People, Locations, Episodes

Billy Strayhorn, Composer born

Billy Strayhorn

On this date, in 1915, Billy Strayhorn was born. He was a Black gay composer and jazz pianist.

William Thomas Strayhorn was born in Dayton, Ohio, and raised in Hillsborough, North Carolina. He gained most of his schooling in Pittsburgh, including private piano instruction. He sought out Duke Ellington in 1938, attempting to work with him as a lyricist.

Strayhorn introduced himself with his songs "Lush Life" and "Something to Live For." After regularly contributing to the Ellington Orchestra, he contributed themes such as "Day Dream" and "Passion Flower" for the Ellington saxophonist Johnny Hodges. Other tracks that followed were "Take the A Train," "Raincheck," "Chelsea Bridge," and "Johnny Come Lately."

Openly gay and an LGBT activist, Strayhorn and Ellington had an excellent music-based relationship. Arriving in New York City, the young Strayhorn met jazz pianist Aaron Bridges, and the two lived together as lovers in Harlem for almost ten years.

Strayhorn came to the world of music with a sophisticated knowledge of chromatic harmony; this gave jazz performers and listeners classic melodies unlike any created before him.  From the mid-1950s until his death, he wrote and arranged at a fever pitch, coming out with selections such as "Sweet Thunder," "Suite Thursday," and "Far East Suite." Billy Strayhorn died on May 30, 1967.

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