Billy Strayhorn

Who2 Biography: Billy Strayhorn, Composer / Pianist / Jazz Musician

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Born: 29 November 1915
Birthplace: Dayton, Ohio
Died: 31 May 1967 (cancer of the esophagus)
Best Known As: Composer of "Take the 'A' Train"

For three decades, Billy Strayhorn was the composing and arranging partner of jazz great Duke Ellington. Strayhorn met Ellington in 1939; the bandleader hired him immediately and the two worked together until Strayhorn died in 1967. Strayhorn's compositions alone or with Ellington include "Lush Life," "Chelsea Bridge," "Johnny Come Lately," "A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing" and "Satin Doll." His most famous composition, "Take the 'A' Train," was inspired by the subway directions to Ellington's home for their first meeting. Strayhorn was born in Ohio but is often associated with Pittsburgh, where he spent a larger part of his childhood.

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Black Biography: Billy Strayhorn

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composer; jazz musician; pianist

Personal Information

Born William Strayhorn on November 19, 1915, in Dayton, OH; died of esophageal cancer on May 31, 1967, in New York; son of James Strayhorn, a factory worker, and Lillian Young Strayhorn.
Education: Westinghouse High School, Pittsburgh; attended Pittsburgh Musical Institute.

Career

Jazz composer, arranger, and pianist. Composer and small-group jazz player, Pittsburgh, mid-1930s; composed song "Lush Life," 1936; hired as arranger, lyricist, and pianist, Duke Ellington Orchestra, 1939; composed numerous songs for Ellington Orchestra during ASCAP strike, early 1940s; compositions include "Take the 'A' Train," "Rain Check," and "Passion Flower"; collaborated with Ellington on orchestral compositions including Far East Suite, 1950s and 1960s.

Life's Work

Called "a nearly invisible genius" by Scott Yanow of the All Music Guide but an immensely important figure in jazz history, Billy Strayhorn spent much of his career as an associate of jazz composer and bandleader Duke Ellington. Strayhorn was the composer of several vocal numbers performed and recorded by Ellington's band, including "Take the 'A' Train" and "Lush Life," that went on to become familiar jazz standards widely known to pop fans as well; he was also a classically trained musician who was a crucial contributor to the large concert compositions that Ellington undertook later in his career.

Ellington, for his part, wrote in his autobiography Music Is My Mistress that Strayhorn was "my right arm, my left arm, and the eyes in the back of my head." Strayhorn further enjoyed a career apart from Ellington's group, and on top of all this he might be viewed as a pioneer in the emergence of gay culture in the United States. Among the most important of the many behind-the-scenes figures who have lubricated the musical interactions of the intensely collaborative jazz genre, Billy Strayhorn was one of jazz's most sophisticated musical thinkers.

Studied the Classics

Born William Strayhorn in Dayton, Ohio, on November 29, 1915, Billy Strayhorn was known simply as Bill during his years as a serious student of classical music in school. His father was an industrial worker and sometime janitor, and his family bounced around under difficult circumstances for much of Strayhorn's early childhood. In 1920 they landed outside Pittsburgh, attracted by the employment possibilities of the steel mills there. Strayhorn was often sent to Hillsborough, North Carolina, to visit his maternal grandmother, a church pianist who introduced him to music.

But it was in high school in Pittsburgh that Strayhorn's musical talents really began to blossom. Attending Westinghouse High School, Strayhorn at first studied classical music exclusively. "Billy was about as serious as they get," recalled Westinghouse music teacher Carl McVicker (who later taught jazz keyboardist Ahmad Jamal) to Strayhorn biographer David Hadju. "Earnest, hardworking, wanted to get ahead in music ... He was an intellectual... .He was a serious pianist and concentrated strictly on the concert repertoire." Toward the end of his high school years, Strayhorn performed two piano concertos with full symphony orchestra, and his classical training perhaps shows through in the complex harmonies found in some of his compositions. In the 1930s, however, the doors of the classical music world were largely closed to black musicians. Strayhorn persisted, taking courses at the Pittsburgh Musical Institute, but soon it became clear that more promise lay in a different direction. He composed a musical revue called Fantastic Rhythm, which had its beginnings in a high school senior-class presentation but expanded into a full-fledged professional show, and around the same time friends introduced him to the serious-minded jazz of pianist Art Tatum and other artists who saw jazz as a complex art music, rather than simply as accompaniment for dancers.

