An Encounter in Paris

Read it here.

Festival Update

Saturday, Nov. 21 at 8PM

Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Congress Pkwy.

Tickets: $29 – $68

Individual tickets to Lush Life go on sale Friday, Aug. 7 at 10AM.

The three-month centennial celebration of Billy Strayhorn concludes at the Auditorium Theatre with Lush Life: The Music of Billy Strayhorn. Under the musical direction of Bruce Mayhall Rastrelli, this fully staged salute to Strayhorn features Broadway star Darius de Haas and local favorite Joan Curto with Alan Broadbent on piano, the Auditorium’s “Too Hot to Handel” Orchestra, the Joel Hall Dancers and a 30-voice-all-male choir arranged by conductor Bill Chin.

In addition to the music, the Auditorium Theatre will also be naming the  inaugural recipient of its “Eighth Wonder Award” during the evening. The “Eighth Wonder Award” is so named because  the Auditorium Theatre was proclaimed to be “The Eighth Wonder of the World” when it opened in 1889.  The award will be presented annually to a notable individual in the fields of music, theatre, dance or architecture.

Gala Benefit Celebrating The Billy Strayhorn Festival

Saturday, Nov. 21 at 5PM

Hilton Chicago, 720 S. Michigan Ave. and Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Congress Pkwy.

Cocktails and dinner in the Grand Ballroom of the Hilton Chicago followed by a performance of Lush Life: The Music of Billy Strayhorn at the Auditorium Theatre.

Tickets:  Gala tickets are $500 and tables start at $5,000

For further information, contact Amanda Byrne at 312.341.2364 or abyrne@auditoriumtheatre.org. 

Programming for The Billy Strayhorn Festival includes:* 

The Jazz Institute of Chicago’s 30th Annual Jazz Club Tour

Wednesday, Sept. 2 (Pre-Festival Event) from 6PM – Midnight

Starts at Reggie’s Chicago, 2109 S. State St.

Tickets are $30 at ReggiesLive.com.

The Jazz Institute of Chicago leads a tour of Chicago’s jazz clubs with this club crawl, allowing participants to enjoy the great variety of clubs that call Chicago home.  Billy Strayhorn’s image is featured on the badge that allows access to the clubs.

Chicago Jazz Orchestra at the Chicago Jazz Festival

Friday, Sept. 4 at 8:30PM

Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, 201 E. Randolph Street

Tickets: FREE

The City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events and Jazz Institute of Chicago join the Auditorium Theatre to throw a FREE 100th birthday for Strayhorn in the heart of Chicago at Millennium Park. The Chicago Jazz Orchestra performs many of Strayhorn’s classic works.

Andy’s Jazz Club featuring the Mike Smith Quartet with Jordan Baskin on Piano

Wednesday, Sept. 23 at 9:30 p.m., 11:00 p.m., and midnight

11 E Hubbard Street

Tickets: $10 at the door

The longest-running “steady”  (aka as a regular jazz engagement at the same club) in Chicago belongs to alto saxist Mike Smith celebrating his 33rd anniversary at Andy’s Jazz Club. Join the Mike Smith Quartet, and pianist Jordan Baskin, for an evening of Strayhorn at this regular Wednesday gig.

Fundraiser and Performance for Strayhorn’s Plaque on North Halsted’s Legacy Project

Saturday, Oct. 3 at 6PM

Private Event

An evening  of live performance, original recordings and speakers to raise funds to include Strayhorn as part of North Halsted’s Legacy Project, an outdoor public display that celebrates LGBTQ history and people.  Hosted by E. Patrick Johnson, Department of Performance Studies and African American Studies at Northwestern University, with Kim Hunt, Johari Jabir and Cedric Brown.

The Life and Music of Billy Strayhorn

Sunday, Oct. 4 at 4PM

Tickets: FREE

Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted St.

A tribute to Billy Strayhorn’s life and music with live music, original recordings and a chronicle of his career and personal history. Hosted by E. Patrick Johnson, Department of Performance Studies and African American Studies at Northwestern University, with Kim Hunt, Johari Jabir and Cedric Brown.

Jazz’n on the Southside featuring Dee Alexander

Wednesday, Oct. 7 at 7PM

Caribbean Cove, 8020 S. King Dr.

Charles Heath’s Wednesday night series Jazz’n on the South Side dedicates this evening to the music of Strayhorn with singer Dee Alexander whom the Chicago Tribune says is “the definition of great jazz singing.”

