Memphis is known all around the world as the home of the Blues. But a new monthly jam session at the Center for Southern Folklore is bringing Memphis’s Jazz scene into the spotlight. Every first Sunday of the month, seasoned professionals, fresh talent, and a whole lot of soul are joining to celebrate the rich musical history of Bluff City.
A New Sunday Soundtrack
“Sometimes, Jazz is quiet, kick back, laid back,” Cequita Monique, founder of the First Sunday Jazz Jam Pop Up Series, said with a laugh. “People tell me all the time, ‘Oh, I don’t do Jazz. It puts me to sleep.’ I’m like, ‘You listening to the wrong Jazz. You need to listen to some of this funky Jazz.’”
With food, drinks, and desserts available for purchase—and an intimate, inclusive atmosphere—the type of Jazz on display at the Center for Southern Folklore is not something you’d want to sleep through. Held every first Sunday of the month from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., the jam series features artists like Stephen Lee, founder and director of the Memphis Jazz Workshop, alongside many others. The mix of old Jazz standards, new releases, and spontaneous improv keeps both enthusiasts and newcomers engaged.
On stage, seasoned musicians trade riffs with rising stars, turning the set into a learning space as much as a performance.
“The thing that I really appreciate about this experience is that you get to see the more seasoned musicians play with these young cats,” Monique said. “And the young cats get to sit at their feet, and there’s this exchange—it’s some give and some take. Some grow and some learn.”
For the audience, it means no two Sundays are ever the same. Rather than just being a performance, it’s a musical conversation unfolding on stage while the crowd leans in to listen. And it’s not happening in just any space. It’s unfolding in a venue with deep Memphis roots—one that Monique has long admired and is now breathing new life into.
Where Memphis History Meets Music
The Center for Southern Folklore, located in the old Goldsmith’s Building at Peabody Place, is more than just four walls.
“It’s a beautiful venue in this beautiful corridor. We really just want people to know that it’s still here and that it’s alive,” Monique said.
The building housed Goldsmith’s Department Store until 1993. In 1999, it became home to the Center for Southern Folklore and has remained so since.
The space is no stranger to long-lived Memphis traditions. It once hosted the beloved Enchanted Forest holiday display, which ran from 1963 until Goldsmith’s donated it to Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in 1990. That’s how Monique first remembers the venue.
“As a child, I would come through the basement of the Enchanted Forest, and it would be like a winter wonderland. And I didn’t realize it when I first came to this space. But that’s exactly what this space is. It holds a lot of history for me as an individual, but also culturally for Memphis as a music venue.”
For Cequita, though, this isn’t just about booking shows. It’s about breathing new life into a space that shaped her and reflects Memphis’s cultural heartbeat.
Meet the Woman Behind the Music
Calling Monique simply the founder of the First Sunday Jazz Jam Popup would be a serious understatement.
“I book the gigs. I organize the platform. And I perform,” she said.
But her involvement goes beyond that — she has spent decades building a career as a freelance artist.
To Monique, the Jazz Jam is a spiritual continuation of one of her previous endeavors: a café and music venue called Precious Cargo.
“My gig was to always provide a platform for some of the local talent,” she said. “And since that place closed and the building has been removed, I was just inspired as a local artist to do something again.”
Monique’s passions don’t just lie with today’s local talent. She also takes a keen interest in the performers of yesterday.
“I’m working on several projects. One is to tell the musical story of Alberta Hunter, who’s from Memphis. I think I’m most inspired by the way she lived. She loved the music, and she loved performing. When I study her, I feel her spirit alive in me, and so that’s probably one of my greatest inspirations.”
“I really wish Memphis would recognize ourselves as a Jazz city. We think that it is just Blues. And now we’re really riding the Hip-Hop or Rap. And those things are beautiful, because that’s the thing I think I love about Memphis the most. It’s a melting pot of music. Blues, Folk, Jazz, R&B, Soul, Hip-Hop — anything that’s music, it’s happening in Memphis.”
For Monique, the Jazz Jam is more than just a gig.
“I wanted to have an alternative to some of the negative energy that comes out of Memphis. I just want to be a part of the positive stuff that is happening. Because there’s a lot of positive stuff.”
And she’s inviting the city to be part of it, too.
Don’t Just Listen — Join In
“We’re doing this every first Sunday of the month, from two to five right here at the Center for Southern Folklore. That’s for the rest of 2025. In 2026, we’re looking at adding on to that first weekend,” Monique said.
But showing up is just the beginning.
“We’ll need volunteers; we’ll need all kinds of supporters. People who want to come out and know about us. Come out and support us and tell Memphis: This is what we’re doing.”
If you’d like to get involved, Monique asks that you email her at mckennleycequita@gmail.com. You can also follow the Precious Cargo Exchange (PCE) Facebook page for more information, to purchase tickets, and to see who the next featured artist will be.
And don’t forget to mark your calendars: On October 5, the Kenny Reed Quartet will take the stage.
This blog was written by Josh Blake
Josh Blake is a photographer and writer based in Memphis. You can usually find him snapping photos on the sidelines of Liberty Bowl Stadium, behind the keyboard working on his novel, or spending time with his fiancée.
