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LUSH LIFE/The Genius of Billy Strayhorn
Hi all, on a bit of a hiatus from iOS production till I get a new keyboard, but I wanted to share this acoustic recording with you just to say I am alive and well in Istanbul. The hauntingly beautiful Lush Life. I believe it is in Dflat, rather difficult to play, multi parted with dismal, existential, alcohol drenched lyrics. I believe he was around twenty when he wrote it for Ellington. A tortured rendering far beyond his years. How could he know so much?
I used to visit all the very gay places
Those come-what-may places
Where one relaxes on the axis
Of the wheel of life
To get the feel of life
From jazz and cocktails
The gals (girls) I knew had sad and sullen gray faces
With distingué traces
That used to be there
You could see where
They'd been washed away
By too many through the day
Twelve o'clock tales
Then you came along
With your siren song
To tempt me to madness
I thought for awhile
That your poignant smile
Was tinged with the sadness
Of a great love for me
I guess (Ah, yes,) I was wrong
Again, I was wrong
Life is lonely again
And only last year everything seemed so sure
Now life is awful again
A troughful of hearts could only be a bore
A week in Paris might (will) ease the bite of it
All I care is to smile in spite of it
I'll forget you I will
While yet you are still
Burning inside my brain
Romance is mush
Stifling those who strive
I'll live a lush life
In some small dive
And there I'll be
While I rot with the rest
Of those whose lives are lonely, too
Lush life
Comments
Loved this, thank you. (Kept expecting Johnny Hartman to start up 😀)
Who's playing and is that an upright piano?
When and where was it recorded?
Digital or tape?
This is a type of apology.
MAKE US SOMETHING NEW!
A great composition, strong melody and unexpected harmony and lyrics. In a tradition of great ‘non-standard’ jazz ballads with Monk’s Mood and Self Portrait in 3 colors, and Goodbye Pork Pie Hat by Charles Mingus. Have you heard this version?
Thank you, @Purpan. I loved Hartman and Coltrane's version. That whole album... My One And Only Love.
@McDtracy, you are pulling my leg, but to take you seriously,
I am playing Connie's 1922 Steinway A in her Brooklyn studio around 2000. Recorded on a Tascam DAT recorder.
@Tickletiger , no I had never heard her sing it. Somehow can not believe she has the angst required, but she does get pretty emotional. I mean Strayhorn was a gay drug addict in Jim Crow America. Hard to measure up to that even for long time sufferer in his seventies such as myself ( just kidding, I have led a blessed life).
Me being a crate digger I have this version and it gets smooth funky at the 2min mark
So nice to hear that "Pacific Jazz" sound applied to a standard.
Ronnie Laws on Tenor, Bobby Lyle on Fender Rhodes and a dozen strings.
I hear a lot of local jazz where I live and the old guys don't think to just put a nice funk layer under some of these standards. After a while it all starts to sound the same and the pattern of soloists and in one case a perfunctory drum solo on every medium/up-tempo tune. It makes the music so boring for non-musicians.
The "Jazz Crusaders" used a simple formula to make jazz work for another generation and Wayne's Trombone was a key to their early sound. Later they added Larry Carlton and bridge to gap into Fusion. Joe Sample is one of my favorite keyboard players.
Thanks for tagging this on to a relevant thread.
@LinearLineman - Connie's Piano needed a good tuning. Another reason I love IOS Pianos. They don't go out of tune unless you apply pitch shifting FX.
Cool enjoy - and thanks for the info on other artists
You may know the Bob James track Nautilus - this genius piece is held up high in the true real hip hop beatmaking circles
Sorry to take the thread off topic
Lush Life was one tune that Sinatra really wanted to cover, but he couldn't pull it off. In an interview he said "I wanted to do that tune justice, but none of my attempts satisfied me".
Here is one attempt:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=obtes5KoD2g
You're playing it with great expression and it sounds just righty right
@McDtracy ... it is all so subjective....
IosPlayer - great conception and substitutions/voicings on Lush Life, the music/improvisation has a wonderful flow and maintains interest right through to the end ( no mean feat) The piano sounds wonderful, you can really feel the depth of tone in that steinway. ( from PianoWorld forum)
Still, your depth of jazz knowledge and history amazes me, so far above my own.