Billy Strayhorn
b. 29 November 1915, Dayton, Ohio, USA, d. 31 May 1967. After studying music at school and privately, Strayhorn began writing music and late in 1938 submitted material to Duke Ellington. Early the following year Ellington recorded the first of these works, and Strayhorn was soon involved in writing original material and arrangements for the Ellington band. The association with Ellington largely excluded all other musical activity during the rest of Strayhorn's life. When he did write arrangements for and play piano with other artists, they were usually present or former Ellingtonians. Although he played piano on record dates with various Ellingtonians and on piano duets with Ellington himself, Strayhorn's greatest contribution to jazz must be the many superb compositions immortalized by the Ellington orchestra. The best known of these might well be the Ellington theme, Take The "A" Train, but his other masterpieces are almost all sumptuous ballads and include Day Dream, Passion Flower, Lotus Blossom, Raincheck, Chelsea Bridge and Lush Life. This last piece was written in 1938 but Strayhorn withheld publication for many years, preferring to wait until a singer emerged capable of interpreting the song as he imagined it. The first recording was by Nat King Cole in 1949 but, good as this was, Strayhorn later remarked that he had still to hear the song sung right. The intertwining of Strayhorn's writing with that of Ellington complicates a thorough understanding of his importance, and Brian Priestley is one of several musicians/writers who have indicated the value of intensive research in this area. When Strayhorn was hospitalized in 1967, he continued working almost to the end on his final composition, Blood Count. A few months after his death in May 1967, Ellington recorded a tribute album of Strayhorn compositions, AND HIS MOTHER CALLED HIM BILL.