"Lush Life" performed by Kay Davis and Billy Strayhorn [First documented recording]
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 ส.ค. 2024
- Ellington stepped to the microphone and announced: "Have a seat, Mr. Strayhorn. Of course you know Billy Strayhorn wrote our radio theme, 'Take the A Train.' And now the purpose, of course, of him appearing on tonight's program which is a little extra added thought?I should say?is that I'd like for him to play for Kay Davis to introduce a new tune of his called Lush Life."
As played at the 1948 concert?the first documented recording?Lush Life is a theatrical song to be sung dramatically. It seems as though Strayhorn's lyrics carry the melody. Duke must have also understood the nature of the piece as neither he nor Strayhorn ever arranged Lush Life for the Ellington orchestra. Occasionally, Duke invited Strayhorn to perform the song on stage, but it never became an official part of the working repertoire. To add further confusion as to the song's origins, Lush Life was not copyrighted until 1949 by Duke's publishing company Tempo Music.
Live in Carnegie Hall, New York City. November 13, 1948.
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Thanks for this original recording. First hearing 2021. Just found out that Billy Strayhorn wrote 'Lush Life' at the age of 16 years. Re Incarnation for sure. G.
I love love playing this piece on the piano … many complex chord progressions that add soo much richness ..
A 16 yrs old and to top it off he had never been to Paris. What a imagination🤔💯👁️
I just cannot imagine HOW a 16 y/o can write music with lyrics like this. It is brilliance---sadness----far beyond his years. ------------------WolfSky9, 71 y/o
He was obviously and old soul!
Billy was a wonder.
probably clinical depression, or some trauma
What a priceless gem, great hearing this tune rendered with Strayhorn's piano.
yes, amazing piano part~LOVE it~
Thanks for posting this, it's surely a terrific and historical recording!
The amazing thing about this video is that we actually here a genius introduce the other genius and perhaps one of the greatest Jazz compositions and standards ever. I actually am crazy about "Round Midnight" in that vein as well. However, the absolute beauty of Mr. Strayhorn and Jazz is that in the interpretations that follow his introduction, they make it even a better song. It breathes and evolves while the foundation remains planted like a tree.
He tells a story of some lives in three minutes or so and it has you discussing your philosophy classes. To think that he even started to write such a song as a teenager makes me want to put down my pen. What brilliance! What life observations as a youngster!
This is a gift to Jazz and life. Thank you Mr. Strayhorn, Mr. Ellington, Ms. Davis, and of course, Reminiscing in Tempo!
Ah, Round Midnight! Yes, similar. I love this analysis of Lush Life. Keep writing, you shine a beautiful light on the music.
@@bassavino Thank You! That means a lot to me! Peace.
Exactly. It tells the story of a life in three minutes. That is why this genre is called the ballad. I am Hungarian and in Hungarian literature ballads are a typical form: a long poem with a plot where what remains untold is at least as important as that which is.
God bless you for this song!
Terrific!!!!
An absolute Gem from the Cellar.
I have many vocal versions. Difficult to sing, so many key changes.
Have a listen to Johnny Hartman and Joe Williams rendition.
Thanks so much for posting this.
The reason that this song has been covered so many times is that it captures the real-life of love lost and the struggle to go on with a broken heart. I can't imagine any vocalist doing justice to this song if you have not experienced a broken heart.
That is because you have no imagination, and so, you are doomed to comment on other peoples art
Not so much a broken heart as confirmation of a hopelessness about life and loneliness.
You can’t “cover” a standard. That makes no sense.
My continual heartache is the equivalent of the habitual dipsomania implied in the title😢💔
How about the guy who wrote it at the age of 16
Natalie Coles version of this song was the first I heard as a child.. when her unforgettable album was out. Just learned Billy wrote this ! Wow
She, and, of course, Billy Strayhorn are among the very few who actually pronounce "distingue" correctly.
Maybe they had both been in Paris and had learned the language?
And me :)
What was a sixteen year old doing writing lyrics like this? :)
Ol'souls
@M Barnes - Arthur Rimbaud wrote Saison L'Enfer (Seasons in Hell) when he was only 16 too. Never matched it - in fact I think he gave up writing after that!
Mr Barnes, the real question is when and why did we become so stunted?
Several things: People with artistic talent see things in a different way. They have no problem dealing with their emotions like so many of us who stifle them. They freely express them. And his father was an alcoholic. That makes you grow up a little sooner than your peers (trust me; I know about this one).
