Breena Clarke's debut novel, River, Cross My Heart, was an October 1999 Oprah Book Club selection. Ms. Clarke, a native of Washington, D.C., is the recipient of the 1999 award for fiction by the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association and the Alex Award, given by the Young Adult Library Services Association.

YESENIA MONTILLA is an Afro-Latina poet & a daughter of immigrants. Her poetry has appeared in the Chapbook For the Crowns of Your Head, as well as the literary journals The Gulf Coast, Prairie Schooner, Gulf Coast, Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day and others.

Janet Restino is a “streams of consciousness” multimedia artist/writer, formally trained as a sculptor, currently recording her poems and songs with guitarists.

Trumpeter, composer, arranger, author … Eddie Allen is one of the  more versatile musicians on the New York scene. He’s called upon to play everything from jazz (big band as well as small ensembles) to R&B/Pop to latin to symphonic to Broadway, and everything in between.

After multi-instrumentalist, Dr. Makanda Ken McIntyre, passed away unexpectedly in 2001, it was discovered that, in addition to the approximately 75 original compositions that appear on his albums, he had written around 350 more that had not been recorded or, in most cases, performed in public.

WORLD PIANO SUMMIT is an evening of superb artistry with three renowned pianists: LUIZ SIMAS (Brazilian), STEVE SANDBERG (Classical and World Classical) and ARMEN DONELIAN (Armenian and Jazz). All feature previously composed as well as original works, including Solo performances and Duets with accomplished guest musicians.

Join vocalist and songwriter Andrea Wolper; pianist Carol Liebowitz; bassoonist Claire de Brunner; vocalist Cheryl Richards; pianist Virg Dzurinko; and pianist/vocalist Kazzrie Jaxen!. This sterling group of musicians will join together in celebration and memory of the late great improvising pianist/composer Connie Crothers on Friday evening, September 27, 2019 at Metro Baptist Church in Hell’s Kitchen.

Maxine Gordon will be reading from Sophisticated Giant: The Life and Legacy of Dexter Gordon, her recent biography of her late husband, tenor saxophonist and Academy Award-nominated actor Dexter Gordon, and talking about the book.

Bassist Melissa Slocum has been performing worldwide since 1982 in classical orchestras, baroque performance, and jazz ensembles.  Holding degrees from Mannes and Manhattan Schools of Music, she has worked with such legends as Art Blakey, Lionel Hampton, Cab Calloway, Clark Terry, Wynton Marsalis,

Darryl Alladice is a performance poet/storyteller who grew up in Harlem and Brooklyn, New York. Darryl’s performances are informed by his training as an actor and storyteller. He will enthrall and charm you - he brings his poetry alive when he reads.

As a child growing up in Harlem, poet EJ Antonio traces her ambitions to be a storyteller and jazz singer back to her love of words. EJ was known in her family as the writer, visual artist, and the one interested in dance and theater. She began writing poetry as a way to relieve stress and her work has received recognition throughout the New York region

Cheryl Clarke is a black lesbian feminist poet and the author of five books of poetry, most recently By My Precise Haircut, and the chapbooks, Your Own Lovely Bosom (2014) and Targets (2018). Her writing has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, and her writing is included in the Lesbian Poetry Archive. She is one of the co-organizers of the annual Hobart Festival of Women Writers,

Breena Clarke is the author of three novels, most recently published, Angels Make Their Hope Here, set in an imagined mixed-race community in 19th century New Jersey. Breena Clarke's debut novel, River, Cross My Heart, was an October 1999 Oprah Book Club selection and was named by Publisher’s Weekly as one of the seven essential books about Washington, D.C. Her critically reviewed second novel, Stand The

Now we’re in for some fun! Jeffrey Cyphers Wright, who is best known as a poet (but includes publisher, eco-activist and impresario in his bio) will read from his works. Surrounded by Fred Bendheim's energetic artwork on the wall, Jeffrey may have us thinking differently about mid-winter February.

Susana H. Case is the author of six books of poetry, most recently, Erasure, Syria, new in 2018 from Recto y Verson Editions and Drugstore Blue, 2017 from Five Oaks Press, as well as four chapbooks. One of her collections, The Scottish Café, from Slapering Hol Press, was re-released in a dual-language English-Polish version, Kawiarnia Szkocka by Opole University Press in Poland.

GHA'IL RHODES BENJAMIN, poet, actress, singer, and storyteller, writes and performs her one-woman show "Spiritual Eclipse" in the New York tri-state area, Detroit, and Chicago. She has graced the stages of nightclubs, theatres, schools, churches, and homeless shelters with her homegrown lyrics, infused with survival, dignity and humor.

Trombonist, painter and composer, Dick Griffin is one of today's leading trombone players. In a career spanning over 40 years, he has performed with some of the biggest names in Jazz and Soul, as well as appearing with several symphony orchestras. 

A mainstay on the New York City jazz scene for many years, Drake Colley is an active member of the Central Brooklyn Jazz Consortium.  Colley has recorded with Malachi Thompson and Wind Chill Factor, and has performed at the Jazz Gallery, Small’s Paradise, Sweet Basil, Seventh Avenue South, Up Over Jazz Cafe, the Jazz Spot, and many other venues. 

Poet/storyteller Darryl Alladice in an afternoon of powerful, thought-provoking performance and artistry through words. Darryl’s readings are informed by his training as an actor and storyteller—he brings his poetry alive when he reads. For the past two years Darryl has been curating a monthly spoken-word series at the gallery, as a component of One Breath Rising,