Inspired by the musical life of the Pulitzer Prize-winning American writer Ralph Ellison, Jazz in the Key of Ellison is a multimedia concert featuring music by Ellison’s favorite artists including Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie and Thelonious Monk. This star-led evening includes Grammy® Award-winning trumpeter Nicholas Payton, R&B and jazz vocalist Will Downing, iconic Labelle singer Nona Hendryx and 2017 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz vocal competition winner Quiana Lynell with the Andy Farber Jazz Orchestra. Roxane Gay, author of New York Times bestseller Bad Feminist, narrates.
Robert O'Meally, Zora Neale Hurston Professor of English, Columbia University, who has written extensively on Ralph Ellison, including The Craft of Ralph Ellison (Harvard, 1980), and a collection of papers for which he served as editor, New Essays on Invisible Man (Cambridge, 1989) will speak prior to this evening’s program. Joining O’Meally will be Don Katz, President and CEO of Audible to discuss how his mentor and teacher Ralph Ellison shaped his writing career and inspired him to found Audible.
Location: Grainger Ballroom
Time: 7-7:30 p.m.
Open to jazz series subscribers and members of the African American Network. RSVPs requested.