An Evening With the Jazz Legacy Project

On Monday, November 4th, be prepared to be energized and engaged with music that will speak to you and have you toe-tapping to the rhythm of the Jazz Legacy Project.

The Northeastern Arts Network will once again transport us with upbeat tempos and beautiful harmonies with a concert at the Malta High School auditorium at 7:00 p.m.

The Jazz Legacy Project performs the great legends of jazz such as John Coltrane, Billie Holiday, and Thelonious Monk. 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 six 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 their stories 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.

The Big Sky Series is made possible in part by the Montana Performing Arts Consortium Presenter Development Program which is supported by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Montana Arts Council, legislative grant from Montana’s Cultural Trust, and WESTAF.

This event is also locally sponsored by the Great Northern.