Approaching jazz composition through the music of Billy Strayhorn

Leonie Freudenberger

Name: Leonie Freudenberger Main Subject: Jazz Saxophone Research Coach: Karst de Jong Title of Research: Approaching jazz composition through the music of Billy Strayhorn Research Question: What are the most important elements of Billy Strayhorn's compositions? How can I incorporate his compositional approach in my own writing? Billy Strayhorn (1915–1976) was a jazz pianist, composer, arranger, orchestrator and lyricist whose works have influenced the genre of jazz music until today. The research contains two phases: First, the analysis of his compositions. Second, the attempt to compose originals using the detected stylistic, harmonic, melodic and conceptional tools. Considering the enormous oeuvre that Strayhorn produced, it is inevitable to make a selection of songs to analyze. My criteria for this selection are the following: Which songs have become part of the standard repertoire in jazz, performed by various artists throughout the 20th (and 21st) century? Where can I find aural trademarks, which I recognize both as a listener and as a player and which contribute to my personal perception of the “Strayhorn sound”? Can the compositions be reduced to a lead sheet and performed by a small jazz combo without losing their essence? My final intention is not only to compose using Strayhorn-typical elements and tools, but also to write music for myself as a performer and for my group to play it. On longer terms, I hope that I can abstract this method further on and profit from it beyond the results of this research. Biography: Leonie Freudenberger, born 1988 in Baden-Baden (D), has played the alto saxophone since her childhood. She started her professional jazz education at the University of Music in Mannheim in 2008 and came to Den Haag in 2011, where she finished her Bachelor's degree. Apart from her Master studies, she writes music and performs with her own group and takes part in various projects, playing alto and baritone saxophone.

Sources

For websites, the last date of access is indicated.

For LPs and CDs, the year of the first recording and a currently available edition is indicated.

Walter van de Leur, 2002. Something to Live For – The Music of Billy Strayhorn. New York: Oxford University Press

David Hajdu, 1996. Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux

Walter van de Leur, 2001. The ‘American Impressionists’ and the ‘Birth of the Cool’. Tijdschrift voor Muziektheorie (2001), jaargang 6 nummer 1, pp. 18-26

Vera Marijt, 2014. Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished. KC Research Portal www.researchcatalogue.net (23.10.2014)

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/…_And_His_Mother_Called_Him_Bill (10.02.2015)

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lush_Life:_The_Music_of_Billy_Strayhorn (10.02.2015)

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Farmer (09.02.2015)

http://www.dutchjazz.nl/billystrayhornpr.html (01.09.2014)

http://www.dutchjazz.nl/billystrayhorncd.html (01.09.2014)

http://www.tonalemusik.de/lexikon/melodik.htm (10.04.2014)

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/billystrayhorn/qa.html (05.09.2014)

http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=27762 (05.09.2014)

http://uva.academia.edu/WaltervandeLeur (15.01.2015)

http://www.jazzitalia.net/lezioni/analisi/an2_soundoflove2.asp#.VNooNLBV-D5 (06.11.2014)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbqNVZLA0jY (06.10.2014)

Duke Ellington & His Orchestra, 1967.

…And His Mother Called Him Bill (RCA LP 3906; RCA Bluebird 6287-2-RB)

Art Farmer, 1987.

Something to Live For: The Music of Billy Strayhorn (Contemporary Records # CCD-14029-2)

Joe Henderson, 1992.

Lush Life: The Music of Billy Strayhorn (Verve 511-779-2)

The Dutch Jazz Orchestra, 1996.

Something To Live For (Challenge Records 70092)

Portrait Of A Silk Thread (CHR 70089)

You Go To My Head (CHR 70090)

So This Is Love (CHR 70091)

Charles Mingus, 1975.

Duke Ellington’s Sound Of Love on Changes One (Atlantic SD 1677)

John Coltrane, 1961.

Lush Life (Prestige 7188)

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