Lush Life

This book has a lot going for it. Do you like music, swing and jazz? Do you like intersting people? Did you live through the 30's, 40's and 50's? Do you enjoy reading about that era? Do you enjoy reading a well written biogratphy? If the answer to any of these is yes, you'll like this book, it the answer is yes to several of these questions then you'll LOVE this book. David Hajdu has done an exemplary job of documenting the life of Billy Strayhorn. I really felt like I knew the man after reading this. He has done his research and he also writes with a very smooth style that keeps you intersted. I love music and I've read bios of Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, BB King, Chuck Berry, Led Zepplin, Allman Bros. on and on. This is one of the best if not the best music bio I've read.

Hajdu really does a nice job of summarizing the life of a songwriter. He keeps his story moving with pacing, characters, travel, and yes, even drama! Racial prejudice, sexual prejudice, loneliness and alcoholism did nothing to stop this little man from Pittsburgh who knew he was destined to a "lush life" and wrote about it in his fantasies, such as the title song begun at age 19 in Pittsburgh.He grew up poor, effeminate, and misunderstood; but he loved the theater, and he knew where he belonged. Off to New York where his awesome talent so impressed Duke Ellington that he was immediately hired into the organization, where he would thrive and struggle and live and write for the rest of his life. He died of cancer, after penning and arranging much of Ellington's later work. The book tells his story with panache that would make him proud!

Billy Strayhorn's contribution to the work of Duke Ellington is immeasurable--at last he is given his full due in David Hajdu's perceptive and insightful portrait of this largely unsung genius of 20th century music. Hajdu's sensitive biography, derived from countless interviews with friends, family and fellow musicians, reveals Strayhorn as a complex, creative individual who preferred to stay discreetly in Ellington's shadow throughout much of his life. It also provides a telling portrait of a man who lived his life as a gay African-American musician completely out in the open during a time in this country when it was both difficult and dangerous to do so. Hajdu has given us telling portraits as well of many of Strayhorn's contemporaries such as Lena Horne, Ella Fitzgerald, Johnny Hodges, Ray Nance and the Duke himself who loved "Swea-Pea" (Strayhorn's nickname) as a part of himself. Not only a portrait of a creative, intellectual genius, "Lush Life" also gives us an insightful look into the world of jazz and African-american popular music that grew out of an age of racism and discrimination. The concluding chapters that chronicle Strayhorn's involvement in the civil rights movement of the early '60's and his friendships with Martin Luther King and Medgar Evans and his own battle with the throat cancer that cut his life short (at age fifty-one) are especially powerful. Throughout the book, Hajdu provides lively anecdotal writing while remaining a respectful journalist and chronicler of his subject. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in jazz history, popular culture, or purely for a portrait of an understated genius.

The pure artistic genius of Billy Strayhorn literally jumps off the pages of David Hajdu's well-written biograqphy. Even those who knew and loved Strayhorn's music discover he was a composer of rare gifts, an artist so keenly sensitive to his surroundings that he could write to evoke the best of the individual stylings of his musical colleagues. This totally enjoyable narrative makes one wonder just how much of the work bearing Duke Ellington's name was actually composed by Strayhorn. Of course, we'll never know. But we can sit back and Take The A Train.

David Hajdu has creatd a wonderful evocation of an era throughthe life of Billy Strayhorn. While firmly grounded in Strayhorn theman, musician, and bon vivant, Hajdy's writing expands the scope to include the dynamics of 20th century jazz evolutions and permutations, interweaving the greats and would-be greats with variations of musical, historical, and psychological themes. Through the expert use of lyrics and techical counterpoints, the author brings to life a maturing process which addresses both the man Strayhorn and the full array of personal, professional, and cultural tensions that span several lifetimes. This is not a difficult book. It is primarily a serious journey of exploration which softens overtures to the artist with recognition of his -- and the age's -- limitations. Hajdu's treatment of Duke Ellington is unfaiiingly dimensional. While Strayhorn is effectively given his due, Ellington loses little in this translation. If anything, the secondary theme of Ellington's balancing of immense ego and generosity suggests a world made safer -- for Billy Strayhorn -- by one's man's dominating presence. The definition of genius is expanded to include the contributions of both men. Ellington's final appearance is handled without pathos, an exceptional achievement in itself. Most lives do not follow a straight path or step-wise progression. Billy Strayhorn's is no exception. People and places appear and reappear as Strayhorn's circle of experience widesn. Some, like Aaron Bridgers ensconced in a Paris cafe, remain as touchstones to a past that's still alive and valuable. Art Webster and Johnny Hodges grow -- one imagines in talent as well as importance -- along with Billy and the times. Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and Rosemary Clooney appear, if only to offer convincing testimony to Strayhorn's unique ability to prove that the sum of artist plus music is greater than it's parts. Hajdu's is a balanced yet lyrical telling of a personal history in the broader reaching context of human and social values. One need not be well versed in the music of the Ellingtonians to appreciate this book. However, it may be the ulimate compliment to the authro that in the course of reading, I purchased not one but several, progressively dated recordings of Ellington/Strayhorn collaborations. The book, as Strayhorn's lyrics, begs for accompaniment.