Billy Strayhorn’s Septet, “Cue for Saxophone”, Recorded New York, April 14, 1959: Billy Strayhorn (Piano), Quentin Jackson (Trombone), Harold “Shorty” Baker (Trumpet), Cue Porter (Alto Saxophone), Al Hall (Bass), Russell Procope (Clarinet), Oliver Jackson (Drums)

Born in Dayton, Ohio in November of 1915, William “Billy” Thomas Strayhorn was an American jazz pianist, composer, lyricist and arranger who, over the course of three decades, collaborated with bandleader and composer Duke Ellington. Their musical collaboration is unique in the history of music, a match of talent so close that their work together seems seamless.

One of several children born to James Nathaniel Strayhorn and Lillian Morgan Young, Billy Strayhorn was born into a family with deep ancestral roots in the Hillsborough area of North Carolina. During his early life, he spent many months playing piano and listening to music during visits to his grandmother’s Hillsborough home. Strayhorn resided with his family in Pittsburgh and took lessons from pianist Charlotte Enty Catlin who later worked with such singers as Lena Horne and Florence Cole Talbert. He studied classical music for a period at the Pittsburgh Music Institute. By the age of nineteen, Strayhorn had written several songs, including work for the musical “Fantastic Rhythm”.

Billy Strayhorn was led to the world of jazz initially by the music of such pianists as Art Tatum and Teddy Wilson. In Pittsburgh in 1933, he saw Duke Ellington play for the first time. At a second meeting in December of 1938, Strayhorn impressed Ellington and other band members by playing “Lush Life”, a jazz ballad he had written and now considered one of the greatest due to both melody and lyrics. Impressed with Strayhorn’s skill, Ellington arranged for him to join the band at its upcoming New York venue. Strayhorn worked for the next twenty-five years as an arranger, composer, pianist, and collaborator.

Strayhorn was a gifted composer and arranger. Ellington used him to complete his thoughts and introduce new musical ideas. Strayhorn had the freedom to write on his own and enjoyed some credit for his contributions to the collaborative work with Ellington. Ellington, however, did not oppose his publicists’ habit of frequently crediting him without any mention of Strayhorn. The Ellington organization reached its peak in the early 1940s with the inclusion of two crucial members, bassist Jimmy Blanton and tenor saxophonist Ben Webster. The ensemble’s recordings on the RCA Victor label in this period are ranked with the finest achievements of the jazz vocabulary.

Billy Strayhorn composed the Duke Ellington Orchestra’s signature song, the 1941 “Take the ‘A’ Train” and such hits as “Chelsea Bridge” (1941), “Johnny Come Lately” (1942), “Just A-Sittin’ and A-Rockin” (1941), and “Lotus Blossom” (1946). Strayhorn arranged many of Ellington’s band-within-a-band recordings and, through his extensive classical music training, provided harmonic clarity to Ellington’s compositions. He also played piano, both live and in the studio sessions, with the orchestra. As a pianist, Strayhorn had a formidable reputation among his colleagues; after he played, nobody wanted to play after him.

In the 1950s, Strayhorn helped Ellington create complex new “concert’ arrangements of classics from the 1930s, including “Mood Indigo”, “Sophisticated Lady”, and “(In My) Solitude”. He also worked on large-scale works with Ellington such as “A Drum is a Woman” (1956) and “Such Sweet Thunder” (1957). Strayhorn added harmony and lyrics to the collaborative work 1954 “Satin Doll”; however his lyrics were replaced by those written by singer Johnny Mercer. This jazz classic became Duke Ellington’s last single-record hit of his career. In 1956, Strayhorn was asked to work with singer Rosemary Clooney on her new album “Blue Rose”. He supervised Clooney’s overdubbed vocals to the Ellington Orchestra’s instrumental tracks.

A hallmark in Billy Strayhorn’s career is his collaborative work with Ellington on the score of Otto Preminger’s 1959 classic courtroom drama “Anatomy of a Murder”. Film historians recognize the soundtrack as a landmark, the first significant Hollywood film music by African Americans comprising non-diegetic music, incidental music or score that is heard by the viewer but not the characters nor implied by action in the film. Because the film score avoided cultural jazz score stereotypes and rejected adherence to the film’s visuals, Strayhorn and Ellington’s film score presaged the advent of the 1960s New Wave cinema movement. During a period in Paris, Strayhorn created the 1961 “The Peaceful Side”. It was released two years later by United Artist Records and now considered his most important recording outside the Ellington Orchestra

In June of 1965, through the auspices of the Duke Ellington Jazz Society, Strayhorn gave his only concert as a leader in his career to a sold-out audience with many notable jazz musicians in attendance. Held at the auditorium of New York City’s New School, the concert was divided into three parts: a solo piano set; a trio set with bassist Wendell Marshall and drummer Dave Bailey; and a small-combo set with several members of the Ellington Orchestra. While his health was seriously declining in 1966, Billy Strayhorn competed his final major collaboration with Duke Ellington. Regarded by some as their best work since the early 1940s, “Far East Suite”  was released the month after Strayhorn died.

William “Billy” Strayhorn died in New York City, at the age of fifty-one, on the 31st of May in 1967 after a three year battle with esophageal cancer. His partner, graphic designer Bill Grove, was by his side. While in the hospital, Strayhorn had submitted his final composition to Ellington; “Blood Count” is the third track on Ellington’s memorial album for Strayhorn, “…And His Mother Called Him Bill”.

Notes: The Billy Strayhorn website is located at: https://billystrayhorn.com/about/

The International Society of Jazz Arrangers & Composers (ISJAC) has an article on Billy Strayhorn written by David Hajdu on its website: https://isjac.org/hall-of-fame-new/billy-strayhorn

The online jazz magazine CapitalBop has an excellent November 2015 article by Jackson Sinnenberg on Billy Strayhorn in honor of Strayhorn’s 100th birthday celebration: https://www.capitalbop.com/portrait-of-a-stray-thread-east-river-jazz-celebrates-the-legend-of-billy-strayhorn/

The online site of the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra has a February 2015 article by writer Alison Kerr entitled “Composer Billy Strayhorn in the Limelight at Last” that discussed his openly gay identity and the freedom he found both for his identity and music when he relocated to Manhattan with Ellington’s band: https://snjo.co.uk/news/composer-billy-strayhorn-in-the-limelight-at-last

Top Insert Image: Walter P. Gottlieb, “Billy Strayhorn, New York, NY”, circa 1946-1948, Gelatin Silver Print, United States Library of Congress, Washington DC

Second Insert Image: Photographer Unknown, “Billy Strayhorn”, Promotional Photo, Gelatin Silver Print

Third Insert Image: Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington, “A Drum is a Woman”, 1957, Sheet Music, 31.5 x 24 cm, National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington DC

Bottom Insert Image: Barry Kramer, “Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn”, 1978, Gelatin Silver Print, Maryland Public Television