I really feel this song could have only been written by someone who's gay. Even though I'm not homosexual, I have friends who are and have been given an opportunity to understand some of their frustrations. Imagine the complications of a gay man in our society in the 1930s. I think this is the reason the song is so complicated, lyrically and musically. It displays a difficult perception of life in general and love in particular. How does a sensitive, emotional man deal with homosexual love at a time when most of society would be more than willing to hang you for it, and for being black, too? When I hear this song, I feel it's the purest expression of frustration that leads to "the bottle" or "the needle" or some other way of taking the pain away. And I wouldn't underestimate the emotional depth of a teenager. Most of us went through those years, too. We remember what it was like. I would have given anything to be able to get my frustrations out by my art. I was able to do that only to a certain extent, but I didn't have talent at this level.
mysterytrain3 thank you.
Thank you for this,if you can't sing you can't sing this masterpiece. All the best peter
That was awesome
Thank you so very much.
You're welcome!
Great song
Wonderful singer
He waz 16 when he wrote this? Stunning.
Linda Ronstadt does a wonderful cover! You feel it when she sings it like a story unfolding in your imagination.
"They'd been washed away
By too many through the day
Twelve o'clock tales"
'too many through the day twelve o'clock tales' .... what a phrase and play on words
My hands down favorite performance of Lush Life is sung by Johnny Hartman w/ the John Coltrane Quartet backing! Amazing baritone way overlooked in his day. Only singer Coltrane recorded w/ I believe.
Interesting in some of the phrasing Kay Davis uses that are different than how it usually is done by subsequent jazz eminents.
She lets the words drive the phrase, as it should be.
WOW! THANK YOU!! @ReminiscingInTempo !! thank you 1 million x
This. Moved. Me. Goodness
Kay Davis!!!!
Chris Conor does the best version of this - for me. An amazing song - fabulous and such intelligent lyrics.
When I hear the lyrics to this song, I feel like it is essentially a suicide note -- passive suicide by alcoholism, due to unrequited love or difficulties with love. Which is why Ellington's comments at the end sound rather tone-deaf -- I dont think anyone is meant to want to have a "lush life" as it is described here.
Agreed.
Good perspective on this music, Chris
Btw - are you a jazz bassist?
That is a very interesting point. Thank you, Chris.
Well put!
No idea until just now what 'lush life' actually means. Wow, how painful.
This is the only recording of LUSH LIFE in the Ellington orbit. LUSH LIFE was never performed by Ellington nor was it ever a part of the Ellington book.
This is almost true. Ellington had not this song on his book, but he performed it just a few times. Here he played it with Ella Fitzgerald!
Ella Fitzgerald & Duke Ellington - Lush Life (1965)
@@ReminiscinginTempo ...Kay Davis was the first artist to perform LUSH LIFE live with Duke Ellington's Big Band on stage. Nat "King" Cole was very first artist to record the Billy Strayhorn ballad (Capitol 57-606 [78 RPM], Capitol 54-606 [45 RPM], Capitol EBF-213 [EP] and Capitol H-213 [10" LP]) with Pete Rugolo on March 29th, 1949). LUSH LIFE was completed by Billy Strayhorn in 1939. The latter gave the lead sheet to Nat "King" Cole.
This is wonderful. @reminiscingintempo where did you find that picture with the fish in the glass?
www.fondationdanoise.org/remembering-billy-strayhorn/
@@ReminiscinginTempo thank you!
Kay Davis...a very '40;s' sounding voice yet still has quite a lot going on like an opera voice...yes Ellington always looking for the best....ps..that pic...she is also quite beautiful, classy, and fine. When you consider Kay and Billy...they were young people...and i put the question: 'does much of todays music aspire to our best or gorge on our worst?' three guesses!
You can tell where Hartman got his version.
Johnny Hartman?
Nancy Wilson did this and knocked it out of the park.
No one else need bother to sing it after Nancy Wilson did it.
Strange that Strayhorn, who wrote so many arrangements of other people's songs, never did so with this.
I wouldn't call Lush Life a theatrical song. It is not a "jazz standard" either. It is an art song.
That sounds right to me, though Lush Life is often performed along with other jazz standards, if the musician(s) find that kind of art music interesting. There does not have to be a a definite line between art music and jazz. There is a great deal of overlap, seems to me. That is especially true when a jazz performer plays some other performer's solo. Of course if done without credit that is can be a kind of plagiarism, but when a known solo is attributed, explicitly or implicitly, to an earlier performer, then the gap between art music and jazz becomes even less definite. And isn't it a waste, in a sense, if other musicians do not do their own performances of some wonderful solo? It can be called a tribute to xxx, to the musician who composed the solo. Even classical composers sometimes use (with attribution) the work of others.
