Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn Review

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Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn ReviewBilly 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.Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn Overview

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