|
BLACKLINES
|
|
|
Billy Strayhorn Concert Slated
by Robert Schultz 2003-04-01
|
|
This article shared 4552 times since Tue Apr 1, 2003
|
|
The music of Billy Strayhorn is literally coming out of the closet. Preserved by his family, boxes of manuscripts languished unexamined since Strayhorn's 1967 death until recently. Strayhorn, the Black gay composer best known for his lengthy collaboration with jazz icon Duke Ellington, wrote dozens of compositions that have remained unknown to world. A pair of local concerts by the Chicago Jazz Orchestra will highlight Strayhorn's music and mark the Strayhorn family's donation of several dozen handwritten scores to Chicago Jazz Archives at the Regenstein Library at the University of Chicago.
The concerts, 'Something to Live For: A Tribute to Billy Strayhorn' presented on March 29-30 at the Museum of Science and Industry and the Harold Washington Library, respectively, are a collaboration between the National Jazz Museum and Chicago Jazz Orchestra. Call (312) 409-3947.
Strayhorn is 'a phenomenal composer whose works need to be heard,' said Orbert Davis, jazz trumpeter and one of the featured soloists at the concerts. Davis, a recording and performing artist who also sits on the National Jazz Museum's board, said previously the perception of the Ellington-Strayhorn collaboration was that of a Batman and Robin partnership where Robin had no voice. Not knowing that Strayhorn had penned such a quantity of music, Davis says Strayhorn's legacy now stands on its own.
Davis says the public knows only a fraction of the jazz idiom. As a result, Strayhorn's music needs exposure. Susan Motley, program director at the Jazz Museum, believes the public takes jazz for granted because its influences permeate the culture. Motley believes Strayhorn is a genius of modern American music who fused African American elements, European instruments and sensibilities, bringing about a new expression.
The National Jazz Museum's Strayhorn concerts are one prong of its current programming. A jazz education series involving Orbert Davis, and an oral history are part of the National Jazz Museum's preservation of the quintessential American music.
Gays should embrace Strayhorn's music because Strayhorn was an out gay man at a time prior to the Stonewall era, asserts National Jazz Museum program director Motley. Strayhorn's niece Alyce Claerbaut said her composer uncle was courageous for being as out as he was. That Strayhorn was gay was never a problem for the Strayhorn family. Claerbaut, who also knew Duke Ellington, said Ellington did not have a problem with Strayhorn's sexual orientation. Claerbaut said forces greater than Billy over which Strayhorn had no control, including the Ellington publicist, resulted in reducing her uncle to a footnote. Fortunately, the assessment of Strayhorn's work and his role vis-à-vis Ellington are beginning to change. Claerbaut said that as a result of her work with her uncle's legacy she has gained insight into Strayhorn. Strayhorn counted Lana Turner, Orson Welles, and Martin Luther King as some of his many friends and wrote music dedicated to Welles and Turner. The composition 'Blood Count' was practically written on Strayhorn's death bed.
Claerbaut said thousands of pages of manuscripts were discovered when the Strayhorn family gained possession of Billy's personal affects. Sorting out the discovery included disengaging some works from the Ellington publishing company and related copyrights. Over the last 10 years, Dutch musician Walter van de Leur studied Strayhorn's manuscripts. As a result of van de Leur's research, a new understanding of the Ellington-Strayhorn collaborations has developed. |
|
|
|
This article shared 4552 times since Tue Apr 1, 2003
|
ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE |
---|
|
| | THEATER 'Mamma Mia!' returns to Chicago with 'Daddyhunt' star Jim Newman 2024-04-24 - "Who's your daddy?" That's the key plot question driving the global hit Mamma Mia! The global smash jukebox musical famously features the song hits of Swedish pop group ABBA, and it returns for a three-week run ...
|
| | Local queer opera composer premiering her first show, a coming-of-age tale with LGBTQ+ themes 2024-04-23 - A Lake View woman is debuting her first opera as a composer, a coming-of-age story with LGBTQ+ themes. Gillian Rae Perry, a fellow with the Chicago Opera Theater's Vanguard program for emerging artists, composed The Weight ...
