"Lush Life" is an oldie but goodie, recorded live at a now-defunct restaurant called Restaurant 147 that was located in an old firehouse in Chelsea. Written by the great Billy Strayhorn when he was sixteen years old in Pittsburgh, it has reached the pantheon of jazz compositions because of its nearly perfect synthesis of melody, harmony, and lyrics, not to mention the fact that it is basically through-composed - and this was before Strayhorn met Duke! You wonder if Billy's being gay had anything to do with him writing such an incredible piece of mature music with such pathos at that young age...
We recorded it back in 1999 sometime when I was playing there a few times a month, mostly with the trio on this recording, consisting of Matthew Fries on piano and Greg Ryan on bass. The sound in the room was so killing, that I used the opportunity to produce my first project, "Live@147." You can learn more about the CD and pick up a copy here.
"Lush Life" almost made it onto the CD, but I can't remember now why we left it off. I hope you enjoy it!
You can also enjoy the piano mastery of Mr. Fries tomorrow night in the Village at Sweet Rhythm, as he's playing a CD Release Party for a new CD by a collaborative trio called Tri-Fi (Phil Palombi - bass, and Keith Hall - drums, join Matthew; special guest - Steve Wilson - alto).
If you're in town, you won't want to miss this swingin' trio! They don't get much time to perform in New York City as Keith lives in Michigan, and they are often on tour with the vocalist, Curtis Stigers.
More info on Sweet Rhythm can be found here.
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Tags: Billy Strayhorn, jazz, jazz clubs, Lush Life, new york city, through-composed
I heard these guys are great! ;-)
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