Lush Life
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“Multicolored Blue” See “Violet Blue.”
“My Little Brown Book” (1944) Registered composer and lyricist: Strayhorn. Recommended recording: The Blanton-Webster Band (RCA), Duke Ellington and His Orchestra.
“Mysterious Chick” (1965) Registered composers: Ellington–Strayhorn. Recommended recording: Concert in the Virgin Islands (Reprise), Duke Ellington and His Orchestra.
“Night Time” (1954) Registered composers: Ellington–Strayhorn. Lyricist: Doris Julian. Recommended recording: The Complete Capitol Recordings of Duke Ellington (Mosaic), Duke Ellington and His Orchestra.
“Noir Bleu” (1947) Registered composer: Strayhorn. Recommended recording: The Chronological Duke Ellington and His Orchestra, 1941, Volume 2 (Classics), Barney Bigard and His Orchestra.
“Once upon a Dream” (1949) Registered composer: Strayhorn. Lyricists: Bill Contrell–T. Hee. Recommended recording: The Complete Duke Ellington, 1947–1952, Volume 2 (CBS), Duke Ellington and His Orchestra.
“Orson” (1955) Registered composers: Ellington–Strayhorn. Recommended recording: The Complete Capitol Recordings of Duke Ellington (Mosaic), Duke Ellington and His Orchestra.
“Overture to a Jam Session” (1947) Registered composer: Ellington. Recommended recording: The “Collection”: ’46–’57 Recordings (Hindsight), Duke Ellington and His Orchestra. ASCAP, Tempo Music catalogs, and recordings cite Billy Strayhorn as sole composer of this piece. In Tempo Music’s copyright, filed on March 12, 1947, Duke Ellington is registered as composer.
“Paradise” (1948) Registered composer: Strayhorn. Recommended recording: Carnegie Hall, November 13, 1948 (VJC), Duke Ellington and His Orchestra.
“Paris Blues” (1962) Registered composer: Ellington. Lyricists: Strayhorn–Harold Flender. Recommended recording: Featuring Paul Gonsalves (Fantasy), Duke Ellington and His Orchestra.
“Passion Flower” (1944) Registered composer: Strayhorn. Lyricist: Milton Raskin. Recommended recording: Lush Life (Red Baron), Billy Strayhorn.
“Pentonsilic” (1995) Registered composer: Strayhorn. Recommended recording: Portrait of a Silk Thread: Newly Discovered Works of Billy Strayhorn (Dutch Jazz), The Dutch Jazz Orchestra. Copyrighted and recorded after Strayhorn’s death, through his estate. Part of this work is related to “Sonata” (also known as “Love,” “Under the Balcony,” and “Balcony Serenade”) from the Ellington–Strayhorn Perfume Suite.
“Pomegranate” (1957) Registered composer: Ellington. Lyricist: Strayhorn. Recommended recording: A Drum Is a Woman (Columbia LP), Duke Ellington and His Orchestra. The song was included in the television version of A Drum Is a Woman, though it is not included on the CD release.
“Portrait of a Silk Thread” (1995) Registered composer: Strayhorn. Recommended recording: Portrait of a Silk Thread: Newly Discovered Works of Billy Strayhorn (Dutch Jazz), The Dutch Jazz Orchestra. Copyrighted and recorded after Strayhorn’s death, through his estate.
“Pretty Girl” (1956) Registered composer and lyricist: Strayhorn. Recommended recording: Creamy (Verve LP), Johnny Hodges. Originally recorded, released, and copyrighted (in Strayhorn’s name) under this title (or “Pretty Little Girl”), the song was later retitled “The Star-Crossed Lovers” for use in the suite Such Sweet Thunder and copyrighted again under the names of both Ellington and Strayhorn.
“Pretty Little One” (1966) Registered composer: Strayhorn. Recommended recording: Duke Ellington’s Jazz Violin Session (Atlantic LP). This uncopyrighted piece is essentially the same as “Boo-Lose” and the “Blue Cloud” incorporated into Suite for the Duo.
“Prima Bara Dubla” (1958) Registered composers: Ellington–Strayhorn. Recommended recording: Newport, 1958 (Columbia), Duke Ellington and His Orchestra.
“Progressive Gavotte” (1948) Registered composer: Strayhorn. Recommended recording: The Complete Duke Ellington, 1947–1952, Volume 2 (CBS), Duke Ellington and His Orchestra.
“Put-Tin” (1964) Registered composers: Ellington–Strayhorn. Recommended recording: Yale Concert (Fantasy), Duke Ellington and His Orchestra.
“Rain Check” (1942) Registered composer: Strayhorn. Recommended recording: The Blanton-Webster Band (RCA), Duke Ellington and His Orchestra.
