Lush Life: The Billy Strayhorn Songbook (1950)

About this title: As an informal soundtrack for his revealing biography of Billy Strayhorn, Lush Life, David Hajdu selected and annotated the tracks for this rambling dig through the PolyGram archives. In doing so, Hajdu ranges far afield in date and idiom, yet the overall impression is amazingly consistent Strayhorn as an elegant yet haunted musical figure whose work has a strikingly individual and timeless signature. Strayhorn himself is typically lodged in the background, appearing on two lovely Johnny Hodges tracks, "Your Love Has Faded" and "Three and Six," a Louie Bellson rarity, "Far-Eastern Weekend," ... read more

Tracks:

1. Lush Life [Strayhorn]
2. Rain Check [Strayhorn]
3. Chelsea Bridge [Strayhorn]
4. Far-Eastern Weekend [Bellson/Press/Stray]
5. After All [Strayhorn]
6. Something to Live For [Ellington/Strayhorn]
7. Upper Manhattan Medical Group [Aka U.M.M.G.] [Strayhorn]
8. A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing [Aka Passion] [Strayhorn]
9. Johnny Come Lately [Strayhorn]
10. Your Love Has Faded [Ellington/Strayhorn]
11. Satin Doll [Strayhorn/Ellington]
12. Three and Six [Originally Wounded Love] [Strayhorn]
13. Isfahan [Originally Elf] [Ellington/Strayhorn]
14. Blood Count [Strayhorn]
15. Take the "A" Train [Strayhorn]

Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is further described below.