CD1
Kay Davis & Billy Strayhorn
1. Lush Life
Duke Ellington & His Orchestra
2. Take the “A” Train
3. After All
4. Something to Live For
5. Grievin’
6. Weely – A Portrait of Billy Strayhorn
Barney Bigard & His Orchestra
7. Lost in Two Flats
Rex Stewart & His Orchestra
8. Linger Awhile
Duke Ellington & His Orchestra
9. Just A-sittin’ and A-rockin’
10. Clementine
Johnny Hodges & His Orchestra
11. Passion Flower
Duke Ellington & His Orchestra
12. Raincheck
13. Chelsea Bridge
14. Johnny Come Lately
15. Balcony Serenade
Duke Ellington & Billy Strayhorn
16. Tonk
17. Drawing Room Blues
Duke Ellington & His Orchestra
18. Midriff
Johnny Hodges & His Orchestra
19. Violet Blue
Billy Strayhorn
20. Halfway to Dawn
21. Tail Spin
Johnny Hodges & His Orchestra
22. A Flower is a Lovesome Thing
23. Lotus Blossom
Nat King Cole
24. Lush Life
CD2
Billy Strayhorn & His Trio
1. C Jam Blues
2. Johnny Come Lately
3. In a Blue Summer Garden
4. Great Times
Johnny Hodges & the Ellington Men
5. Snibor
6. Satin Doll
Billy Strayhorn & His Septet
7. Cherry
8. Gone With the Wind
9. Rose Room
10. Watch Your Cue
Billy Strayhorn
11. Chelsea Bridge
12. Just A-sittin’ and A-rockin’
13. Strange Feeling
14. Something to Live For
15. Take the “A” Train
Johnny Hodges with Billy Strayhorn & His Orchestra
16. I Got It Bad and That Ain’t Good
17. Don’t Get Around Much Any More
18. The Gal from Joe’s
19. Day Dream
20. Your Love Has Faded
As it happens, I recently reviewed a three-CD set of recordings by Billy Strayhorn called
Out of the Shadows. Generous as it was, I expressed disappointment that it omitted extracts
from some of Billy’s sessions that I considered important, such as his orchestra with Johnny Hodges. Fortuitously, this double CD contains some of the
items that were lacking from the previous compilation. Of course, one couldn’t include all Strayhorn’s performances, but this selection seems to be
slightly more representative.
My Feelings about Strayhorn and his music were mainly described in the preceding review, so I needn’t repeat them here. Like the previous collection, this
album provides the opportunity to sample Stray’s piano-playing, arranging and composing, often away from the Duke Ellington Orchestra.
The album is sub-titled “A Centenary Tribute – his 44 Finest, 1939-1961”. It is the centenary of Billy’s birth on 29 November, 1915. As a teenager he was
an ardent, self-taught student. He said “The more I learned, the more I wanted to learn”. In 1935 he wrote all the songs for a musical, Fantastic Rhythm, and in 1938 he met Duke Ellington who was mightily impressed by the young man. Their ensuing partnership produced some of the
Ellington band’s most enduring music.
This compilation helps us understand better than the previous collection what Strayhorn’s particular qualities were. In general he seems to have preferred
mellow, mid-tempo pieces rather than loud, brash compositions. Meditative pieces like Chelsea Bridge and Lush Life seem typical of him –
more than Take the “A” Train, the Ellington band’s signature tune. He also composed some tunes specially for members of the Ellington Orchestra,
such as Lost in Two Flats for clarinettist Barney Bigard. He also wrote pieces which seem tailor-made for the sweet alto sax of Johnny Hodges.
Just listen to Hodges in A Flower is a Lovesome Thing and Lotus Blossom – two tracks from the sessions with Hodges and Strayhorn as
co-leaders. Billy’s piano style is similarly gentle and modest – very decorative, with plenty of trills, but not assertive. These qualities are exemplified
by the five tracks (CD2, tracks 11 to 15) of piano solos which Stray recorded with the Paris String Quartet.
One quibble: why has producer Ray Crick included a track by Nat King Cole? His version of Lush Life is taken at much too fast a tempo to catch all
the depths of the profound lyrics and their astute word-play (“Where one relaxes on the axes of the wheel of life, To get the feel of life”). Kay Davis’s
interpretation of the same song (accompanied at the piano by Billy), which opens this collection, had adequately tackled this intricate song. But that is a
very minor point. Basically this is a fine selection of recordings by someone who has too often been in the background.
Tony Augarde
www.augardebooks.co.uk
CD Reviews
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