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WFIU Presents
A Portrait of Billy Strayhorn
WFIU |
This
week on Afterglow it’s “A Portrait of Billy Strayhorn.”
For 27 years Billy Strayhorn was the crucial co-writer in one of
the greatest big bands the world has ever heard—the Duke Ellington
Orchestra. Although Ellington made a point of singling Strayhorn
out for praise, Strayhorn spent most of his career in the shadow
of his illustrious colleague. In recent years two books—David
Hadju’s biography Lush Life and Walter van de Leur’s
musical study Something to Live For—have shed much light
on the life, times, and art of the man who played such an important
part in Duke Ellington’s sound from 1939 on. On this edition
of Afterglow we’ll hear interpretations of Strayhorn’s
music by the Ellington orchestra, Bill Henderson, Ella Fitzgerald,
Joe Henderson, Joya Sherrill, Ben Webster, the Dutch Jazz Orchestra,
and many others, as well as Strayhorn himself singing and playing
“Lush Life,” the classic tune about world-weary bar life
that he wrote when barely out of his teens. We’ll also hear
some music from a new Blue Note compilation, including Dianne Reeves’
take on “Something to Live For,” and Elvis Costello singing
new words set to Strayhorn’s penultimate composition “Blood
Count.” “A Portrait of Billy Strayhorn” airs Friday,
February 2 at 10:05 p.m. EST on WFIU. WTIU/WFIU-area viewers and
listeners can see a new PBS program about Strayhorn Tuesday, February
6 at 10 p.m. on WTIU. (For more information about Billy Strayhorn
and this Independent Lens program, 