Cade Museum will celebrate legendary bandleader Duke Ellington’s birthday when 1000 Voices of North Central Florida performs a free concert at 4 p.m. on Sunday, April 24.
The 1000 Voices celebrates on what would be Ellington’s 123rd birthday on the Cade Museum lawn.
Ellington ascended the ranks of American jazz by reinventing the big-band sound. Ellington’s orchestra played gems like “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)” and “Prelude to a Kiss,” and even spiritual music, too. He united music lovers of all lifestyles and backgrounds.
The annual event started in 2020 as an outdoor concert to inspire hope in the community during the COVID-19 pandemic and continued on as a tradition.
Why is the event at the Cade? It all starts with Dr. James Robert Cade, the museum’s namesake and lead inventor of Gatorade, who supported creative growth in the arts and music along with science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
“Music filled Dr. Cade’s life,” museum CEO Stephanie Bailes said in a press release. “He wasn’t just a doctor and scientist but a poet and musician, too. Dr. Cade exemplified joyful creativity with a purpose, building communities in ways others wouldn’t think to. Likewise, the unifying sounds of Duke Ellington and 1,000 Voices reverberate with the museum’s mission to transform communities.”
Admission to both the concert and the museum is free that day. Funding is provided by the Community Foundation of North Central Florida. Attendees are asked to bring their own chairs or a blanket, grab some takeout from a local restaurant, and enjoy an afternoon of Jazz.
Fabric Frontiers is Cade’s latest exhibit and where you can learn how factory garment workers sent astronauts to the moon, make slime in the Creativity Lab, or design your own patterned fabric in the Fab Lab.
For more information about 1000 Voice of North Central Florida, visit 1000voicesofflorida.com. For information about the Cade Museum, visit cademuseum.org.