Day Dream
Day Dream follows the jazz composer Billy Strayhorn as he travels to New Orleans to investigate the myths and legends surrounding Buddy Bolden, the forefather of modern jazz who spent the last 24 years of his life in a mental institution.
Day Dream is a feature-length musical drama that explores the lives and experiences of two legends: Buddy Bolden, the forefather of jazz who performed in New Orleans at the turn of the century and spent the last 24 years of his life in a mental institution; and Billy Strayhorn, the renowned, and openly gay composer of the 1940's and 50's who wrote many of The Duke Ellington Orchestra’s classic tunes. Alienation, improvisation, and freedom were integral to the lives of these iconoclastic men, and these themes were central motifs within the music they created. Day Dream is a stylized fantasia incorporating a surreal aesthetic that allows the two central characters to come to grips with their own internal struggles and romantic desires rather than a conventional biopic.