The 19-piece Junius Courtney Big Band, featuring Denise Perrier, returns to (literally!) fill every square inch of the Freight's stage with deliriously exciting jazz. Adding to their swinging execution of a roof-raising repertoire, the band presents a special set, "The Billy Strayhorn Session." Musical director George "Jazzbeaux" Spencer, bandleader Nat Courtney, and vocalist Denise Perrier portray Strayhorn, Duke Ellington, and Lena Horne in a staged reading that illuminates the performance of select Strayhorn compositions by the full band.

Usually credited as Ellington's arranger, Billy Strayhorn was a music master in his own right, and a politically courageous gay black man in a performance world where the limelight was directed elsewhere. Celebrate African American history at its swingingest with the notes of Strayhorn, Ellington, Basie, Thad Jones, and the Junius Courtney Big Band.

Founded in 1966 by the late New Orleans trumpeter, Junius Courtney, this stellar big band developed from a core of long-term veterans who performed alongside Sy Oliver and John Coltrane. Exemplifying all the sophistication and soul of authentic swing, the band carries on Junius' torch, keeping the music alive as the best possible tribute to the late great bandleader.