It is a composition written for Jazz. What you do with it after that is up to you. Mr. Ellington and Mr. Strayhorn are probably the greatest artist of that genre that wrote specifically for it. I would argue with myself, and others, about whether Mr. Monk was. Frankly, it is amazing that in all these comments NO ONE mentions Blues.
@@davidmalik9821 Hi, David. I am interested to hear from you re: Blues. The harmony is def not blues. Perhaps the downward pull of the melody? At any rate, your comment makes me think. Thank you. ps-I happen to think Lush Life is the greatest song ever written. I have a goal to sing it, if only to myself.
@@bassavino I'm thinking of theme and heart. I don't know what Mr. Strayhorn views of Blues was but many Jazz artists hold it in high regard. I can think of many blues artists who would fit well in playing it while even Jazz artists find it difficult to sing. I can't say it is the greatest Jazz song ever written ( I know you said the greatest song) but it should be in the discussion. As I said in another statement, for Jazz, for me, it would be Round Midnight. I am a lover of all types of music so I haven't really considered whether "Lush Life" would be the greatest song ever written. However, it is genius on paper and notes for sure.
@@davidmalik9821 and listeners come to Lush Life from different places. My training is classical, so that is my frame of reference. I love jazz and blues as a listener. I owe a lot to my dad's small but excellent jazz LP collection. Re: "greatest", point taken. It is my favorite great song.
unreal
With all due respect to Miss Davis, this song demands a smokey, dark brown, stay up late cafe quality to it a la Billie Holiday or Anita O'Day. In other words, someone who's been to hell and back several times and lived to tell it.
"Sassy surpasses all of thee above mentioned in any order, form or shape, with all due respect!!!
Well, I believe Mr. Strayhorn was happy with Ms. Davis singing it but I get your point.
@@soul2soul429 ...Everyone else recorded LUSH LIFE after Nat "King" Cole did, including The Divine One.
I agree with you! This song is about pain.. Davis seems to sing with a bit of bright happiness.
Insightful and I totally agree with you.
Nat Cole did a good job on this tune but Nancy Wilson made it her own on the album by the same name.
@reminiscingintempo Any chance you know where to find the 'Lush Life' documentary by Independent Lens ? Thanks !
Seems to be in C key , not Db...
It's a complicated tune that moves through more than one key in short sections. Overall it's in Db, but some measures are more like C
The lyric sounds like Cole Porter.
yeah, the old ennui
Come on guys - it takes two seconds to look this up. He was born in 1915 and this was written in 1933/6. That is not a 16 yo
He started writing it when he was 16. It probably took awhile to complete.
You mean it was published in 1933/6 right?
Take the indigo train to Sugar Hill...
Not bad. Kay Davis should have taken a breath before the last word of the song: " too". Nelson Riddle wrote an interesting Lush Life arrangement for Sinatra's 1958 album "Only the Lonely". But FS had no patience and put it aside after 3 partial takes, never to try again. (You can hear this on TH-cam). Still, the Sinatra family owned the arrangement all these years and in 2019 permitted Calabria Foti to use it on a new recording (bits and pieces of this on youtube too). Remarkable. Others have recorded the tune with different arrangements, including Kurt Elling, Ella, Sarah Vaughan, Johnny Hartman and Nat Cole (worst). Best reading may be Mark Murphy's. Added more depth and despair than even Billy Strayhorn could imagine.
Kenneth Freund ...Nat "King" Cole's version was a hit. He was the first artist to record LUSH LIFE.
@@brucescott4261 Nat's version the first commercial recording as you say but the first documented recording was in '48 - 2 yrs before. See above. By the way, Nat's version way too fast. Possibly the worst recording of the tune ever attempted.
Nancy Wilson does a great rendition, too.
@@sarahalbers5555 She did a nice job. But would love it if someone could tell me what album it was on originally on. The recording was surprisingly NOT on her 1967 album "Lush Life".
Should be sung/played slower, more softly. Its Billy's song, a man's song, done to perfection by Hartman/Coltrane.
In case you missed it. This is Billy Strayhorn playing. He created this song, so however he played it is his vision of this song.
@@zzzzgirl9600 likewise when Strahorn sings it, he sings it a bit uptempo, with some swing.
Lady Gaga does a pretty fair version too.
Nadya Rossi ...Nat "King" Cole's version of LUSH LIFE was a huge hit in 1949, and I'm certain that many of you never even heard it before. Johnny Hartman heard Nat's version long before he had decided to record it himself. Both Hartman and Coltrane were in Dizzy Gillespie's Orchestra at the time.
Wow, telling the composer of a piece how the piece should be played???? Beyond crazy.