Who Is Harlem Jazz Boxx?

Harlem Jazz Boxx has been bringing you live jazz since 2014. Spearheaded by three united entities – Craig Harris, Carolyn Johnson, and the Arts & Education Continuum – Harlem Jazz Boxx forms a happy collaboration that consistently presents the very best live jazz in Harlem. It’s a rare sort of synergy, a win/win for the lucky listeners, for the jazz musicians themselves, and especially for our beloved Harlem.

Carolyn D. Johnson

Carolyn D. Johnson is the president of Welcome to Harlem & Harlem Jazz Boxx, a boutique-tour company focusing on the rich history and cultural diversity of Harlem. Harlem Jazz Boxx has been in business since 2014, and we are proud to be a successful NYC and New York State-certified minority and women-owned business. We are a full-service tour company that reverberates to the vibrant pulse of Harlem and its unique enclaves. Johnson is a graduate of the City University of New York, a New York City licensed tour guide, and co-author of The Harlem Travel Guide.

Craig Harris

Craig Harris is a trombonist, composer, conceptualist, educator, and curator of the Harlem Jazz Series. Mr Harris brings 40 years of innovation, craftsmanship, and excellence to improvisational music. In his projects, including “God’s Trombones”, “Brown Butterfly”, and “Tri Harlenium”, Mr Harris moves far beyond the confines of the jazz world and into the sphere of multimedia and performance art. With his bands Cold Sweat, Tailgaters Tales, and Nation of Imagination, he displays a unique sense of concept and a total command of the sweeping expanse of musical expression. He has been a major figure in jazz working with such notable artists as Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor, Sam Rivers, Abdullah Ibrahim, Jaki Byard, Muhal Richard Abrams, David Murray, Henry Threadgill, Lester Bowie, The WORLD Saxophone Quartet, The Roots, and RAKIM, to name a few. Mr Harris brings the breadth of this experience to the Harlem Jazz Series and presents the full spectrum of this great American art form. He aims to provide music that will inspire, educate, and entertain.

Jannette Jwahir Hawkins

Jannette Jwahir Hawkins is an artist who lives and works in Harlem, New York City. Sensitive to multilayered visual rhythms, Jwahir’s work relies on a gestalt of compositions and improvisations to seek healing for herself and others. An award-winning alumnus of the City College of New York with a BA and MFA in Studio Art, Jwahir studied closely with sculptor Colin Chase for ten years. Invited to complete a postgraduate residency in Studio Art at City College with advanced studies in Community Engaged Art (Art Education), Jwahir also facilitated TArt (Talking Art) Salon, a CCNY student intellectual discussion group. An artist-educator with the Whitney Museum of American Art (until thepandemic), Jwahir (whose life is always better when she dances) is currently a visual artist-in-residence, creative consultant for a longrunning live Harlem music series, an arts and culture grant proposal storyteller for over 20 years and the Interim Executive Director of Arts and Education Continuum, a Harlem-based nonprofit community organization.

Arts & Education Continuum

Our 3rd entity that brings together Harlem Jazz Boxx is the Arts & Education Continuum. The mission statement of the Arts & Education Continuum is far-reaching and twofold:

  1. To support all aspects of the performing and visual arts. Our vision is to preserve, promote, and perpetuate the music that is indigenous to North America: blues, jazz, gospel, and all genres which derive from our African American heritage.
  2. To create a community of lifelong, independent learners in reading, writing, and mathematics that will empower all participants with passion and a love of education. With an active board of directors and an advisory board of members that have varied professional artistic and administrative experience, we will work diligently to facilitate these goals.

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