Jazz at The Strand: The Music of Billy Strayhorn at Strand Marietta

The Jazz at The Strand Series is presented in partnership with the Jazz Legacy Project and sponsored by The Manely Firm, P.C.

Billy Strayhorn: Take the A Train

Billy Strayhorn has a recording strike to thank for the opportunity of a lifetime. He has his unparalleled gift for impressionistic tones and colors to thank for turning that opportunity into co-creating the most prolific and indelible music of the 20th Century. Alongside his writing partner Duke Ellington, Strayhorn helped move jazz from the underground clubs to the world's more prestigious stages.

What is the Jazz Legacy Project?

Created in 2015 after an epiphany Justin Varnes had while teaching Jazz History at Georgia State University, the JLP has an ongoing residency at the Velvet Note jazz club in Atlanta, where they have been selling out their performances for 6 years and counting. Ditching a traditional textbook in favor of playing records and telling stories about the artists to college kids who knew little or nothing about jazz proved to be a big success. It turned out that performing the artist's music and telling theirstories in between proved to be an even bigger success.

But it's more than just offering insight into what to listen for when listening to jazz, it's also woven into American history - as jazz itself is. Many movements in jazz are a direct result of cultural shifts in America, and connecting an artist's music to a time or an event in history can open up a new world when listening to it.