Hired by Ellington

Strayhorn's talents as a jazz composer and arranger grew quickly, and one of his most famous songs, "Lush Life," was completed in 1936. Although the song is generally identified with Duke Ellington, that was well before Strayhorn joined Ellington's organization. By December of 1938, when Ellington visited Pittsburgh, Strayhorn was ready to make the most of the opportunity of meeting him. Impressing the bandleader with letter-perfect renditions of (and even suggestions for improvement upon) some of his piano solos, Strayhorn was hired at first, early in 1939, as a lyricist and arranger. Ellington accurately predicted that the partnership would last a lifetime.

A 1941 power struggle between U.S. radio broadcasters and the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) had the side effect of inaugurating one of Strayhorn's most fertile periods as a songwriter; the songs of Ellington himself, an ASCAP member, were withheld from radio, so Ellington turned to the nonmember Strayhorn for new vocal compositions. Several of the pieces Strayhorn produced in 1941 and 1942 became pop standards, including "Rain Check, "Chelsea Bridge," and "Passion Flower," but the most famous of all, "Take the 'A' Train," was initially discarded by Strayhorn as too similar to the style of rival bandleader Fletcher Henderson. Ellington's brother Mercer retrieved the song from a trash can, and it went on, in both vocal and instrumental arrangements, to become the Ellington Orchestra's signature. Many of Strayhorn's more than 100 songs were extremely sophisticated and complex, well suited to the treatment they later received from avant-garde jazz artists such as John Coltrane.

Collaborated on Orchestral Works

In the years after World War II, as the interests of young American dancers shifted from big-band swing toward rhythm-and-blues and rock and roll, Ellington aimed more often to create large concert works of a semiclassical nature--an enterprise that was of course very comfortable for the classically oriented Strayhorn. The two composers worked together on adaptations for the Ellington Orchestra of such classical works as Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite and on original compositions in the same vein, such as the acclaimed Far East Suite. Part of the impetus for the interest in Strayhorn's work that grew in the decades after his death was the realization that Ellington was more than just a jazz artist; he was one of the most significant American composers for orchestra, and Strayhorn contributed a great deal to what Ellington accomplished.

Despite his long association with Ellington, Strayhorn maintained an independent career. He recorded several albums as a jazz pianist, composed a series of musical shows for a benevolent association in New York's Harlem neighborhood that were major events in the uptown social season, and wrote songs for vocalist Lena Horne. Horne had a romantic interest in Strayhorn, but got nowhere owing to Strayhorn's homosexuality--which was, unlike that of almost every other creative artist of his day, openly practiced. Some have speculated that Strayhorn was willing to stay largely behind the scenes with Ellington because his secure place in Ellington's organization gave him the chance to be honest about his sexual orientation. Late in life Strayhorn contributed music to a never-realized theatrical presentation based on the works of the gay Spanish playwright, Federico Garcia Lorca.

Stricken with cancer of the esophagus, Strayhorn died on May 31, 1967. A deeply shaken Ellington wrote (as quoted by Strayhorn biographer David Hadju) that "the legacy he leaves, his oeuvre, will never be less than the ultimate, on the highest plateau of culture." Although at the time Strayhorn was rarely numbered among the pantheon of jazz greats, fellow musicians were well aware of his importance and had paid tributes to him by recording albums of his compositions even before his death. Ellington's own tribute, entitled And His Mother Called Him Bill, was released as a memorial to Strayhorn's career and is considered one of his finest pieces of work by jazz critics.

Works

Selected discography

Historically Speaking: The Duke, Bethlehem, 1956.
The Billy Strayhorn Septet, Felsted, 1958.
Live!, Roulette, 1958.
Billy Strayhorn/Johnny Dankworth, Roulette, 1958.
Cue for Saxophone, Verve, 1959.
The Peaceful Side, United Artists, 1961.
Lush Life, Red Baron, 1964.
The Billy Strayhorn Songbook, Concord Jazz, 1997.

Biography

An extravagantly gifted composer, arranger and pianist -- some considered him a genius -- Billy Strayhorn toiled throughout most of his maturity in the gaudy shadow of his employer, collaborator and friend, Duke Ellington. Only in the last decade has Strayhorn's profile been lifted to a level approaching that of Ellington, where diligent searching of the Strayhorn archives (mainly by David Hajdu, author of the excellent Strayhorn bio Lush Life) revealed that Strayhorn's contribution to the Ellington legacy was far more extensive and complex than once thought. There are several instances where Strayhorn compositions were registered as Ellington/Strayhorn pieces ("Day Dream," "Something to Live For"), where collaborations between the two were listed only under Duke's name ("Satin Doll," "Sugar Hill Penthouse," "C-Jam Blues"), where Strayhorn pieces were copyrighted under Ellington's name or no name at all. Even tunes that were listed as Strayhorn's alone have suffered; the proverbial man on the street is likely to tell you that "Take the 'A' Train" -- perhaps Strayhorn's most famous tune -- is a Duke Ellington song.

