Musicologist Lisa Barg is engaged in the vital work of rewriting jazz history to be more inclusive and accurate. An associate professor at McGill University’s Schulich School of Music, her scholarship offers a crucial lens on the collaborative and social worlds of jazz. Barg’s research is particularly focused on the work of Billy Strayhorn, the brilliant composer and arranger who was a key architect of the Duke Ellington Orchestra's sound, shaping the cultural landscape of midcentury Harlem and beyond.

Her groundbreaking book, *Queer Arrangements: Billy Strayhorn and Midcentury Jazz Collaboration*, examines Strayhorn’s life and music through the framework of queer musicology, a field in which Barg is a pioneering voice. This work challenges traditional narratives and sheds new light on the intimate, creative partnerships that defined the era. While her academic home is in Montreal, Barg's connection to the New York area includes her doctoral studies at Stony Brook University, and her work continues to resonate within the city's ongoing jazz scholarship and discourse, ensuring the legacies of figures like Strayhorn are understood with greater depth and nuance.