Miguel de la Cerna and Friends

Wednesday, October 28 :: Time TBD

Green Mill Chicago

Chicago pianist Miguel de la Cerna hosts and leads the line up of the hottest performers in a salute to Strayhorn’s legacy.

Performance at T & JJ’s with D’Erania

Friday, Oct. 30, time TBD

T & JJ’s Banquet Hall, 718 S. 5th Ave., Maywood

Larry Shapiro, Maywood’s senior services coordinator and an avid Jazz enthusiast, curates a night of music at the Maywood location known for its soul food and music.  Featuring musician D’Erania, who ChicagoJazz.com calls “delightful” and “a distinctive voice.”

Jazz Showcase 

Tuesday, Nov. 3, time TBD

Jazz Showcase, 806 S. Plymouth Ct.

Joe Siegel and Wayne Siegel host a night of Strayhorn at their venue that has been presenting Jazz since 1947.  Artist TBD.

This Is Love –  NDIGO Night of Music with an Evening of Billy Strayhorn by Zemrah

Friday, September 11 at 7:30 p.m.

The Promontory  Chicago, 5311 S Lake Park Ave West

Tickets:  $20 at the door

N’Digo’s publisher Hermene Hartman creates a night of Strayhorn music featuring Chicago jazz songstress Zemrah.  Blessed with a smooth and sultry sound, Zemrah has been singing, performing and perfecting her music style since her early childhood in Chicago, and has been a fixture on the city’s jazz scene ever since.

Chicago Human Rhythm Project

Jazz Showcase, 806 S. Plymouth Ct.

Lane Alexander and Chicago Human Rhythm Project mix Strayhorn’s music with dance in this special production at Jazz Showcase. Date and time TBD.

Billy Strayhorn Centenary Celebration 

Throughout November

For the duration of his entire 100th birthday month, WDCB, the radio station of the College of DuPage, schedules Strayhorn music and hosts programs on the legendary man, his career and his influence on music and society.

Educational Panel Discussions on the State of Gay Black America

In addition, the Auditorium Theatre presents three different panels to discuss the state of Gay Black America today and in relation to Strayhorn’s experiences.  Dates, times, and other locations TBD.

* More programming to be added. Performances, dates, venues and content may change.

Source

Me is the Trouble: Time Runs, Paris, 1950

2015 sees not only the centenary of Billy Strayhorn, but also of Orson Welles.

In the course of researching Strayhorn's involvement with musical theatre (surely the new frontier of research into the musician's work), I discovered, courtesy of Google Books the following extract from America’s Mistress: EarthaKitt, Her Life and Times by John L. Williams:

Othello had been a huge strain to make – at one point Welles had resorted literally to throwing himself at the feet of the movie producer Darryl Zanuck to beg for funding – and most of the actors had yet to be paid. So, as something of a relaxation (and a way of generating some quick cash), he had decided to debut two short plays at a theatre in Paris and then tour them around Europe. The project would be relatively low-key and a chance to focus on acting for a change. At least that was the idea.

    The two plays were an anti-Hollywood satirical squib called The Unthinking Lobster with Suzanne Cloutier starring opposite Welles, and an extremely loos e adaptation of Christopher Marlowe’s Dr Faustus entitled Time Runs. This would feature Orson again, plus Hilton Edwards (Micháel MacLiammóir’s partner in both life and work) in the role of Mephistopheles. Duke Ellington had agreed to provide the music. The play also required an actress to play the part of Helen of Troy, a timeless embodiment of feminine beauty. Welles had trouble deciding whom to cast for this part. He’d tentatively offered it to several different actresses before he had the notion of asking the young woman he’d seen dance with Katherine Dunham and perform in cabaret at Carroll’s club: Eartha Kitt. He’d done his best to get hold of Eartha, but had been told she was still in New York. So he’d found another potential Helen instead, the Anglo-American singer and actress Annie Ross.

    But Orson was a capricious employer and when Eartha showed up at the theatre he decided that she was after all his perfect Helen of Troy. She was in and Annie Ross was out. Annie duly received the bad news:

“I realised I hadn’t been given a rehearsal call, so I rang the theatre a couple of days later. This voice said, ‘I’m his secretary’. I said, ‘Can you tell me when my call is?’ and he said, ‘Mr Welles last night rewrote the whole play and he’s cast somebody else,’ so I said, ‘Oh what a drag.’ I was really disappointed. And that person turned out to be Eartha.”

Not only did Eartha have the part, but it was now a rather bigger one than originally planned. Orson rewrote the play overnight, prompted by his enthusiasm for his new Helen. As he told his biographer: “Eartha Kitt was obviously a star. You could tell that.”

