{"id":6220,"date":"2014-11-29T21:43:27","date_gmt":"2014-11-30T05:43:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/?p=6220"},"modified":"2014-11-30T11:16:45","modified_gmt":"2014-11-30T19:16:45","slug":"billy-strayhorn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2014\/11\/billy-strayhorn\/","title":{"rendered":"Billy Strayhorn"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[contextly_auto_sidebar id=&#8221;UVgREQ9ulr6Z58oK6mJtAtDNQUqL2uRn&#8221;]<\/p>\n<p>Billy Strayhorn was born 99 years ago today. He wrote the music and the wan, world-weary lyric of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Lush Life\u00e2\u20ac\u009d when he was a sixteen-year-old in his native Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Having arranged to meet Duke Ellington backstage at a concert when he was in his early twenties, he demonstrated the song and others he had written. Impressed, Ellington said that he would send for Strayhorn. Before long, he called the young man to New York and launched a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Billy-Strayhorn.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Billy-Strayhorn.jpg\" alt=\"Billy Strayhorn\" width=\"154\" height=\"225\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-6221\" \/><\/a>collaborative partnership that further enriched Ellington\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s music. Among other contributions, Strayhorn wrote the band\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s theme, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Take The \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcA\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Train.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>He stayed mostly behind the scenes, but Strayhorn was an indispensable part of the Ellington band until his death in 1967. His compositions and arrangements were woven into the band\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s personality to such a degree that it is not always possible to distinguish between his contributions and Ellington\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s. That seems to have been how they both wanted it. <\/p>\n<p>Strayhorn never arranged \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Lush Life\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for Ellington, and it never entered the band\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s repertoire. Now and then, however, Ellington asked his friend and prot\u00c3\u00a9g\u00c3\u00a9 to play it, as he did at a 1948 Carnegie Hall concert. There is a recording of that occasion. Strayhorn accompanied the band\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s vocalist, Kay Davis. Introducing \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Lush Life,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Ellington calls it a new tune, even though he surely knew that Strayhorn wrote it when he was in high school.<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GqTDm34vyj0?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><p>Other Ellington Carnegie Hall concerts are widely available on CD. The one from 1948 is rare <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Duke-Ellington-His-Orchestra-Carnegie\/dp\/B000006JF2\/?_encoding=UTF8&#038;camp=1789&#038;creative=9325&#038;keywords=ellington%20carnegie%20hall&#038;linkCode=ur2&#038;qid=1417321390&#038;s=music&#038;sr=1-4&#038;tag=rifftidougram-20\"target=\"_blank\">but still available<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Now, here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Strayhorn, a skilled pianist, called on stage by Ellington to play one of the most famous of all big band themes.<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WtYvGJaIRn0?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><p>Shortly after Strayhorn died, Ellington took his band into the studio to pay tribute in an album of Strayhorn compositions and arrangements. The pieces include \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Lotus Blossom,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Rain Check,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Day-dream\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153My Little Brown Book.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Blood Count,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d written as Strayhorn was dying, features an impassioned Johnny Hodges solo that speaks of the sorrow Ellington and the band felt at the loss of their friend. The indispensable <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Mother-Called-Bill-Ellington-Audio\/dp\/B00GKQJ0UO\/?_encoding=UTF8&#038;camp=1789&#038;creative=9325&#038;keywords=duke%20ellington%20and%20his%20mother%20called%20him%20bill&#038;linkCode=ur2&#038;qid=1417322649&#038;s=music&#038;sr=1-3&#038;tag=rifftidougram-20\"target=\"_blank\"><em>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6And His Mother Called Him Bill<\/em><\/a> is a highlight in Ellington\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s massive body of recordings  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[contextly_auto_sidebar id=&#8221;UVgREQ9ulr6Z58oK6mJtAtDNQUqL2uRn&#8221;] Billy Strayhorn was born 99 years ago today. He wrote the music and the wan, world-weary lyric of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Lush Life\u00e2\u20ac\u009d when he was a sixteen-year-old in his native Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Having arranged to meet Duke Ellington backstage at a concert when he was in his early twenties, he demonstrated the song and others [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6220","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6220\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}