Harlem Jazz Series - Rod Williams
Mount Morris Ascension Presbyterian Church2 West 122nd Street, New York 10027
Rod Williams appears in the Harlem Jazz Series for a solo billed performance. A Detroit native who came to New York in 1981 at Henry Threadgill’s invitation, Williams is a pianist, composer, arranger and sound designer whose work has remained at jazz’s creative edge.
He has performed with David Murray, Lester Bowie, Dewey Redman, Cassandra Wilson, Steve Coleman and Geri Allen. The New York Times has said that he “deserves to be heard in his own context more often.”
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.