    Rehearsals were to start the following day, a Tuesday. According to Eartha, the show was due to open the following Saturday. However, an examination of Micheál Mac Liammóir’s published diary suggests this to be an exaggeration. His entry of 28 may reveals that Eartha had already been cast and the opening night was not until 19 June. So there was probably something closer to a month’s preparation. Meanwhile there was scenery to be painted and costumes to be sewn. Some of this, Eartha was used to, thanks to her time with the Dunhams, but the acting was a whole new challenge for her. Orson Welles recognised this and would stay late at the theatre with her helping her with her lines.

Mac Liammóir’s diary offers a vivid picture of Time Runs’ genesis:

[Time Runs] is based on the legend of Dr Faustus … it is as strangely moving in its way as one expects from Orson; it also has a dark malevolent glitter that causes the flesh to creep. The stage is populated by actors in the role of students of the Jean-Paul Sartre order conducting brisk debate on damnation with a young coloured girl (her name is Eartha Kitt, discovered by Hilton and orson in some nightclub in the rue du Colisée, a tiny, curious, bitterly-smiling fascinating creature), who at given moments flashes an electric torch on the audience as she sings in a husky amber voice about Satan, Hell and eternal Damnation (swing). Music, however, not yet written, so at present eartha K strings notes together herself, often with lovely haphazard effect. Who’s going to write it?

The answer to this last question was meant to be Duke Ellington, who had met Welles in 1941 and was currently touring Europe. Unfortunatley the demands of touring meant that Ellington himself was unable to devote much time to the project. However he was able to send his regular co-writer, the wonderfully talented Billy Strayhorn, to Paris. Strayhorn was happy about this as his long-term lover Aaron Bridgers had recently moved to the city and just been hired as the pianist at eartha’s favourite hangout, the Mars Club. Strayhorn was given four Orson Welles song titles (though no actual lyrics)to work with: Me is the Trouble, Zing, Zing, In the Dungeon of Guilt and Song of the Fool.

    Close to show-time Welles still hadn’t written any lyrics and was considering cutting the songs altogether. At one point he sent Hilton Edwards to Stockholm to meet Ellington and ask for a number of pieces of incidental music. Nothing appears to have come of that mission, however, at least for the show. Instead Welles went out with Strayhorn to the Café de la Paix and over several drinks came up with the odd, haunting words for Me is the Trouble (words surely inspired by his enigmatic new star): Hungry little trouble, bound in a bubble, yearning to be, be or be free/ All that you see, is all about me/ Hungry me.

Strayhorn gave them a mournful blues setting and hoped for the best.

Here are a couple of pictures of the Ellington band (with vocalist Chubby Kemp) on that tour, performing at the Palais de Chaillot, Paris, 1950.

On A Turquoise Cloud

On a Turquoise Cloud marks the alluring debut album of American soprano Candice Hoyes, in collaboration with two-time GRAMMY® award winner Ulysses Owens, Jr. and an exceptional octet. This song collection has gone virtually unrecorded since Ellington’s originals.

Ellington created these high-flying songs to showcase versatile divas Adelaide Hall, Kay Davis, and Alice Babs, and this gifted ensemble reimagines them with a distinctly contemporary sound. These are the songs where swing first met classical, and they were a blueprint for much of today’s best musical theater, opera, and art song.

Hoyes, a rising star in this generation of vocalists, is devoted to adding this missing piece to the Ellington legacy. “My grandparents were 1940s Harlemites and they danced to Ellington’s big band regularly. That generation is leaving us- my grandmother is 93. It means so much that we can share this album because the music is sensational.” To find the song manuscripts, Hoyes pursued months of archival research. “It was a real hunt, which makes it even sweeter when you find them all.”

The supple vocal lines of On a Turquoise Cloud infuse the signature Ellington harmonies with a sultry femininity, setting these tunes apart in his songbook. On a Turquoise Cloud brings a stunning corner of Ellington to light again, offering a fresh and stylish reading that ensures this music has new life.

Candice Hoyes / Vocalist

Ted Nash / Alto Saxophone, Alto Flute, And Clarinet

Ron Blake / Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, And Flute

Carl Maraghi / Bass Clarinet & Baritone Saxophone

Marcus Printup / Trumpet

Vincent Gardner / Trombone

Adam Birnbaum / Piano

Yasushi Nakamura / Bass

Ulysses Owens Jr. / Drums & Percussion
Special Guests

Joe Temperley / Bass Clarinet (Single Petal Of A Rose)

Wycliffe Gordon / Trombone (Almighty God)