Strayhorn, Billy (actually, William Thomas)

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Strayhorn, Billy (actually, William Thomas)

Strayhorn, Billy (actually, William Thomas ), jazz composer, arranger, and pianist; b. Dayton, Ohio, Nov. 29, 1915; d. N.Y., May 31, 1967. Strayhorn’s career was inextricably linked to that of Duke Ellington, from their meeting in 1938 to Strayhorn’s death. Stray-horn wrote music for Ellington’s orchestra, both by himself and in collaboration with Ellington; he wrote arrangements of other composers’ works; and he occasionally played piano with the Ellington band in concert and on records. His notable compositions include “Lush Life,” “Take the ‘A’ Train,” and “Satin Doll” (music also by Ellington, lyrics by Johnny Mercer).

Strayhorn’s parents were James Nathaniel Stray-horn, a janitor, and Lillian Young Strayhorn. Shortly after his birth, the family moved to Montclair, N. J., and in 1920 relocated to the Pittsburgh area, eventually settling in Pittsburgh itself. Strayhorn began to play the piano as a child during summer vacations spent with his grandparents in Hillsborough, N. C. He delivered newspapers and worked in a drugstore to save the money to buy a piano. He played in and wrote compositions for his high school orchestra, then attended the Pittsburgh Musical Inst. during the 1936–37 school year, studying piano and music theory. In June 1937 he formed a small jazz group, eventually named The Mad Hatters, which lasted into the fall of 1938, when he began to perform as a solo pianist in clubs. He also wrote arrangements for local bands.

Strayhorn was introduced to Ellington while the bandleader was appearing in Pittsburgh in December 1938. Ellington hired him and he moved to N.Y. He did his first arrangements for a recording session led by Ellington saxophonist Johnny Hodges on Feb. 27, 1939, and on March 21, Ellington first recorded a Strayhorn composition, “Something to Live For.” Though it was a song Strayhorn had written before meeting Ellington, it was copyrighted as having been written jointly, initiating a common procedure of crediting Strayhorn’s works to him and Ellington, or even to Ellington alone, as documented by Strayhorn’s biographer David Hajdu.

An acknowledged homosexual, Strayhorn began living with pianist Aaron Bridgers in 1939 and they remained together until Bridgers moved to Paris in 1947. Strayhorn lived with Francis Goldberg, a cook, from 1958 to 1959. Though they did not live together he formed a relationship with graphic designer Bill Grove that lasted from 1964 until his death.

Strayhorn arranged “Flamingo” (music by Ted Grouya, lyrics by Edmund Anderson), which became a hit for Ellington in June 1941. The following month Ellington reached the charts with “Take the ‘A’ Train,” which Strayhorn had written upon his arrival in N.Y.; it became Ellington’s theme song. Though only cocredited for orchestrations and a few songs, Strayhorn apparently made a major contribution to the Ellington revue Jump for Joy (Los Angeles, July 10, 1941). “My Little Brown Book,” a song Strayhorn had written for a high school revue in 1935, became a Top Ten R&B hit for Ellington in June 1944. Ellington also reached the R&B Top Ten that December with “I Don’t Mind,” for which he had written the music with lyrics by Strayhorn. Strayhorn again was credited only with orchestrations for the Ellington-composed Broadway musical Beggar’s Holiday (N.Y., Dec. 26, 1946), though he apparently wrote some of the music as well.

The downturn in the big band business in the late 1940s reduced Ellington’s creative activities and thus Strayhorn’s participation in them, though his biographer suggests he also became disillusioned about his lack of credit for his work. Strayhorn made his formal recording debut in 1951 with the ten-inch album Billy Strayhorn Trio, released on Ellington’s Mercer Records label and featuring both men on piano and two bass players on alternating tracks. During the early and mid-1950s Strayhorn wrote incidental music for Off-Broadway and worked on a musical that was never produced. He also did occasional recording sessions.

In 1956, Ellington, with a new Columbia Records contract and a celebrated appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival, made a major comeback, resulting in increased opportunities for new compositions. He and Strayhorn went back to working together regularly, and they wrote a series of pieces, many of which still were credited solely to Ellington. A Drum Is a Woman, intended as a history of jazz, was written for a television special and broadcast on CBS on May 8, 1957. Such Sweet Thunder was a suite based on Shakespeare and commissioned by the Stratford, Ontario, Shakespeare Festival, where it was performed on Sept. 5, 1957. Strayhorn also participated in the composition of the scores for the films Anatomy of a Murder (1959) and Paris Blues (1961), credited to Ellington. Strayhorn supervised the orchestra for the Ellington-composed musical My People, performed in Chicago at the Century of Negro Progress exhibition in August and September 1963.

Strayhorn’s only real solo album, The Peaceful Side, was released by United Artists in 1961. He made his solo concert debut on June 6, 1964, at the New School for Social Research in N.Y. He was nominated for a 1964 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement for “A Spoonful of Sugar” (music and lyrics by Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman) from Ellington’s album of the music from the film Mary Poppins. With Ellington, Strayhorn earned a second Grammy nomination the following year for Best Original Jazz Composition for “Virgin Islands Suite” from the 1965 Ellington album Concert in the Virgin Islands. He died of esophageal cancer at 51 in 1967. Ellington paid tribute to him later that year with an album of his compositions, …And His Mother Called Him Bill. Much of his music, with and without Ellington, was heard in the Broadway revue Sophisticated Ladies (N.Y., March 1, 1981).

Discography

Billy Strayhorn Septet (1958); Billy Strayhorn/Johnny Dankworth (9158); The Peaceful Side (1961); Lush Life (1964); Billy Strayhorn Songbook (1997).