Still, among musicians and jazz fans, Strayhorn is renowned for acknowledged classics like "Lotus Blossom," "Lush Life," "Rain Check," "A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing" and "Mid-Riff." While tailored for the Ellington idiom, Strayhorn's pieces often have their own bittersweet flavor, and his larger works have coherent, classically influenced designs quite apart from those of Ellington. Strayhorn was alternately content with and frustrated by his second-fiddle status, and he was also one of the few openly gay figures in jazz, which probably added more stress to his life.

Classical music was Strayhorn's first and lifelong musical love. He started out as a child prodigy, gravitating to Victrolas as a child, working odd jobs in order to buy a used upright piano while in grade school. He studied harmony and piano in high school, writing the music for a professional musical, Fantastic Rhythm, at 19. But the realities of a black man trying to make it in the then-lily-white classical world, plus exposure to pianists like Art Tatum and Teddy Wilson, led Strayhorn toward jazz; he gigged around Pittsburgh with a combo called the Mad Hatters. Through a friend of a friend, Strayhorn gained an introduction to Duke Ellington when the latter's band stopped in Pittsburgh in 1938. After hearing Strayhorn play, Ellington immediately gave him an assignment, and in January 1939, Strayhorn moved to New York to join Ellington as an arranger, composer, occasional pianist and collaborator without so much as any kind of contract or verbal agreement. "I don't have any position for you," Ellington allegedly said. "You'll do whatever you feel like doing."

A 1940-41 dispute with ASCAP that kept Ellington's compositions off the radio gave Strayhorn his big chance to contribute several tunes to the Ellington bandbook, among them "After All," "Chelsea Bridge," "Johnny Come Lately" and "Passion Flower." Over the years, Strayhorn would collaborate (and be given credit) with Ellington in many of his large-scale suites, like Such Sweet Thunder, A Drum Is a Woman, The Perfume Suite and The Far East Suite, as well as musicals like Jump For Joy and Saturday Laughter and the score for the film Anatomy of a Murder. Beginning in the 1950s, Strayhorn also took on some projects on his own away from Ellington, including a few solo albums, revues for a New York society called the Copasetics, theatre collaborations with Luther Henderson, and songs for his friend Lena Horne. In 1964, Strayhorn was diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus, aggravated by years of smoking and drinking, and he submitted his last composition, "Blood Count," to the Ellington band while in the hospital. Shortly after Strayhorn's death in May 1967, Ellington recorded one of his finest albums and the best introduction to Strayhorn's work, And His Mother Called Him Bill (RCA), in memory of his friend. ~ Richard S. Ginell, All Music Guide

Wikipedia: Billy Strayhorn

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Billy Strayhorn
photo by Carl Van Vechten, 14 August 1958
Background information
Birth name	William Thomas Strayhorn
Born	November 29, 1915(1915-11-29) Dayton, Ohio, USA
Died	May 31, 1967 (aged 51) New York City, New York, USA
Genres	Classical, mainstream jazz, swing music
Occupations	Arranger, composer, pianist
Instruments	Piano
Labels	United Artists, Felsted, Mercer
Associated acts	Duke Ellington
Website	www.billystrayhorn.com

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. His compositions include "Chelsea Bridge", "Take the "A" Train" and "Lush Life".

1 Early life
2 Return to Pittsburgh and Meeting Ellington
3 Working With Ellington
4 Openly gay
5 Illness and Death
6 Legacy
7 Tributes
8 References
9 External links

Early life

William "Billy" Thomas Strayhorn was born in Dayton, Ohio. His family soon moved to the Homewood section of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. However, his mother's family was from Hillsborough, North Carolina, and she sent him there to protect him from his father's drunken sprees. Strayhorn spent many months of his childhood at his grandparents' house in Hillsborough. In an interview, Strayhorn said that his grandmother was his primary influence during the first ten years of his life. He first became interested in music while living with her, playing hymns on her piano, and playing records on her Victrola record player.^[1]

