Stories of Standards: “Rain Check” 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, November 26 through 30, presented by Rodney Franks!

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

Consider the song “Rain Check” a kind of compositional rescue.  Billy Strayhorn (1915-1967) wrote the tune (published in 1942) among other works to provide the Duke Ellington band with broadcastable material during the 1940-41 ASCAP recording blackout.  Strayhorn said the song’s name came simply because it was a rainy day in Los Angeles when he wrote it.

But the song otherwise laid dormant, not a part of the Ellington “book” for decades, until after Strayhorn’s passing in 1967.  Duke included the track on his posthumous salute, called “And His Mother Called Him Bill.”

“Rain Check’s” brightly arranged opening sets up an infectious, up-tempo melody that is a definitive hook.  The song has since been covered by Sonny Rollins, Marian McPartland, Kenny Burrell, and many others.

Considered the “emotional architect of song,” Strayhorn picked up the piano from his grandmother and studied classical music at the Pittsburgh Musical Institute.  He met Ellington when the orchestra was performing at the Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh.  His arrangements and compositions got Duke’s attention.  Strayhorn wrote, co-wrote and arranged more than 100 tunes for the Ellington organization, including the band’s trademark “Take the A Train.”

Ellington is quoted as saying this about his nearly 30-year collaborator: “Billy Strayhorn was 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.”