Celebrating Strayhorn

"With all respect to Cole Porter and Rodgers and Hart and Jerome Kern, I love them all, they're great geniuses," singer/pianist Andy Bey said in an NPR interview with Ashley Kahn. "But Billy Strayhorn was a different kind of a genius because he was in the background." Bey (who has been presented twice on the Cityfolk jazz series) knows what he’s talking about. Few living singers interpret the canon of American song with as much individual style and grace. Between April 11-18, Cityfolk will throw a light on Strayhorn’s legacy for Southwestern Ohio audiences, continuing to bring him out of the shadow of his longtime collaborator, Duke Ellington. (In the photo below, Ellington is on the left and Strayhorn on the right).

Thanks to tribute recordings from musicians such as Art Farmer and Joe Henderson, David Hajdu's superb biography Lush Life, and Robert Levi’s Emmy winning documentary film of the same name, Strayhorn--who died in 1967 at the age of 51--has been gathering greater attention over the past two decades. Born in Dayton, Ohio in 1915, this hometown tribute will feature film showings, a talk session with biographer Hajdu and some extraordinary music. Pianist Bill Charlap is creating an all-Strayhorn program to be performed by his trio on April 11 at the Dayton Art Institute. And the culminating event on April 18 at Stivers' spanking new Centennial Hall will feature peerless trumpeter Terell Stafford and his Quintet, and the award winning Stivers School for the Arts Jazz Orchestra in a concert of Strayhorn and Ellington/Strayhorn creations. Billy Strayhorn Songs, Inc. is contributing rarely heard works excavated by musicologist Walter Van de Leur, which will be part of the repertoire the Stivers band will be working on in the coming months.

Beginning February 2, visit the Cityfolk website for complete information on Celebrating Billy Strayhorn.