|
| | Cher, Dionne among Rock & Roll HoF honorees; Mariah snubbed 2024-04-22 - On April 21, The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation announced its 2024 inductees, per an ABC press release. In the performer category, the inductees are Mary J. Blige, Cher, Dave Matthews Band, Foreigner, Peter ...
|
| | The importance of becoming Ernest: Out actor Christopher Sieber dishes about the Death Becomes Her musical 2024-04-20 - Out and proud actor Christopher Sieber is part of the team bringing Death Becomes Her to life as a stage musical in the Windy City this spring. Sieber plays Ernest Menville, who was originally portrayed by ...
|
| | SHOWBIZ Celine Dion, 'The People's Joker,' Billy Porter, Patti LuPone, 'Strange Way' 2024-04-19 - I Am: Celine Dion will stream on Prime Video starting June 25, according to a press release. The film is described as follows: "Directed by Academy Award nominee Irene Taylor, I Am: Celine Dion gives us ...
|
| | Kokandy Productions now accepting submissions for Chicago Musical Theater Fest returning Aug. 8-11 2024-04-18 --From a press release - CHICAGO (April 18, 2024) — Kokandy Productions is pleased to open submissions for the 2024 Chicago Musical Theatre Festival, returning this summer following a four-year hiatus. Kokandy is thrilled to ...
|
| | SHOWBIZ Jerrod Carmichael, '9-1-1' actor, Kayne the Lovechild, STARZ shows, Cynthia Erivo 2024-04-12 - Gay comedian/filmmaker Jerrod Carmichael criticized Dave Chappelle, opening up about the pair's ongoing feud and calling out Chappelle's opinions on the LGBTQ+ community, PinkNews noted, citing an Esquire article. Carmichael ...
|
| | Judith Butler focuses on perceptions of gender at Chicago Humanities Festival talk 2024-04-10 - In an hour-long program filled with dry humornot to mention lots of audience laughterphilosopher, scholar and activist Judith Butler (they/them) spoke in depth on their new book at Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport Ave., on ...
|
| | Andersonville Chamber announces Andersonville Midsommarfest entertainment lineup 2024-04-09 --From a press release - CHICAGO (April 8, 2024) — The Andersonville Chamber of Commerce (ACC) is pleased to announce the full entertainment line-up for Andersonville Midsommarfest, one of Chicago's oldest and most beloved summer ...
|
| | SHOWBIZ Outfest, Chita Rivera, figure skaters, letter, playwright dies 2024-04-05 - For more than four decades, Outfest has been telling LGBTQ+ stories through the thousands of films screened during its annual Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ+ Film Festival—but that event may have a different look this year because ...
|
| | SHOWBIZ Dionne Warwick, OUTshine, Ariana DeBose, 'Showgirls,' 'Harlem' 2024-03-29 Video below - Iconic singer Dionne Warwick was honored for her decades-long advocacy work for people living with HIV/AIDS at a star-studded amfAR fundraising gala in Palm Beach, per the Palm Beach Daily News. Warwick received the "Award of ...
|
| | 'Rumors' performers create alternative drag playground 2024-03-24 - At first glance, Dorian's Through The Record Shop (1939 W. North Ave.) looks like a brightly-lit shop with a handful of records on the wall, but there's a secret world behind those unassuming shelves. Visitors are ...
|
| | SHOWBIZ Queer musicians, Marvel situation, Elliot Page, Nicole Kidman 2024-03-21 - Queer musician Joy Oladokun released the single "I Wished on the Moon," from Jack Antonoff's official soundtrack for the new Apple TV+ series The New Look, per a press release. The soundtrack, ...
|
| | THEATER Chicago's City Lit has anxiety on tap with 'Two Hours in a Bar' 2024-03-21 - Two Hours in a Bar Waiting for Tina Meyer by Kristine Thatcher with material by Larry Shue Text Me by Kingsley Day (Book, Music and Lyrics). At: City Lit Theater, 1020 W. Bryn Mawr Ave.. Tickets: ...
|
| | Lollapalooza announces lineup; SZA, Skrillex among headliners 2024-03-19 - Lollapalooza has released its line-up for the event that's taking place Aug. 1-4 at Grant Park. Headliners include SZA, Blink-182, Skrillex, The Killers, Hozier, Melanie Martinez and Stray Kids, among others. Some of the other acts ...
| |
|
|
|
|