Return to Pittsburgh and Meeting Ellington

Strayhorn returned to Pittsburgh, and attended Westinghouse High School, later attended by Erroll Garner and Ahmad Jamal. In Pittsburgh, he began his musical career, studying classical music for a time at the Pittsburgh Music Institute, writing a high school musical, forming a musical trio that played daily on a local radio station, and, while still in his teens, composing (with lyrics) the songs "Life Is Lonely" (later renamed "Lush Life"), "My Little Brown Book", and "Something to Live For". While still in grade school, he worked odd jobs to earn enough money to buy his first piano. While in high school, he played in the school band, and studied under the same teacher who had also instructed jazz pianists Erroll Garner and Mary Lou Williams. By age 19 he was writing for a professional musical, Fantastic Rhythm.

Though classical music was Strayhorn’s first love, his ambition to become a classical composer was shot down by the harsh reality of a black man trying to make it in the then-completely white classical world. Strayhorn was then introduced to the music of pianists like Art Tatum and Teddy Wilson at age 19. These musicians guided him into the realm of jazz where he remained for the rest of his life. His first jazz exposure was in a combo called the Mad Hatters who played around Pittsburgh.

He met Duke Ellington in December 1938, after an Ellington performance in Pittsburgh (he had first seen Ellington play in Pittsburgh in 1933). 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 as an arranger, composer, occasional pianist and collaborator until his early death from cancer. As Ellington described him, "my right arm, my left arm, all the eyes in the back of my head, my brain waves in his head, and his in mine".^[2]

Working With Ellington

Strayhorn's relationship with Ellington was always difficult to pin down: Strayhorn was a gifted composer and arranger who seemed to flourish in Duke's shadow. Ellington was somewhat of a father figure and the band, by and large, was affectionately protective of the diminutive, mild-mannered, unselfish Strayhorn, nicknamed by the band "Strays", "Weely", and "Swee' Pea". 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. Though Duke Ellington took credit for much of Strayhorn’s work, he did not maliciously drown out his partner. Ellington would make jokes onstage like, "Strayhorn does a lot of the work but I get to take the bows!"

Strayhorn composed the band's best known theme, "Take the "A" Train", and a number of other pieces that became part of the band’s repertoire. In some cases Strayhorn received attribution for his work such as, "Lotus Blossom", "Chelsea Bridge", and "Rain Check", while other such as "Day Dream" and "Something to Live For", were listed as collaborations with Ellington or in the case of "Satin Doll" and "Sugar Hill Penthouse" were credited to Ellington alone. Strayhorn also arranged many of Ellington's band-within-band recordings and provided harmonic clarity, taste, and polish to Duke's compositions. On the other hand, Ellington gave Strayhorn full credit as his collaborator on later, larger works such as "Such Sweet Thunder", "A Drum Is a Woman", "The Perfume Suite" and "The Far East Suite", where Strayhorn and Ellington worked closely together.^[3]

Detroit Free Press music critic Mark Stryker concludes that the work of Strayhorn and Ellington in Anatomy of a Murder is "indispensable, [although] . . . too sketchy to rank in the top echelon among Ellington-Strayhorn masterpiece suites like Such Sweet Thunder and The Far East Suite, but its most inspired moments are their equal."^[4] Film historians have recognized the soundtrack "as a landmark -- the first significant Hollywood film music by African Americans comprising non-diegetic music, that is, music whose source is not visible or implied by action in the film, like an on-screen band." The score avoided the cultural stereotypes which previously characterized jazz scores and rejected a strict adherence to visuals in ways that presaged the New Wave cinema of the ’60s."^[5]

Openly gay

Shortly before Ellington went on his second European tour with his orchestra, from March to May 1939, Ellington announced to his sister Ruth and son Mercer Ellington, that Strayhorn "is staying with us". Through Mercer, Strayhorn met his first partner, African-American musician Aaron Bridgers, with whom Strayhorn lived until Bridgers moved to Paris in 1947.^[6]

Strayhorn was openly gay during an extremely homophobic era. He participated in many civil rights causes, trying to correct this societal flaw before the movement gained momentum. As a committed friend to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., he arranged and conducted "King Fought the Battle of 'Bam'" for the Ellington Orchestra in 1963 for the historical revue My People, dedicated to Dr. King. Critics agree that his dedication to the gay movement was a contributing factor to him being so overlooked as an important musician. More attention was given to the fact that he was gay and black than to his genius as a pianist, composer, and arranger. For this reason, he long hid behind Ellington, letting the Duke take credit for much of his work.

