Binyi Wu
Ethnomusicology 50A
Discussion 1E
November 23, 2015
Billy Strayhorn
“The extent to which Billy Strayhorn gained recognition during his years with us was never commensurate with his contribution” said Leonard Feather, the British-born jazz musician. Indeed, though contributing enormous brilliant jazz pieces to the swing era, Billy Strayhorn, compared to his collaborator Duke Ellington, was relatively unknown to public. Instead, living most of his professional life as the protégé of Duke Ellington, Strayhorn passed away in 1967 at too young an age to fully illustrate his own music to the world. Nevertheless, Strayhorn’s songs stood for their quality in the history of jazz, and enabled successors to recognize the unknown jazz master. …show more content…
Around this time, Strayhorn composed the masterpiece “Take the ‘A’ train”, which demonstrated the true essence of swing and became the Ellington’s band theme song. Remarkably, this song was the product of Strayhorn’s attempt to emulate the arrangement style of Fletcher Henderson. Furthermore, the title and lyrics, arose from the ‘A’ train route to Harlem that time, made the song catchy and wide-spread. Another Strayhorn piece of the era was "Chelsea Bridge," a dissonant and impressionistic ballad. This piece was regarded as an experimental piece where Strayhorn steps out and does something with a jazz piece that comes completely from a different musical context. After that, Strayhorn left Ellington to concentrate on his own projects, then returned to their collaboration in the mid-1950s. Their reconciliation initiated a fruitful era in the Ellington-Strayhorn collaboration. Remarkably, in 1960 the two collaborated on the album named ‘The Nutcracker Suite’, in which they first tried to re-arrange a song outside of the work of Ellingtonians. Their collaboration continued until Strayhorn died in 1967 after a long struggle with cancer of the esophagus. Ellington was devastated for months; he then recorded ‘and his mother called him Bill’, an all-Strayhorn tribute album, to commemorate his …show more content…
In his life time, he helped vocalist Lean Horne to improve her singing technic with his classical background. After Strayhorn’s death, 1980s saw a resurgence of Strayhorn’s work. Artists such as Toshiko Akiyoshi, Art Farmer, and Marian McPartland dedicated full albums to Strayhorn that featured his compositions. His unique contribution to music as an arranger was duly recognized by Esquire and two silver awards. Moreover, his influence reached nowadays as well. For instance, his famous composition ‘Lush life’ has been performed by Lady Gaga, Queen Latifah, and Esperanza Spalding, among many others in the past few years. In conclusion, Billy Strayhorn was an underappreciated composer and pianist who had made inestimable contribution to jazz. Despite the anonymity of the composer, Strayhorn’s popular and enduring songs manifested themselves in the history of jazz, and proved Strayhorn’s talent to the
Ethnomusicology 50A
Discussion 1E
November 23, 2015
Billy Strayhorn
“The extent to which Billy Strayhorn gained recognition during his years with us was never commensurate with his contribution” said Leonard Feather, the British-born jazz musician. Indeed, though contributing enormous brilliant jazz pieces to the swing era, Billy Strayhorn, compared to his collaborator Duke Ellington, was relatively unknown to public. Instead, living most of his professional life as the protégé of Duke Ellington, Strayhorn passed away in 1967 at too young an age to fully illustrate his own music to the world. Nevertheless, Strayhorn’s songs stood for their quality in the history of jazz, and enabled successors to recognize the unknown jazz master. …show more content…
Around this time, Strayhorn composed the masterpiece “Take the ‘A’ train”, which demonstrated the true essence of swing and became the Ellington’s band theme song. Remarkably, this song was the product of Strayhorn’s attempt to emulate the arrangement style of Fletcher Henderson. Furthermore, the title and lyrics, arose from the ‘A’ train route to Harlem that time, made the song catchy and wide-spread. Another Strayhorn piece of the era was "Chelsea Bridge," a dissonant and impressionistic ballad. This piece was regarded as an experimental piece where Strayhorn steps out and does something with a jazz piece that comes completely from a different musical context. After that, Strayhorn left Ellington to concentrate on his own projects, then returned to their collaboration in the mid-1950s. Their reconciliation initiated a fruitful era in the Ellington-Strayhorn collaboration. Remarkably, in 1960 the two collaborated on the album named ‘The Nutcracker Suite’, in which they first tried to re-arrange a song outside of the work of Ellingtonians. Their collaboration continued until Strayhorn died in 1967 after a long struggle with cancer of the esophagus. Ellington was devastated for months; he then recorded ‘and his mother called him Bill’, an all-Strayhorn tribute album, to commemorate his …show more content…
In his life time, he helped vocalist Lean Horne to improve her singing technic with his classical background. After Strayhorn’s death, 1980s saw a resurgence of Strayhorn’s work. Artists such as Toshiko Akiyoshi, Art Farmer, and Marian McPartland dedicated full albums to Strayhorn that featured his compositions. His unique contribution to music as an arranger was duly recognized by Esquire and two silver awards. Moreover, his influence reached nowadays as well. For instance, his famous composition ‘Lush life’ has been performed by Lady Gaga, Queen Latifah, and Esperanza Spalding, among many others in the past few years. In conclusion, Billy Strayhorn was an underappreciated composer and pianist who had made inestimable contribution to jazz. Despite the anonymity of the composer, Strayhorn’s popular and enduring songs manifested themselves in the history of jazz, and proved Strayhorn’s talent to the