Strayhorn

We have to appreciate that history,” Strayhorn said.

Jazz legend Billy Strayhorn lived here with his partner from 1939 to 1947.

They don’t do with Ellington and Strayhorn what those artists did with Tchaikovsky.

Featured will be the music and songs of Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Fats Waller, Eubie Blake, W.C. Handy and more.

Ellington showed great fondness for Strayhorn and never failed to speak glowingly of the man and their collaborative working relationship, "my right arm, my left arm, all the eyes in the back of my head, my brain waves in his head, and his in mine".

In this, he was helped by Strayhorn, who had enjoyed a more thorough training in the forms associated with classical music than Ellington.

Strayhorn's " Take the "A" Train " a hit in 1941, became the band's theme, replacing " East St. Louis Toodle-Oo ".

Strayhorn, with his training in classical music, not only contributed his original lyrics and music, but also arranged and polished many of Ellington's works, becoming a second Ellington or "Duke's doppelganger".