Jazz Articles about Billy Strayhorn

My Brainwaves in His Head, and His in Mine - Duke Ellington & Billy Strayhorn (1941 - 1967)

by Russell Perry
May 28, 2019

Duke Ellington was the well-spring that flowed through many decades of jazz. In 1938, Ellington found his soul-mate in composer/arranger Billy Strayhorn. By the early 1940s, Strayhorn combined with bassist Jimmy Blanton and tenor saxophonist Ben Webster to reinvigorate both Ellington and his band. In this hour, we will feature the compositions and arrangements of Ellington's most important collaborator, Billy Strayhorn, from “Take the A Train" and “Chelsea Bridge" through “Satin Doll" and “Lush Life" to his dying lament--"Blood Count"--from ...

Pittsburgh Jazz: A Brief History

by Steve Rowland
June 14, 2017

This article was first published at the Explore PA History website. At first glance, Pittsburgh might not seem the most likely place to produce great jazz musicians. Situated on the western edge of the state, “Smoketown" was a gritty industrial city, better known for being the center of the nation's steel industry, than for its popular music or culture. Like jny: Philadelphia, its industries attracted many African Americans from the south, men and women who were looking for ...

Outbeat Jazz Festival 2014

by Victor L. Schermer
September 26, 2014

Outbeat Jazz Festival Philadelphia, PA September 18-21, 2014 The Outbeat Jazz Festival, touted as “America's First Queer Jazz Festival," where the “Q-word" has become an “in" word, proved to be an innovative event that brought the public's attention to the important role of gay (LGBT) jazz musicians and composers. A series of concerts and discussions drove the point home. It was no accident that the festival was held at venues in and around Center City, ...

Billy Strayhorn: Out Of The Shadows

by Chris Mosey
June 26, 2014

An elaborate box set from the Danish Storyville label: seven CDs and one DVD, paying tribute to Duke Ellington's arranger and composer Billy Strayhorn that--alas--doesn't quite live up to the ambitions of it's makers. Ask yourself, was Strayhorn truly the shadowy figure implied by the title? While the bulk of his work was achieved out of the public eye, Billy Strayhorn was no shrinking violet. He “subbed" for Ellington on piano with the band ...

Billy Strayhorn: Piano Passion

by Andrew Velez
February 4, 2006

During their nearly three decades of working together, Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington created a legacy of music for the ages. This set offers a rare opportunity to hear Strayhorn the composer playing many of his own songs, as well as some he wrote with Ellington and others. Their partnership began in 1939 and ended only with the death of “Swee' Pea," as Strayhorn came to be fondly called by Ellington, at a mere 52 from cancer in 1967.

Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn

by Joel Roberts
March 8, 2004

by David Hajdu Farrar Straus and Giroux, 1996 0-374-19438-6

The young pianist and composer Billy Strayhorn was introduced to Duke Ellington, already a major international star and leader of one of the world's most popular bands, for the first time backstage at an Ellington Orchestra performance at the Stanley Theatre in Pittsburgh in December 1938. After a brief audition, which consisted of Strayhorn playing a few of his own compositions as well as interpretations of Ellington ...

Billy Strayhorn: The Peaceful Side

by Joel Roberts
August 1, 1997

During his twenty-five year tenure with the Duke Ellington Orchestra as composer, lyricist, arranger, and Duke's closest musical confidante, Billy Strayhorn rarely performed in front of a live audience and even less frequently entered a recording studio. Although his piano playing can be heard on a handful of records with the Ellington Orchestra as well as on some of its members' side projects, most notably several dates with Johnny Hodges, Strayhorn made just one album as a featured solo artist. ...