“Rock Skippin’” (1952) Registered composers: Ellington–Strayhorn. Recommended recording: … And His Mother Called Him Bill (RCA), Duke Ellington and His Orchestra. Released as “Rock Skippin’ at the Blue Note.”
“Le Sacre Supreme” (1995) Registered composer: Strayhorn. Recommended recording: Portrait of a Silk Thread: Newly Discovered Works of Billy Strayhorn (Dutch Jazz), The Dutch Jazz Orchestra. Copyrighted and recorded after Strayhorn’s death, through his estate.
“Satin Doll” (1954) Registered composers: Ellington–Strayhorn. Lyricist: Johnny Mercer. Recommended recording: The Soul of Ben Webster (Verve), Ben Webster, Johnny Hodges, Harry Edison. This CD includes the contents of the Hodges LP Blues A-Plenty.
“Smada” (1952) Registered composers: Ellington–Strayhorn. Recommended recording: … And His Mother Called Him Bill (RCA), Duke Ellington and His Orchestra. Strayhorn’s original version of this composition, composed while he was in Pittsburgh, was alternately entitled “Ugly Ducklin’” and “Smoky City.”
“Snibor” (1956) Registered composer: Strayhorn. Recommended recording: … And His Mother Called Him Bill (RCA), Duke Ellington and His Orchestra.
“Something to Live For” (1939) Registered composers and lyricists: Ellington–Strayhorn. Recommended recording: The Peaceful Side (United Artists LP), Billy Strayhorn.
“The Star-Crossed Lovers” See: “Pretty Girl”; see also Suites: Such Sweet Thunder.
“Strange Feeling” See Suites: The Perfume Suite.
“Swamp Drum” (1951) Registered composer: Strayhorn. Recommended recording: The Johnny Hodges All-Stars with the Duke Ellington All-Stars and the Billy Strayhorn All-Stars (Prestige), various groups of Ellingtonians.
“Sweet and Pungent” (1960) Registered composer: Strayhorn. Recommended recording: Blues in Orbit (Columbia), Duke Ellington and His Orchestra.
“Take It Slow” (1942) Registered composer: Strayhorn. Recommended recording: The Private Collection, Volume 3 (SAJA), Duke Ellington and His Orchestra. Composed by Strayhorn and copyrighted in his name, the song was performed by Ellington as “Self Portrait” in a WNBC radio broadcast from New York’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on April 26, 1957.
“Take the ‘A’ Train” (1941) Registered composer and lyricist: Strayhorn. Recommended recording: Lush Life (Red Baron), Billy Strayhorn. The Ellington Orchestra performed an extended version of “Take the ‘A’ Train,” entitled “Manhattan Murals,” at Carnegie Hall on November 13, 1948; in its release on CD, the adaptation was credited jointly to Ellington and Strayhorn.
“Tapioca” Registered composer: none. Recommended recording: Ellington Sidekicks (Epic/Sony), various groups of Ellingtonians. Although Strayhorn is credited on recordings as its composer, no copyright registration has been filed for the piece.
“Three and Six” (1962) Registered composer: Strayhorn. Recommended recording: Not So Dukish (Verve LP), Johnny Hodges. The piece is derived from “Wounded Love,” a song from Strayhorn’s score for the Federico García Lorca play The Love of Dom Perlimplín for Belisa in Their Garden.
“3:10 Blues” (1963) Registered composer: Strayhorn. Recommended recording: Everybody Knows (Verve LP), Johnny Hodges. Released as “310 Blues.”
“Tigress” (1963) Registered composer: Strayhorn. Recommended recording: Afro-Bossa (Discovery), Duke Ellington and His Orchestra.
“Tonk” (1940) Registered composers: Ellington–Strayhorn. Recommended recording: Great Times (Riverside), Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. Best known as a four-hand piano duet, the piece was originally composed for jazz orchestra. Ellington and Strayhorn also released the piano version as “Pianistically Allied.”
“Triple Play” (1948) Registered composer: Strayhorn. Recommended recording: 78 rpm single (Wax), no artist credited on the
label.
“Tymperturbably Blue” (1959) Registered composers: Ellington–Strayhorn. Recommended recording: Jazz Party (Columbia), Duke Ellington and His Orchestra.
“Upper Manhattan Medical Group” (“U.M.M.G.”) (1956) Registered composer: Strayhorn. Recommended recording: Lush Life (Red Baron), Billy Strayhorn. The piece is named after a New York medical institution where Arthur Logan practiced.
“Violet Blue” (1947) Registered composer and lyricist: Strayhorn. Recommended recording: The Peaceful Side (United Artists LP), Billy Strayhorn. Also released as “Multicolored Blue.”
“Watch Your Cue” (1960) Registered composers and lyricists: Strayhorn–Johnny Hodges. Recommended recording: Cue for Saxophone (London), Billy Strayhorn’s Septet.
