Harlem Jazz Series - Craig Harris & the Harlem Nightsongs Big Band

Craig Harris brings the Harlem Nightsongs Big Band to Mount Morris Ascension Presbyterian Church for Thursday Night Rhythms of Resistance, a new Harlem Jazz Series strand. Harris leads the big band as its conductor and player, in a program rooted in his original compositions and arrangements, where written material and improvisation meet. The series takes place in the church sanctuary, a setting with clear, resonant acoustics and pew seating that puts the focus on the music.

Born in Hempstead, New York, Harris has made Harlem his home for more than three decades. A trombonist, composer and bandleader, he frames his work through a modern Black and African Diasporic perspective, often engaging questions of social justice and humanity. His career includes touring with Sun Ra and performing with Abdullah Ibrahim, David Murray, Lester Bowie, Cecil Taylor, Sam Rivers, Muhal Richard Abrams and Charlie Haden. The Amsterdam News found the Harlem Nightsongs Big Band “in full swing,” praising the room made for “expressive solos” and concluding, “There is feeling in the music.” A concertgoer likewise heard wild improvisations and solos that prompted the ensemble “to travel beyond gravity.”