Harlem Jazz Series - Craig Harris & the Harlem Nightsongs Big Band
Mount Morris Ascension Presbyterian Church2 West 122nd Street, New York 10027
Craig Harris brings the Harlem Nightsongs Big Band to the Thursday Night Rhythms of Resistance series. The evening centers Harris’s large-ensemble music, with the band billed under his direction.
A trombonist, composer and bandleader from Hempstead, Long Island, Harris draws on Black and African-diasporic traditions. The Amsterdam News describes Harlem Nightsongs as “in full swing as Harris plays and conducts,” praising its expressive solos, feeling and “a soothing, healing call to action and spiritual force.” Harris has worked with Sun Ra, Abdullah Ibrahim, Cecil Taylor, Sam Rivers and Charlie Haden, among others.
Built in 1906 with Roman brick and a copper dome, the sanctuary trades club atmosphere for the clear, resonant acoustics of a historic Harlem house of worship. Curated by trombonist Craig Harris, the long-running Harlem Jazz Series regularly fills the sanctuary with daytime and evening performances from veteran instrumentalists. Audiences sit in church pews for focused, seventy-five-minute listening sets without the noise of bar service or dinner orders. Seating accommodates up to 250 guests, with $30 general admission tickets easily purchased online or at the entrance ahead of start times. The quiet brownstone blocks directly bordering Marcus Garvey Park provide an easy walk to neighborhood dining along Lenox Avenue after the music finishes.