by David Hajdu
Yagella, Leo
“You Go to My Head”
“You Lovely Little Devil”
Young, Alice
Young, Felix
Young, Lee
Young, Lester
“You’re the One”
“Your Love Has Faded”
“You, You, You”
“Zing, Zing”
PRAISE FOR
LUSH LIFE
Almost 30 years after Strayhorn’s passing, this seminal figure in American music has finally found the “representation” he deserves.
—Will Friedwald, The New York Times Book Review
Elegant, meticulous … Lush Life is by no means a book for jazz specialists only. It is a witty, moving account of a complicated life, which examines the man Ellington himself called “the biggest human being who ever lived,” and it finally, tardily, nudges him into the spotlight.
—James Marcus, Newsday
Lush Life is an illuminating history of the black, and gay black, arts milieu as much as it is a heartfelt homage to its subject … [It] should go a long way toward entitling Strayhorn, if not to proper royalties, at least to the deference one customarily pays to a duke.
—Eric K. Washington, The Village Voice
[Makes] a seemingly ironclad case, with precise chapter and verse, to clarify … the fundamental significance of Strayhorn’s contribution to Ellington’s music.
—Don Heckman, Los Angeles Times Book Review
Arguably the finest biography yet written about a jazz musician … [It] will fascinate readers who have never heard a note of Strayhorn’s music.
—Joel E. Seigel, Washington City Paper
That rare biography that not only illuminates a life, but evokes an era with such specificity that we can almost taste the gin and the genius that fueled it.
—Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press
[David Hajdu] has done something extraordinary: He has made Strayhorn a living, breathing presence and created of his life a work of real art … [It] has the complexity, dimension and excitement of a fine novel.
—David Evanier, Los Angeles Reader
For a case study in biography at its best, one could not do much better than Lush Life. David Hadju spent a decade studying the life and career of Billy Strayhorn … and wrote a book that comes close to being a model biography. Whether you are interested in Strayhorn or not, you will find pleasure and illumination in Hajdu’s exemplary craftsmanship.
—Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post Book World
North Point Press
A division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux
18 West 18th Street, New York 10011
Copyright © 1996 by David Hajdu
All rights reserved
Published in 1996 by Farrar. Straus and Giroux
First North Point Press paperback edition, 1997
Grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to quote from the following:
“Imagine My Frustration.” Authors as credited by current publishers: Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, and Gerald Wilson. Copyright © 1966 (renewed) by Tempo Music Inc./Music Sales Corporation (ASCAP) and Famous Music. All rights administered by Music Sales Corporation and Duke Ellington Music—Famous Music. International copyright secured. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission.
“Lush Life.” Author as credited by current publisher: Billy Strayhorn. Copyright © 1949 (renewed) by Tempo Music Inc./Music Sales Corporation (ASCAP). All rights administered by Music Sales Corporation. International copyright secured. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission.
“Maybe.” Author as credited by current publisher: Billy Strayhorn. Copyright © 1961 (renewed) by Hayton-Horne Publishing (ASCAP). All rights administered by Hayton-Horne Publishing. International copyright secured. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission.
“Something to Live For.” Authors as credited by current publishers: Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. Copyright © 1939 (renewed) by Billy Strayhorn Songs (ASCAP) and Famous Music. All rights administered by Billy Strayhorn Songs and Duke Ellington Music–Famous Music. International copyright secured. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission.
“What Else Can You Do with a Drum.” Authors as credited by current publishers: Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. Copyright © 1957 (renewed) by Tempo Music lnc./Music Sales Corporation (ASCAP) and Famous Music. All rights administered by Music Sales Corporation and Duke Ellington Music-Famous Music. International copyright secured. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission.
“Your Love Has Faded.” Author as credited by current publisher: Duke Ellington. Copyright © 1960 (renewed) by EMI Robbins Music (ASCAP). All rights administered by EMI Robbins Music. International copyright secured. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission.
The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:
Hajdu, David.
Lush life / a biography of Billy Strayhorn / David Hajdu.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references, discography, and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-374-19438-3
ISBN-10: 0-374-19438-6
1. Strayhorn, Billy. 2. Jazz musicians—United States—Biography. I. Title.
ML410.S9325H135 1996
781.65'092—dc20
95-44707
Paperback ISBN-13: 978-0-86547-512-0
Paperback ISBN-10: 0-86547-512-1
www.fsgbooks.com
eISBN 9781466842786
First eBook edition: March 2013
* In common usage at the time, queer meant “unusual” or “eccentric.” As early as the eighteenth century, however, the term had also been used to suggest homosexuality, according to C. A. Tripp (The Homosexual Matrix, New American Library, 1975).
* Strayhorn’s compositions during this period also included a significant number of pieces not known to have been performed at the time, some shelved for use by Ellington many years later and others unrecorded until the 1990s, when they were unearthed by the musicologist Walter van de Leur. These works include the original “Tonk,” scored for full orchestra and later known as a piano duet; “Lament for an Orchid,” which Ellington recorded as “Absinthe” in the 1960s; and the twelve-minute rhapsody “Pentonsilic.”
* Two unidentified solo piano performances recorded at the time of the Jazz Scene sessions were attributed to Strayhorn for Verve’s expanded edition of the album on CD. At the request of the Strayhorn estate, this author suggested titles for the pieces: “Tailspin” and “Halfway to Dawn.” However, the compositions’ authorship has not been verified to the author’s satisfaction.
* On CD, the Ellington-Strayhorn Nutcracker was issued as one of three works (along with the Ellingtort-Strayhorn arrangement of Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite and the Ellington-Strayhorn composition Suite Thursday) on a release entitled Duke Ellington: Three Suites. Strayhorn’s name does not appear on the front or the back of the CD package, and only Ellington is depicted in the cover artwork.
* Cancers of the esophagus, pharynx, and mouth are strongly associated with both alcohol consumption and the use of tobacco products, according to various studies recorded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
* The music to this composition, known as “Christmas Surprise” or “A Song for Christmas,” is credited jointly to Ellington and Strayhorn in Ellington’s memoirs. The piece has not been copyrighted and is not included in the published folios of Ellington’s sacred music.
* It has been widely reported in articles and books, including the biography Sweet Man: The Real Duke Ellington, by Don George (G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1981), that Strayhorn died in Lena Horne’s arms, but Horne was out of the country at the time. The source of the apparent effort to obscure Strayhorn’s homosexuality is unknown.
* After Strayhorn’s death, members of his family assumed stewardship of the contents of his apartment, including scores of approximately twelve hundred works of music and more than five hundred other papers, photographs, and artifacts
. These materials were unexamined until the Strayhorn estate granted this author, Loren Schoenberg, and Walter van de Leur access to them.