Billy Strayhorn's strong character left an impression on many people who met him. He had a major influence on the career of Lena Horne, who wanted to marry Strayhorn and considers him to have been the love of her life.^[7]Strayhorn used his classical background in guiding Horne's singing technique toward improvement. They eventually recorded songs together. In the 1950s, Strayhorn left his musical partner Duke Ellington for a few years to pursue a solo career of his own. He came out with a few solo albums, revues for the Copasetics (a New York show-business society) and took on theater productions with his friend Luther Henderson. Strayhorn’s compositions are known for the bittersweet sentiment, and classically infused designs that set him apart from Ellington.

Illness and Death

Strayhorn was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in 1964, which eventually caused his death in 1967. Strayhorn finally succumbed in the early morning on May 31, 1967, in the company of his partner, Bill Grove. (It has often been falsely reported that Strayhorn died in Lena Horne's arms. By her own accounts, Horne was touring in Europe when she received the news of Strayhorn's death).^[8] His ashes were scattered in the Hudson River by a gathering of his closest friends.

While in hospital, he had submitted his final composition to Ellington. "Blood Count" (originally "Blue Cloud"^{[citation needed]}) which was used as the first track to Ellington's memorial album for Strayhorn, …And His Mother Called Him Bill, recorded several months after Strayhorn's death. The last track of the album is a spontaneous solo version of "Lotus Blossom" performed by Ellington, who just sat at the piano and played for his friend while the band packed up after the formal end of the recording session (they can be heard in the background).

Legacy

Strayhorn's arrangements had a tremendous impact on the Ellington band. Ellington always wrote for the personnel he had at the time, showcasing both the personalities and sound of soloists such as Johnny Hodges, Harry Carney, Ben Webster, Lawrence Brown and Jimmy Blanton, and drawing on the contrasts between players or sections to create a new sound for his band. Strayhorn brought a more linear, classically schooled ear to Ellington’s works, setting down in permanent form the sound and structures that Ellington sought.

Strayhorn’s own work, particularly his pieces written for Johnny Hodges on alto saxophone, often had a bittersweet, languorous flavor.

Tributes

Duke Ellington's Eulogy for Billy Strayhorn

Poor little Swee’ Pea, Billy Strayhorn, William Thomas Strayhorn, the biggest human being who ever lived, a man of great courage, the most majestic artistic stature, a highly skilled musician whose impeccable taste commanded the respect of all musicians and the admiration of all listeners.

His audiences at home and abroad marveled at the grandeur of his talent and the mantel of tonal supremacy that he wore only with grace. He was a beautiful human being, adored by a wide range of friends, rich, poor, famous and unknown. Great artists pay homage to Billy Strayhorn’s God-given ability and mastery of his craft.

Because he had a rare sensitivity and applied himself to his gifts, Billy Strayhorn successfully married melody, words, and harmony, equating the fitting with happiness. His greatest virtue, I think, was his honesty, not only to others, but to himself. His listening-hearing self was totally intolerant of his writing-playing self when, or if, any compromise was expected, or considered expedient.

He spoke English perfectly and French very well, but condescension did not enter into his mind. He demanded freedom of expression and lived in what we consider the most important and moral of freedoms: freedom from hate, unconditionally; freedom from self-pity (even throughout all the pain and bad news); freedom from fear of possibly doing something that might help another more than it might himself; and freedom from the kind of pride that could make a man feel he was better than his brother or neighbor.

His patience was incomparable and unlimited. He had no aspirations to enter into any kind of competition, yet the legacy he leaves, his oeuvre, will never be less than the ultimate on the highest plateau of culture (whether by comparison or not).

God bless Billy Strayhorn. – Duke Ellington

From the Duke Ellington album ...And His Mother Called Him Bill

References

^ Sanford, Mary P. "Strayhorn, William (Billy) Thomas". Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, Vol. 5, 1994, p.460
^ Duke Ellington, Music Is My Mistress, Da Capo, 1973, ISBN 0-306-80033-0. p. 156
^ Sonjia Stone (1983). "Biography". Billy Strayhorn Songs, Inc.. http://www.billystrayhorn.com/biography.htm. Retrieved 2006-12-29.
^ Stryker, Mark, Music Critic, Ellington's score still celebrated, January 20, 2009 Detroit Free Press.
^ Booe, Mervyn, “History of Film Music” (Cambridge, $24.99). Stryker, Mark, Music Critic, Ellington's score still celebrated, January 20, 2009 Detroit Free Press.
^ http://www.classical-music-review.org/reviews/Strayhorn.html Something to Live For: The Music of Billy Strayhorn, Oxford University Press, 2002
^ See the David Hajdu biography of Strayhorn (Lush Life) for a confirmation of this.
^ David Hajdu, Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1996, ISBN 0-86547-512-1 page 254.

