John Di Martino’s Strayhorn Tribute Album

courtesy of Jazz Promo Services

A little over two weeks ago, Sunnyside released jazz pianist John Di Martino’s latest album. The full title is Passion Flower: The Music of Billy Strayhorn, and that should be all most listeners need to know about the track selections. Di Martino leads a quartet with Eric Alexander on tenor saxophone and rhythm filled out by Boris Kozlov on bass and Lewis Nash on drums. There are fourteen tracks, only one of which is vocal with Raul Midon singing “Lush Life.”

Strayhorn is probably best known for his almost three decades of collaborating with Duke Ellington. Most of that time went into composing and arranging; and “Lush Life” is a key example of his keen ability to write lyrics for his own songs. In addition Ellington would often turn the piano over to Strayhorn for both performances and recording sessions.

The fact that Strayhorn was gay never seems to have phased Ellington, and there never seemed to be any threat that Strayhorn’s secret would be disclosed at a time when society was not as open to homosexuality as it now is. While Strayhorn spent a few years pursuing a solo career, he never really abandoned Ellington. Indeed, his final composition, “Blood Count,” was written for Ellington, who recorded it a few month’s after his death for the album …And His Mother Called Him Bill. That album also included “U.M.M.G.” (Upper Manhattan Medical Group) and “Lotus Blossom;” and all three of those selections can be found on Di Martino’s album.

The album also includes a generous sampling from the more familiar “Ellington book.” Tracks include “Isfahan,” “Chelsea Bridge,” “Passion Flower,” and “Take the ‘A’ Train.” What is important, however, is that Di Martino never tries to evoke the “Ellington sound,” preferring instead to allow every member of his combo to bring out his own expressive voice. In other words this is an album dedicated to Strayhorn-the-composer, while Strayhorn-the-arranger takes a back seat to the inventiveness that Di Martino allows his individual players to express. The result is that even the most familiar tracks bring out the tunes in a freshly inventive new light, which, I suspect, will please Ellington’s spirit as much as Strayhorn’s!