- Hardcover: 352 pages
- Publisher: Oxford University Press; 1 edition (Dec 15 2001)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0195124480
- ISBN-13: 978-0195124484
- Product Dimensions: 24.5 x 16.5 x 3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 685 g
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #829,495 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Those with a basic knowledge of jazz history know the story of Billy Strayhorn: he was Duke Ellington's humble sidekick, a brilliant composer who stood in the famous band leader's shadow for 30 years and whose real contribution to the musical form was not recognized until years after his death in 1967. And while Strayhorn's life was justly chronicled in David Hajdu's 1996 biography Lush Life, this study of the composer takes a closer look at the musician's work. Van de Leur posits that Strayhorn was not merely Ellington's alter ego but a distinctly different composer who had a direct influence on Ellington's music, changing the way it and, in turn, jazz in general was received by both critics and the general public. Weeding through over 3,000 pieces of original scores, van de Leur, an independent jazz researcher and artistic co-leader of the Dutch Jazz Orchestra, clearly delineates which elements in songs like Take the "A" Train and I Got It Bad were Ellington's and which were Strayhorn's. According to van de Leur, the two shared some qualities: an attraction to orchestral sonority, harmonic richness and formal balance. But Strayhorn's compositions were more complex, featuring intricate choruses and detailed chromaticisms. Van de Leur academically addresses the Billy Strayhorn debate (was he an independent composer or a mere apprentice and assistant?), stretching his dissection of songs over more than 10 chapters. Though by no means an expos‚ meant to decry Ellington, nor a close look at Strayhorn himself, this scholarly evaluation of Strayhorn's compositions still manages to pay homage to the visionary force behind some of the 20th century's greatest music. Illus.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Duke Ellington's place in jazz is secure, yet until now critics have failed to consider adequately the contributions of his principal collaborator, the richly talented composer and arranger Billy Strayhorn. Dutch jazz researcher van de Leur uses several recently established manuscript collections, including the Smithsonian Institution's Duke Ellington Collection at the National Museum of American History and autograph collections of both Ellington and Strayhorn scores, to show that Strayhorn's critical sensibilities shaped the Ellington orchestra much more than had been thought. Included here are highly technical analyses of some 70 extracts from the original scores, demonstrating clearly the differences in the musical styles of these two immensely talented men. Earlier efforts to separate Strayhorn from Ellington (whom van de Leur refers to as "twins") were thwarted by the necessity of relying on transcriptions, which by their nature are often flawed because of the transcribers' inability to identify all of the notes making up individual chords. Although general readers will find parts of the book impenetrably abstruse, the findings themselves are presented in plain English, and there is much here to engage the interest of casual jazz listeners. Even defensive Ellingtonians will appreciate the author's balanced angle: so extraordinary were Ellington's talents that it was even more extraordinary that he found a partner. Essential for all jazz collections. Harold V. Cordry, Baldwin, KS
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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By the 1960s, thymidine-labeling data and information on the lifespan of reinfused labeled blood cells had made it evident that blood cells, with the exception of some lymphoid cells, were short-lived. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Now you will know why Billy Strayhorn's music sounds so good,
By A Customer
This review is from: Something to Live For: The Music of Billy Strayhorn (Hardcover)
After reading this book you will have a technical understanding of why Billy Strayhorn's music sounds so good and why Strayhorn needs to be recognized as one of the giants of American popular music. After having spent over 10 years performing in depth research and examining over 3,000 manuscripts Walter Van De Leur seperates Billy Strayhorn from Duke Ellington and analyzes how their musical styles differ. The book provides the reader with a technical dissection of a number of Strayhorn's and Ellington's music and gives, from a musicologist's point of view, the uniqueness of Strayhorn's music. Anecdotes about Strayhorn and Ellington are infrequent and instead Van De Leur provides a scholarly examination of one of the most important of American composers. However, Van De Leur can be eloquent in his examination of Strayhorn's work and this belies the love he has for his subject. Analyzing Strayhorn's Day Dream Van De Leur writes " The introspective Day Dream is less radical in its harmonic and melodic design, although chromatic chord relations again play an important role...On beat three this flat supertonic for the target proper, which now functions as the delay for the dominant E7, for A. Turning this pattern into a sequence, Strayhorn again liberates the music from its tonal gravity..." That last sentence says it all, Billy Strayhorn liberated music from its tonal gravity!
5.0 out of 5 stars
An essential reading in jazz musicology,
By
This review is from: Something to Live For: The Music of Billy Strayhorn (Hardcover)
This book is a landmark is jazz scholarship. The way van de Leur mixes few biographical details, business forces, archival reserach and music analysis helps to better understand the art of Billy Strayhorn as a personal and individual composer and arranger. With a smooth literary style, van de Leur opens to us the gates of an unknown and underrated musical genius, and help us to distinguish the true from the false, the right authorship of compositions and arrangements and the way the Strayhorn musical style changed throught the years; more, it helps to distinguish him from Duke Ellington and to better understand Ellington, too. From;these pages, Strayhorn emerges as a major composer with a distinguished musical personality.The four appendixes are one the most useful tools in jazz reseraches appeared in last years. This book is a reference one for any jazz researcher or learned amateur. A masterpiece in scholarship, an enlightning effort in understanding a great musician and an enjoyable reading. A must.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful!,
By David N. Smith (Gaylordsville, CT United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Something to Live For: The Music of Billy Strayhorn (Hardcover)
Ask the average person to name a song by Duke Ellington and if you get a response it's apt to be 'uh, A-Train'. Wrong, since it has long been known that Strayhorn wrote it. But who wrote which parts of 'Black, Brown and Beige'? Unknown generally until now; Strayhorn wrote Beige; Ellington wrote Black and Brown.All true fans of Duke Ellington know of Billie Strayhorn, but few know anything of his real contributions across half of the Dukes career. This book has gone back to the original manuscripts and studied the handwriting to see who wrote what parts. The results of these studies and massive other research provide a true look at the work of Strayhorn. This is not a biography; 'Lush Life : A Biography of Billy Strayhorn' by David Hajdu is a wonderful companion to this book. This book is musically oriented and has some discussions way over my head; none the less its a welcome addition to my library and one that I read non-stop. There is lots of fine data in apendicies as well. Superb! Thank you, thank you, Walter Van De Leur.
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