 143, all selected by the Indie Memphis Film Festival—Lukah is a undeniable giant of deep, meaningful storytelling. Back from his first international headlining tour and a recent performance opening for Noname, Lukah continues to push the envelope and challenge himself creatively by preparing this bold concert.

On the first Friday in December, from 5 to 7 pm, Crosstown Concourse will host a festive event in the Central Atrium! The holiday atrium lights in the Central Atrium will turn on at 6 pm.