Hajdu, David (1996). Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn. New York: Farrar Straus & Giroux. ISBN 0374194386.
Van de Leur, Walter (2002). Something to Live For: The Music of Billy Strayhorn. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195124480.

External links

v • d • e Duke Ellington

Discography	The Blanton–Webster Band · Never No Lament: The Blanton-Webster Band · Ellington at Newport · The Complete Porgy and Bess · Such Sweet Thunder · Ellington Indigos · Newport 1958 · Black, Brown and Beige · Jazz Party · Anatomy of a Murder · Duke Ellington Meets Coleman Hawkins · Money Jungle · The Great Paris Concert · Duke Ellington & John Coltrane · Ella at Duke's Place · Ella and Duke at the Cote D'Azur · The Far East Suite · The Stockholm Concert, 1966 · ...And His Mother Called Him Bill · Francis A. & Edward K.

Compositions	"All Too Soon" · " Azure" · Black, Brown and Beige · C Jam Blues · " Caravan" · "Cotton Tail" · "Day Dream" · Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue"Do Nothing Till You Hear from Me" · "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" · "Drop Me Off in Harlem" · "Everything But You" · "I Ain't Got Nothin' But the Blues" · "I Didn't Know About You" · "I Got It Bad (and That Ain't Good)" · "I'm Beginning to See the Light" · "I'm Just a Lucky So-and-So" · "In a Mellow Tone" · "In a Sentimental Mood" · "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" · "Just A-Sittin' and A-Rockin'" · "Just Squeeze Me (But Please Don't Tease Me)" · "Mood Indigo" · " Prelude to a Kiss" · "Rocks in My Bed" · "(In My) Solitude" · "Satin Doll" · "Sophisticated Lady"

Orchestra members	Hayes Alvis · Cat Anderson · Ivie Anderson · Harold Ashby · Alice Babs · Shorty Baker · Butch Ballard · Art Baron · Aaron Bell · Louie Bellson · Joe Benjamin · Barney Bigard · Lou Blackburn · Jimmy Blanton · Wellman Braud · Lawrence Brown · Harry Carney · Johnny Coles · Willie Cook · Buster Cooper · Kay Davis · Wild Bill Davis · Wilbur De Paris · Bobby Durham · Mercer Ellington · Rolf Ericson · Jimmy Forrest · Victor Gaskin · Peter Giger · Tyree Glenn · Paul Gonsalves · Sonny Greer · Fred Guy · Jimmy Hamilton · Otto Hardwick · Rick Henderson · Al Hibbler · Johnny Hodges · Major Holley · Quentin Jackson · Hilton Jefferson · Herb Jeffries · Freddie Jenkins · Money Johnson · Herbie Jones · Taft Jordan · Al Killian · Queen Esther Marrow · Wendell Marshall · Murray McEachern · Louis Metcalf · James "Bubber" Miley · Harold "Geezil" Minerve · Ray Nance · Tricky Sam Nanton · Oscar Pettiford · Eddie Preston · Russell Procope · Junior Raglin · Betty Roché · Ernie Royal · Al Sears · Joya Sherrill · Willie Smith · Rex Stewart · Billy Strayhorn · Billy Taylor (jazz bassist) · Clark Terry · Juan Tizol · Norris Turney · Ben Webster · Arthur Whetsol · Cootie Williams · Nelson Williams · Skippy Williams · Booty Wood · Jimmy Woode · Britt Woodman · Sam Woodyard

Filmography	Black and Tan (The Movie) · Cabin in the Sky · Belle of the Nineties · Murder at the Vanities · Paris Blues · Assault on a Queen · Change of Mind

Related	Duke Ellington Bridge · Duke Ellington House · Duke Ellington School of the Arts · Irving Mills · Sophisticated Ladies ·

Discography ·

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Piano Passion Buy this CD	Cabu Collection Buy this CD	Billy Strayhorn: Lush Life Buy this CD	Proper Introduction to Billy Strayhorn: Passion Flower Buy this CD	Stanley Dance Sessions Buy this CD
Lotus Blossom Buy this CD	Lush Life [Red Baron] Buy this CD	Peaceful Side Buy this CD