"Billy Strayhorn, to me, stands alone with Duke Ellington as a model of what having it all together is all about, where your technique is second nature and is driven by passion alone." - Quincy Jones
By WMGLCC 02/2008
Composer and arranger Billy Strayhorn (1915-1967) is best known as the man behind Duke Ellington. Musically, that is, as Ellington was straight. Black, gay, and classically trained, Strayhorn provided Ellington with the complexity necessary to the Duke's aristocratic image for nearly three decades. Many people consider Strayhorn a superior composer to Ellington, but he is little known himself.
None of my friends recognized the title, but all of them knew the tune to "Take the A Train", one of Ellington's hits composed and arranged by Strayhorn (or "Lush Life" or "Satin Doll"). Strayhorn contributed to his obscurity not only through the emotional depth of his music but because he was out and open his entire life. Though at early one point he lived with Ellington, and Ellington's family, Strayhorn moved in with his partner Aaron Bridgers and was the only jazz player open about his relationship and sexual orientation.
It has been speculated that being openly gay is why Strayhorn stayed out of the spotlight, perhaps subconsciously letting the more outgoing Ellington to take public, and often legal, credit for their collaborations. More recently it has been proposed that given Strayhorn's love of performance and civil rights activism that he was put in a closet. Strayhorn was too ill to participate in the 1963 March on Washington having begun to feel the effects of the esophogeal cancer that would eventually take his life.
Sources indicate his unhappiness and increased drinking later in life. Perhaps he retained the enthusiasism to improve life for New Yorkers shown in that piece of activism "Take the 'A' Train". After years of folks complaining that there was no public transportation to Harlem the city of New York built the "A" train. Unfortunately, no one rode the route at first. Even without any lyrics the piece reminded Harlemites to use the subway, and today it reminds me to fight for equality, and to take it.
Read more: GLBTQ: Strayhorn, William Thomas (1915-1967), PlaneOut History: Billy Strayhorn, Wikipedia: Billy Strayhorn, and Independent Lens: Lush Life.
Lastly, just a note that I would never spread the persistent rumors that the great jazz giant Cecil Taylor is queer and that this may similarly have inspire Taylor's "out there" jazz piano. Instead I will respect his right to live a lie and till an unhappy death.
Listen to tracks at Film Looks at Jazz of Composer Strayhorn. I recommend "Tonk", based on the whole tone scale.
Other WMGLCC Black History Month Profiles. See also: WMGLCC 2007 Queer History month profiles.
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©2007 Western Montana Gay & Lesbian Community Center