#billystrayhorn

BILLY STRAYHORN & DUKE ELLINGTON’S ORCHESTRA – TAKE THE “A” TRAIN

Introducing the Duke, you’ll hear the whisper of Miles Davis followed by Ravi Shankar counting the orchestra in, but probably not in the same time signature that they’re playing in. All the skullduggery is necessary as the tumblr fuzz are getting pretty hot at spotting copyrighted material. Talking of hot, this isn’t really ‘hot jazz’ at all- strictly speaking, that term belongs to the New Orleans sound from the first two decades of the 20th Century, you know, cornets, clarinets and banjos. Yes, jazz constantly evolves, it’s always going somewhere, and it’s been places too, but it can still be extremely irritating. Banjos? Nope. The Duke? Yes indeed. Sizzling.

#ilovejazz 🎵🎶🎼❤ 🎹 #billystrayhorn

“Rosemary Clooney may have seemed to be a surprising choice to be featured with Duke Ellington & His Orchestra, but this collaboration is extremely successful in spite of the fact that Clooney was unable to join the band in the studio due to complications of a very difficult pregnancy. The solution was for the band to record the music (after Billy Strayhorn made the first of several trips to Los Angeles to consult with her). The results are stunning and not in the least bit canned, due to the professionalism of all parties involved and a stellar engineering of the separately recorded tracks. Clooney swings throughout “Me and You” and “It Don’t Mean a Thing” without excess, her wordless vocal on “Blue Rose,” and a captivating “Mood Indigo” are among the many highlights. The sound on this Legacy series reissue is greatly improved over the earlier Mobile Fidelity CD, plus there are two tracks added, the obscure but appealing “If You Were in My Place (What Would You Do?)” and “Just a-Sittin’ and a-Rockin’,” that were only issued as a single and omitted from the original release. It’s a pity that the collaboration of Rosemary Clooney and Duke Ellington was only a one-shot deal, as she easily ranks as one of the greatest vocalists to appear on record with the maestro.” – Ken Dryden/AllMusic.

While composing some of the most harmonically rich jazz of its time — often in Ellington's shadow — Strayhorn was an outlier in that he led an openly gay life as a black man in the 1940s, an era rife with homophobia and racism.

Isfahan

LAST FROM THE PAST: Pretty Girl featuring vocalist Kevin Valentine from Lush Life: Philadelphia Celebrates Billy Strayhorn Concert, as part of the OutBeat Jazz Festival - bringing together straight & LGBTQ artists in the first Gay Jazz festival in the US, back in September 2014, at the Suzanne Roberts Theater in Philadelphia. SEE THE VIDEO: https://youtu.be/iYRnMWqLp88 #PhillyJazz #BillyStrayhorn #DukeEllington #OutBeatJazzFestival #KevinValentine #JazzSinger #SingPhillySing (at Suzanne Roberts Theatre) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cg7l7TnJ48k/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

BLAST FROM THE PAST: Blues In Orbit featuring: DivaNation vocalists, Ella Gahnt, Barbara Montgomery and Liz Filante, from Lush Life: Philadelphia Celebrates Billy Strayhorn Concert, September 19th, 2014 at the Suzanne Roberts Theater in Philadelphia. SEE THE VIDEO: https://youtu.be/WVHvAzhMhtQ #PhillyJazz #BillyStrayhorn #DukeEllington #OutBeatJazzFestival #EllaGahnt #BarbaraMontgomery #LizFilante #SingPhillySing (at Suzanne Roberts Theatre) https://www.instagram.com/p/CdoqBViJ8Xg/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=