V&B: Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn and The Art of Invisibility

Published: April 15, 2014, 3:41 p.m.

Billy Strayhorn, a long time muse and collaborator for the great bandleader Duke Ellington, brought depth and a languid power to the already sophisticated sound of Ellington’s orchestra.  Aching for love and significance, Strayhorn was openly gay in a time of repression and bias, composing ballads filled with longing and disarming vulnerability, which demanded the […]