BILLY STRAYHORN: The peaceful side of Billy Strayhorn

BILLY STRAYHORN
Billy Strayhorn era assumidamente "gay", numa época em que "sair do armário" equivalia a uma condenação à condição de pária da sociedade, pela hipocrisia vigente na época. Talvez por isso, nunca apareceu sob as luzes dos holofotes que iluminavam seu "alter ego", Duke Ellington. As sórdidas histórias acerca da relação Ellington/Strayhorn já foram objeto de todos os tipos de especulação em artigos, biografias e conversas de botequim. A maioria delas giravam em torno da alegação de que o verdadeiro gênio, o grande talento, o músico maior seria Strayhorn: Duke Ellington era o explorador, o usurpador, que teria se tornado seu "amante", para usufruir dos dotes de compositor e arranjador de Strayhorn e se tornar parceiro das obras primas que BS compunha. Deixando de lado a maledicência, o fato é que, BILLY STRAYHORN foi mesmo genial; depois de ter composto "Lush Life", "Day Dream" e "Take the 'A' Train", não precisava ter feito mais nada: sua missão já estaria cumprida. Mas, felizmente, ele não pensou assim, e deixou um punhado de belíssimas composições, todas elegantes e refinadas - tal como ele era.
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BILLY STRAYHORN
William Thomas “Billy” Strayhorn (November 29, 1915 – May 31, 1967) was an American composer, pianist and arranger, best known for his successful collaboration with bandleader and composer Duke Ellington lasting nearly three decades. The composition most closely associated with Strayhorn is “Lush Life”. Billy Strayhorn was born in Dayton, Ohio. He began his musical career in Pittsburgh, where he studied for a time at the Pittsburgh Music Institute, wrote a high school musical and, while still in his teens, composed “Lush Life”, a work that had the world weariness of an older man. He met Duke Ellington backstage after an Ellington performance in Pittsburgh in 1938. Here he first told, and then showed, the band leader how he would have arranged one of Duke’s own pieces. Ellington was impressed enough to invite other band members to hear Strayhorn. At the end of the visit he arranged for Strayhorn to meet him when the band returned to New York. Strayhorn worked for Ellington for the next quarter century until his early death from
cancer. Strayhorn’s relationship with Ellington was always difficult to pin down: he was a gifted composer and arranger who seemed to flourish in Duke’s shadow. Ellington may have taken advantage of him, but not in the mercenary way that others had taken advantage of Ellington; instead, he used Strayhorn to complete his thoughts, while giving Strayhorn the freedom to write on his own and enjoy at
least some of the credit he deserved. Strayhorn, for his part, may have preferred to stay out of the limelight, since that also allowed him to be out of the closet in an era and a community that did not tolerate gay artists.
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ALBUM REVIEW
During his twenty-five year tenure with the Duke Ellington Orchestra as composer, lyricist, arranger, and Duke's closest musical confidante, Billy Strayhorn rarely performed in front of a live audience and even less frequently entered a recording studio. Although his piano playing can be heard on a handful of records with the Ellington Orchestra as well as on some of its members' side projects, most notably several dates with Johnny Hodges, Strayhorn made just one album as a featured solo artist. That album, the Peaceful Side of Billy Strayhorn recorded during two overnight sessions in Paris in January 1961, has recently been reissued in the original mono version on Capitol Jazz. It offers a unique opportunity to hear this brilliant composer's own takes on some of his best-known songs, including "Lush Life," "Take the A Train," and "Chelsea Bridge." It was certainly not a lack of technique that kept Strayhorn from recording more often. A classically trained pianist, his playing here is exquisite, evoking the impressionism of Debussy almost as much as the driving jazz of Ellington. This is a quiet, spare recording featuring just Strayhorn's piano with occasional accompaniment by bass, string quartet, or vocal chorus. Strayhorn brings out all the passion and melancholy of his own compostions, which are performed in much more relaxed tempos than we are used to hearing. Even "'A' Train" is treated as a moody ballad. Other highlights
include a gently swinging "Just A Sittin' and A Rockin'," and an exquisite version of the haunting "A Flower is a Lovesome Thing." It is a shame that Strayhorn did not record more, since he brought the same extraordinary musical intelligence and sophistication to his piano playing that he did to his composing.
Joel Roberts - www.allaboutjazz.com
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MINHA OPINIÃO
Este álbum é um dos raros que Billy Strayhorn gravou como solista. Embora fosse um extraordinário pianista, com estilo elegante e econômico, em sua vida privada, BE era "low profile" até dizer chega, e preferia ficar à sombra, deixando que seu parceiro, Duke Ellington, brilhasse e recebesse os aplausos. O disco foi gravado em Paris e teve o auxilio luxuoso do notável conjunto vocal "Paris Blue Notes" e do quarteto de cordas"Paris String Quartet". O repertório é um luxo, como tudo o que Billy Strayhorn produziu em sua vida, que ao contrário do título de sua obra-prima, não teve nada de "lush"...Uma rara preciosidade - BELEZA PURA!
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BILLY STRAYHORN: The peaceful side of Billy Strayhorn

PERSONNEL
Michel Gaudry (Bass),
Paris Blue Notes (Vocals)
Paris String Quartet (Strings)
Billy Strayhorn (Piano)
Michel Goudret (Bass)

TRACKS/FAIXAS
Lush Life - (Billy Strayhorn)
Just A-Sittin' and A-Rockin' - (Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Lee Gaines)
Passion Flower - (Billy Strayhorn)
Take the "A" Train - (Billy Strayhorn)
Strange Feeling - (Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn)
Day Dream - (Duke Ellington, John Latouche, Billy Strayhorn)
Chelsea Bridge - (Billy Strayhorn)
Multi-Colored Blue - (Billy Strayhorn)
Something to Live For Duke Ellington - (Billy Strayhorn)
A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing - (Billy Strayhorn)