“Wounded Love” See: “Three and Six.”
“You Better Know It” See Suites: A Drum Is a Woman.
“You’re the One” (1955) Registered composer and lyricist: Strayhorn. Recommended recording: It’s Love (RCA), Lena Horne with Lennie Hayton and His Orchestra.
“Your Love Has Faded” Registered composer and lyricist: Ellington. Recommended recording: Billy Strayhorn and the Orchestra (Verve LP), with Johnny Hodges, soloist. Composed and performed by Strayhorn during his Pittsburgh years, the song was not copyrighted until June 2, 1960, when Robbins Music filed a registration citing Ellington as composer and lyricist.
SUITES
The Deep South Suite (1947) Registered composers: Ellington, Ellington–Strayhorn. Movements: “Happy-Go-Lucky Local,” “Sultry Sunset,” “Hear Say,” “There Was Nobody Lookin’,” “Magnolias Dripping with Honey.” Recommended recording: The Great Chicago Concerts (Music Masters), Duke Ellington and His Orchestra. The copyright registrations for “Happy-Go-Lucky Local,” “Hear Say,” and “There Was Nobody Lookin’” cite Ellington and Strayhorn as joint composers; the filings for “Sultry Sunset” and “Magnolias Dripping with Honey” credit Ellington alone. Strayhorn performed “Hear Say” at his New York solo concert in 1965 and recorded the piece in a demonstration record (unissued). The entire suite has been credited to Ellington in performances by the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. “There Was Nobody Lookin’” is sometimes referred to as “Nobody Was Looking.”
A Drum Is a Woman (1957) Registered composers and lyricists: Ellington–Strayhorn. Movements: “A Drum Is a Woman,” “Rhythm Pum Te Dum,” “What Else Can You Do with a Drum,” “New Orleans,” “Hey, Buddy Bolden,” “Carribe Joe,” “Congo Square,” “You Better Know It,” “Madam Zajj,” “Ballet of the Flying Saucers,” “Zajj’s Dream,” “Rhumbop,” “Finale.” Recommended recording: A Drum Is a Woman (Columbia), Duke Ellington and His Orchestra. The television production, which has some different music, is not available on video but can be seen at New York’s Museum of Television and Radio and some other institutions.
The Far East Suite (1964) Registered composers: Ellington–Strayhorn. Movements: “Tourist Point of View,” “Bluebird of Delhi (Mynah Bird),” “Isfahan,” “Depk,” “Mount Harissa,” “Blue Pepper (Far East of the Blues),” “Agra,” “Amad.” Recommended recording: The Far East Suite (RCA), Duke Ellington and His Orchestra. “Isfahan” was originally entitled “Elf.” An Ellington composition (inspired in part by a theme by Jimmy Hamilton), “Ad Lib on Nippon,” has been added to commercial releases of the suite.
The Newport Jazz Festival Suite (1956) Registered composers: Ellington–Strayhorn. Movements: “Festival Junction,” “Blues to Be There,” “Newport Up.” Recommended recording: At Newport (Columbia), Duke Ellington and His Orchestra.
The Perfume Suite (1945) Registered composers and lyricists: Ellington–Strayhorn. Movements: “Sonata” (also known as “Love,” “Under the Balcony,” and “Balcony Serenade”), “Strange Feeling” (also known as “Violence”), “Dancers in Love” (also known as “Naivete” and “Stomp for Beginners”), “Coloratura” (also known as “Sophistication”). Recommended recording: The Duke Ellington Carnegie Hall Concerts, December 1944 (Prestige), Duke Ellington and His Orchestra. “Sonata” was copyrighted in the name of Strayhorn alone on April 13, 1945. “Strange Feeling,” copyrighted in the names of both Ellington and Strayhorn on the same date, was included on Strayhorn’s solo record The Peaceful Side and was used in the theatrical presentation My People, in the latter case attributed to Ellington. Tempo Music cited Ellington as sole composer of both “Dancers in Love” and “Coloratura” in its registrations filed on January 4, 1945, and April 18, 1945, respectively.
Portrait of Ella Fitzgerald (1957) Registered composers: Ellington–Strayhorn. Movements: “Royal Ancestry,” “All Heart,” “Beyond Category,” “Total Jazz.” Recommended recording: Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Songbook (Verve), Ella Fitzgerald with Duke Ellington and His Orchestra. Copyrighted jointly in the names of Ellington and Strayhorn, the work has been credited to Ellington in performances by the Duke Ellington Orchestra under Mercer Ellington’s direction. One of the suite’s movements, “All Heart,” was performed by the Ellington Orchestra at Carnegie Hall on December 27, 1947, as “Entrance of Youth.”
