Singer, songwriter, multi instrumentalist, and actor Nellie McKay joins forces with the two time GRAMMY® award winning Turtle Island Quartet to present a delightfully kaleidoscopic view of the music of Billie Holiday, Billy Strayhorn, and the Weimar cabaret of the 1920’s. While the combination of voice and strings has long been a staple of the classical genre as well as of contemporary music, Nellie McKay’s talents on piano, mallets, and ukulele and Turtle Island’s famed innovative rhythmic techniques unleash an unprecedented range of possibilities. A healthy dose of original music, for which both Ms. McKay and the Turtle Island Quartet are renowned, rounds out this sweeping concert.

The multi-award winning Turtle Island Quartet has released numerous recordings and toured internationally for more than a quarter of a century. Recent projects include programs dedicated to two pioneers of the American musical landscape; John Coltrane and Jimi Hendrix. The ensemble has collaborated with some of the most sought-after artists of our day including; Paquito d’Rivera, The Assad Duo, Cyrus Chestnut, and Leo Kottke. Nellie McKay, who performed on Broadway in The Three Penny Opera, here performs music of 1920′s Berlin as well as jazz standards made famous by Billie Holiday. Some of these pieces transcend time and genre, ranging from Marlene Dietrich to Lady Day, with a touch of Doris Day, whose music was so evocatively revisited by Nellie McKay on her recent recording Normal as Blueberry Pie.

Songs by the great Billy Strayhorn complete a night of intoxicating revelry.