Queer Arrangements: Billy Strayhorn and Midcentury Jazz Collaboration

Composer/arranger/pianist Billy Strayhorn’s long overlooked contributions to the Duke Ellington songbook warrant attention. Barg (music history and musicology, McGill Univ.; coeditor in chief, Women and Music: A Journal of Gender and Culture) has filtered her engaged study of Strayhorn through a racialized and queer perspective. The result is fascinating and insightful, though it occasionally feels forced and speculative. Strayhorn (1915–67) lived as an openly gay man in the 1940s, while simultaneously allowing his talents to exist in the shadows. Thus, the perception of his work resides in an odd historical space, as Ellington often sang his praises one moment, while reportedly underselling his contributions in the next. Barg suggests this kind of treatment is at the core of Strayhorn’s decision to live his personal and professional lives the way he did. The book explores the art of his vocal arrangements and the presence of his essence in his works, including his solo album The Peaceful Side. Barg offers eloquent music analyses, and there’s a wonderful section on Strayhorn’s relationships with vocalists Lena Horne and Ella Fitzgerald.