The Queen’s Suite (1959) Registered composers: Ellington–Strayhorn. Movements: “Sunset and the Mockingbird,” “Lightning Bugs and Frogs,” “Le Sucrier Velours,” “Northern Lights,” “The Single Petal of a Rose,” “Apes and Peacocks.” Recommended recording: The Queen’s Suite (Pablo), Duke Ellington and His Orchestra. “Northern Lights” was copyrighted in the name of Strayhorn alone on April 16, 1959. All other sections have been copyrighted in Ellington’s name. In its LP release, the suite was credited jointly to Ellington and Strayhorn. On CD, the suite is credited solely to Ellington.
Such Sweet Thunder (1957) Registered composers: Ellington–Strayhorn. Movements: “Such Sweet Thunder,” “Sonnet for Caesar,” “Sonnet to Hank Cinq,” “Lady Mac,” “Sonnet in Search of a Moor,” “The Telecasters,” “Up and Down, Up and Down,” “Sonnet for Sister Kate,” “The Star-Crossed Lovers,” “Madness in Great Ones,” “Half the Fun,” “Circle of Fourths.” Recommended recording: Such Sweet Thunder (Columbia), Duke Ellington and His Orchestra. See Songs: “Pretty Girl.”
Suite for the Duo (1966) Registered composer: Strayhorn. Movements: “Up There,” “Pavane Blue #2,” “Blue Cloud.” Recommended recording: Strayhorn (Mainstream LP), the Dwike Mitchell-Willie Ruff duo. “Up There” is also known as “Skippy.” This “Blue Cloud” is essentially the same as “Boo-Lose” and “Pretty Little One.”
Suite Thursday (1961) Registered composer: Ellington. Movements: “Misfit Blues,” “Schwiphtiey,” “Zweet Zurzday,” “Lay-By.” Recommended recording: Three Suites (Columbia), Duke Ellington and His Orchestra. Although Strayhorn is credited as co-composer on the suite’s recordings, Tempo Music copyrighted all four movements in Ellington’s name. “Schwiphtiey” has been released as “Schwiphti.”
Symphomaniac (1949) Registered composer: Ellington. Movements: “Symphonic or Bust,” “How You Sound.” Recommended recording: Carnegie Hall, November 13, 1948 (VJC), Duke Ellington and His Orchestra. The piece is attributed to Ellington and Strayhorn on recordings. No copyright has been filed for its first movement, “Symphonic or Bust.” Ellington was cited as sole composer of the second movement, “How You Sound,” in Tempo Music’s registration, filed on April 28, 1949.
Toot Suite (1962) Registered composers: Ellington–Strayhorn. Movements: “Red Garter,” “Red Shoes,” “Red Carpet,” “Ready Go.” Recommended recording: Jazz Party (Columbia), Duke Ellington and His Orchestra.
The Virgin Islands Suite (1965) Registered composers: Ellington–Strayhorn. Movements: “Island Virgin,” “Virgin Jungle,” “Fiddler on the Diddle,” “Jungle Kitty.” Recommended recording: Concert in the Virgin Islands (Reprise), Duke Ellington and His Orchestra.
Note on unrecorded music:
More than 160 known compositions by Billy Strayhorn remain unrecorded, including his earliest music in a classical vein (“Valse” and “Concerto for Piano and Percussion�
��); his first copyrighted songs (“You Lovely Little Devil” and “I’m Still Begging You,” both written with John Raymond Wood); unpublished work for the Mad Hatters (“If You Were There”) and pieces for various orchestras in Pittsburgh; dozens of his compositions for the Copasetics; virtually all of the scores for his produced theatrical projects (Fantastic Rhythm and The Love of Don Perlimplín for Belisa in Their Garden); most of his music for unproduced plays (Rose-Colored Glasses and Saturday Laughter, the former a collaboration with Luther Henderson, the latter primarily an Ellington project); Strayhorn compositions (and collaborations with Ellington and others) copyrighted but not recorded (“Christmas Suprise,” “So This Is Love,” others); and several dozen jazz pieces and songs whose music is currently in repository at the Smithsonian Institution or under stewardship of the Billy Strayhorn estate (“Just in Case,” “South Wind,” “What Else Can I Do,” “Wish I Knew What Happened,” others).
Index
The index that appeared in the print version of this title does not match the pages in your eBook. Please use the search function on your eReading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.
Abbott, Bud
Abbott, George
Abel, Lionel
Abrahams, Peter
“Absinthe”
Adams Paramount Theatre (Newark)
Adler, Larry
“After All”
Ailey, Alvin
Ajemian, Anahid
Albitz, Muriel Boyd
Alexander, Jane Patton
Allen, Richard
Allen, Ted
“All Heart”
“All of Me”
“All Too Soon”
Amato Opera Theatre (New York)
American in Paris, An (Gershwin)
American Jazz Festival
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP)
American Weekly Entertainment Guide