Something to Live For

Walter van de Leur is the artistic co-leader of the Dutch Jazz Orchestra, in Hilversum, The Netherlands; a coordinator at the Dutch Jazz Archive in Amsterdam; he is also the founder editor of Billy Strayhorn Manuscript Editions (BSME) in Pittsburgh.

"An epochal work--groundbreaking, fearless, sensitive, and exquisitely modulated, much like the music it illuminates. Something to Live For is the best possible book about Billy Strayhorn's art and a highwater mark of music scholarship."--David Hajdu, author of Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn"The celebration of Billy Strayhorn's life and legacy continues with Walter van de Leur's magnificent new book. Something to Live For immediately takes its place as an absolutely indispensable addition to the history of the Ellington orchestra and American music in general."--Ellingtonia"Richly provocative.... There is a real intellectual hunger in this exploration to identify the unique glory and lasting contribution Strayhorn made to the art of jazz.... Jazz musician and historian Van de Leur subjects Billy Strayhorn's musical arrangements to deep scrutiny and credibly finds them original, undervalued, frequently misattributed, and tasting of the sublime."--Kirkus Review"In this exemplary work, combining meticulous, dedicated research and brilliant analytic illumination, Van de Leur has brought Strayhorn, the musician, and his legacy into full and unobstructed view at last, thus deepening our understanding of Ellingtonia. Indispensable!"--Dan Morgenstern, Director, Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University"For lovers of Ellingtonia, jazz, and twentieth-century music, Walter van de Leur's new book is indeed Something to Live For. The first in-depth study of the music of composer-arranger Billy Strayhorn, this volume is meticulously researched, clearly written, and enriched with excerpts from Strayhorn's autograph scores. For the first time, we can learn the details of Strayhorn's monumental 28-year contribution to the Duke Ellington Orchestra and musiche wrote for other contexts. Something to Live For: The Music of Billy Strayhorn sets a new standard of excellence for jazz musicology."--Bill Kirchner, Composer-arranger, saxophonist, jazz historian,producer, educator, and editor of The Oxford Companion to Jazz"Richly provocative.... There is a real intellectual hunger in this exploration to identify the unique glory and lasting contribution Strayhorn made to the art of jazz.... Jazz musician and historian Van de Leur subjects Billy Strayhorn's musical arrangements to deep scrutiny and credibly finds them original, undervalued, frequently misattributed, and tasting of the sublime."--Kirkus Review"The celebration of Billy Strayhorn's life and legacy continues with Walter van de Leur's magnificent new book. Something to Live For immediately takes its place as an absolutely indispensable addition to the history of the Ellington orchestra and American music in general."--Ellingtonia"This scholarly evaluation of Strayhorn's compositions still manages to pay homage to the visionary force behind some of the 20th century's greatest music."--Publishers Weekly"An epochal work--groundbreaking, fearless, sensitive, and exquisitely modulated, much like the music it illuminates. Something to Live For is the best possible book about Billy Strayhorn's art and a highwater mark of music scholarship."--David Hajdu, author of Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn"Van de Leur posits that Strayhorn was not merely Ellington's alter ego but a distinctly different composer who had a direct influence on Ellington's music...this evaluation of Strayhorn's compositions manages to pay homage to the visionary force behind some of the 20th century's greatest music."--Publishers Weekly"In this exemplary work, combining meticulous, dedicated research and brilliant analytic illumination, Van de Leur has brought Strayhorn, the musician, and his legacy into full and unobstructed view at last, thus deepening our understanding of Ellingtonia. Indispensable!"--Dan Morgenstern, Director, Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University"For lovers of Ellingtonia, jazz, and twentieth-century music, Walter van de Leur's new book is indeed Something to Live For. The first in-depth study of the music of composer-arranger Billy Strayhorn, this volume is meticulously researched, clearly written, and enriched with excerpts from Strayhorn's autograph scores. For the first time, we can learn the details of Strayhorn's monumental 28-year contribution to the Duke Ellington Orchestra and musiche wrote for other contexts. Something to Live For: The Music of Billy Strayhorn sets a new standard of excellence for jazz musicology."--Bill Kirchner, Composer-arranger, saxophonist, jazz historian,producer, educator, and editor of The Oxford Companion to Jazz

• 1. Fantastic Rhythm: The Pittsburgh Years ; 2. The Renaissance of Arranging: First Works for and with Duke Ellington ; 3. The Strayhorn Effect: A New Way of Writing for Jazz Orchestra ; 4. Thinking with the Ear: Strayhorn's Musical Fingerprints ; 5. Writing and Arranging Companions: Credited and Uncredited Collaborations ; 6. "He is He and I am Me": The Ellington-Strayhorn Collaboration ; 7. Wounded Love: Away from the Ellington Organization ; 8. Masterpieces by STrayhorn: Writing for Albums ; 9. The Whodunnit Game: The Mature Style of Billy Strayhorn ; 10. North by Southwest: The Final Years ; 11. Conclusion ; Appendix A: Score of Scores: Manuscripts at the Duke Ellinton and Billy Strayhorn Collections ; Appendix B: Billy Strayhorn's Works on Record ; Appendix C: Billy Strayhorn's Works on Record (posthumously premiered) ; Appendix D: The Compositions of Billy Strayhorn