Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn - David Hajdu

David Hajdu does his best to give an unlikely subject in music history a full biography when it is assumed details would be lacking. The importance of Billy Strayhorn should be understood in that he gave Duke Ellington the creative push that lifted him out of a creative slump and made him an important figure in the late 1950s and 60s when the face of Jazz was rapidly changing. It's just that Billy Strayhorn was Ellington's arranger and not exactly a major figure. Strayhorn bridged friendships with major figures, but lived a life of an openly black homosexual in the 1950s. Even his outward looking friends knew the dangers of it. His identity made him a back figure to music history. Hajdu rescues Strayhorn from obscurity and celebrates him. Sometimes the book is based too much on interviews, but Hajdu is the best candidate for the job because he is a biographer and a critic. The importance he places on Strayhorn's work is the best commentary he can give.