Night Lights celebrates the 95th anniversary of Billy Strayhorn's birth with “The Billy Strayhorn Songbook," a program featuring interpretations of Strayhorn's music by the Duke Ellington orchestra, Ellingtonians such as Johnny Hodges, Ray Nance, and Ben Webster, John Coltrane, the Dutch Jazz Orchestra, and Strayhorn himself. Strayhorn was Ellington's writing partner for 27 years, contributing scores of compositions and arrangements; we'll hear some of his signature tunes such as “Chelsea Bridge," “Lush Life" (a rare performance by Strayhorn himself), and “Take the 'A' Train" (a poignant 1969 studio performance by Ray Nance).
