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Published: Mar 25, 2008 07:26 PM
Modified: Mar 25, 2008 07:26 PM

Taking the 'A' Train
Concert, exhibit celebrate the music and legacy of Billy Strayhorn

Billy Strayhorn, right, and jazz great Duke Ellington go over a song. Strayhorn, who spent time in Hillsborough as a child, collaborated with Ellington and wrote some of his most well-known songs.
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Local youth participate in Latino music event

From Staff Reports

Two members of Pa'lante, a Spanish-language youth media organization based in Chapel Hill and Carrboro, will participate in a panel discussion as part of UNC's Festival on the Hill events this week.

Johanna Aljure, a graduate of East Chapel Hill High and Pa'lante Mentor, and Daniela Barahona, a senior at Chapel Hill High School who immigrated last year from Honduras, will give a presentation about the importance of Latino music in the lives of Latin American immigrant youth. Aljure and Barahona's presentation will be part of a session called "Latina/o Music and Spanish-Language Radio in the Triangle," Thursday in Person Recital Hall on the UNC campus.

Festival on the Hill 2008 will celebrate Latin American music's diversity, its ongoing dialogue with and contributions to the music of the United States, and its emerging impact on North Carolina's cultural and social landscape.

Pa'lante is a nonprofit organization that gives voice to Latino youth and promotes integration among Latin American immigrants and established communities in Orange County. The members, who come from the three high schools in Chapel Hill and Carrboro, broadcast a music and public affairs show called "Radio Pa'lante" on WCOM radio, 103.5 LP FM, Fridays at 5 p.m.

Barahona said she enjoys playing Latino music on the radio show because it reminds her of her former home.

"The music is uplifting," Barahona said. "It helps us relax. It gives us something we can enjoy in common -- something that is from our countries."

Radio Pa'lante features interviews with experts on topics such as health and education, interspersed with music popular among Latino teens.

"Radio Pa'lanate is important for Latino youth because it's creating an opportunity for them to get involved in the community and do something for themselves and for others as well," Aljure said.
IF YOU GO
The Jazztones will perform "Sounds of Billy Strayhorn" Sunday, Mrch, at 3 p.m. at Hillsborough Presbyterian Church, 102 W. Tryon St., Hillsborough. The concert is free and open to the public.

The "Celebrating Billy Strayhorn" exhibit is on display at the Orange County Historical Museum, 201 N. Churton St., Hillsborough, through April 13. Admission is free. Call 732-2201.

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By Dave Hart, Staff Writer
His name may not be as familiar as some, but for more than two decades, from the late 1930s to the mid-1960s, Billy Strayhorn was a leading force in jazz. He was the composer and arranger of some of the era's best-known songs, and as one of the primary architects of the sound of the renowned Duke Ellington Orchestra he had a wide-ranging influence; jazz great Gil Evans once said, "That's all I ever did -- try to do what Billy Strayhorn did."

It all started in Hillsborough, where as a child Strayhorn began plinking away on the keys of the piano in his grandmother's house as soon as he was tall enough to reach them.

The Historical Foundation of Hillsborough and Orange County Historical Museum are honoring Strayhorn's music and legacy this month with a free public concert and special exhibit.

The Historical Foundation will present The Jazztones in concert, performing a selection of songs by Strayhorn, Sunday at 3 p.m. at Hillsborough United Presbyterian Church.

The concert is in conjunction with "Celebrating Billy Strayhorn," an exhibit of photographs, music and memorabilia at the Orange County Historical Museum.

"We wanted to something to celebrate African-American History month, and we decided we wanted to focus on musicians in the county," said Jennifer Koach, executive director of the museum. "Last May we merged with the Historical Society, and they already had a number of display items about Billy Strayhorn, who was a Hillsborough resident for part of his childhood. We didn't want to reinvent the wheel, so we started with what they had and expanded on it."

Among other things, the exhibit features a selection of recordings of Strayhorn's tunes you can listen to, and an electric piano and sheet music of some of his songs, including "Take the A Train" and "Lush Life." A sign beside the piano invites visitors to "Try your hand at one of Billy Strayhorn's tunes."

"You can't have an exhibit about a musician without music," Koach said.

Strayhorn was born in Dayton Ohio, in 1915, but his family had several generations' worth of roots in Orange County; Strayhorn is one of those names long associated with this place.

His mother, Lillian Strayhorn, brought him to Hillsborough frequently and for long periods to stay with his grandparents, Elizabeth and Jobe Strayhorn. He credited Elizabeth with instilling in him the love of music, and it was at her piano that he learned to play.

He went on to study classical music, but there was little place for a black man in classical music at that time, and soon he found himself drawn to jazz. He met Duke Ellington after an Ellington concert in 1939. Strayhorn did what amounted to an impromptu audition on the spot. Ellington was impressed, and he invited Strayhorn to join him. Their close collaboration lasted the rest of Strayhorn's life -- he died in 1967 -- and bore lasting fruit.

"Billy Strayhorn was my right arm, my left arm, all the eyes in the back of my head, my brainwaves in his head, and his in mine," Ellington said.

Strayhorn was a quiet artist, reluctant to seek the spotlight. As a black man and an openly gay one, he faced discrimination on both fronts, and he was active in the civil rights movement.

As a musician and a man, he influenced many of the leading lights of the era, including Dizzy Gillespie and Lena Horne.

Musician and producer Quincy Jones said "Take the T Train" was "the Holy Grail," the song that perfectly captured the sound and soul of the Harlem Renaissance.

"It's unbelievable," Jones said. "And it says it all in 32 bars."

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