Stories of Standards: “Lush Life” by Billy Strayhorn

Tune in to Jazz with Victor Cooper – weekdays from 6-9 a.m. MT – for Stories of Standards to hear our favorite versions of this song all week long!

Stories of Standards is sponsored by ListenUp – If you love music, you’ll love ListenUp.

Billy Strayhorn (1915-1967) began writing “Lush Life” as a teenager and by 1933 had developed it sufficiently to sing to a few friends. Duke Ellington’s son Mercer said that hearing “Lush Life” and “Something to Live For” in 1938 led Duke to engage Strayhorn in 1939 as his resident arranger and pianist. Strayhorn continued with “Lush Life” as a private pet project until 11/13/1948 when he and Kay Davis (vocalist) gave its first documented public performance as part of the seventh of Ellington’s Carnegie Hall concerts. “Lush Life” was one of the few major pieces for which Strayhorn was acknowledged as the sole composer. JazzStandards.com ranks this as #37 of the top 200 jazz standards, and the intricate melody, correlating exquisitely with the lyrics, has made this a favorite of listeners and musicians for years.

As a child Billy Strayhorn was shy and introverted except when talking about literature and music, characteristics which continued through much of his life. His passion for music led him to take a job while in grade school which enabled him to buy a piano and pay for music lessons. His intense interest in classical music, especially 20th century Russian composers such as Stravinsky and French impressionists such as Debussy, was associated with the complexity and skill of his compositions. He worked with Duke Ellington for almost 30 years; among his best known compositions was “Take the A Train”, still the signature piece of the Duke Ellington Orchestra. Strayhorn’s death came far too soon; Ellington was devastated and took the band into the studio a few months later to record “And His Mother Called Him Bill”, an all-Strayhorn tribute album.