Billy Strayhorn, music and lyrics · Written in Pittsburgh, 1933 to 1936 · First performed at Carnegie Hall, 1948
Lush Life
Lush Life is a ballad by Billy Strayhorn, who wrote both the music and the words. Players like its chromatic chords, and the long verse counts as part of the song. You will hear it on records by Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and John Coltrane.
▶ Plays the whole path in order, one recording after another.
- 1 Hear the composer's own piano Billy Strayhorn✓
- 2 Follow the sung phrases Ella Fitzgerald✓
- 3 Hear it arranged with strings and percussion Nat King Cole✓
- 4 Hear the version most players know John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman✓
- 5 Hear a long tenor saxophone performance John Coltrane✓
- 6 Hear it as a piano trio McCoy Tyner✓
- 7 Hear it on solo guitar Joe Pass✓
- 8 Hear a modern tenor reading Joe Henderson✓
How the tune works
Both parts of the song are always played. The verse runs 28 bars in the chart: an A section of seven bars played twice, then a 14-bar B section. A rocks between D♭ major and C♭maj7 and turns toward E major in its fourth bar. B sits on F minor for eight bars and returns to D♭ in six. The chorus is 24 bars in two 12-bar halves. Both halves open with D♭6 swinging to D7♯11. The first half climbs through E, F and A♭ major, then passes through D and C on a chromatic walk down. The second half stays in D♭ and uses two ii-V figures and a chromatic walk down to the final chord.
One shared iReal Pro chart, in D♭, set out four bars to a line. The song has a 28-bar verse (A, A² and B) and a 24-bar chorus (C and C², 12 bars each). The verse A section has seven bars, so its last line has three.
Read from the first chart linked in the iReal Pro Forums thread on Lush Life (D♭, ballad). The chart repeats the verse A section: bar 7 holds D♭maj7 and D7 the first time and D♭maj7 and C7 the second. Bars with three or four chords list the chords in order. The chart writes C♭maj7 in the first bars of the verse, while Freudenberger's analysis describes that chord as C♭7, the dominant of E. The chart has no introduction or tag. Its bar counts of 7, 7, 14, 12 and 12 agree with the JazzStandards.com analysis, while Wikipedia and Tomalin give the verse as 32 bars. Tomalin, who works from the Jazz Fake Book, writes that the last two bars of the chorus differ most between versions, and that the New Real Book follows the Coltrane and Hartman changes. Charts and recordings voice and substitute chords in different ways, so compare this chart with the one you play from and with each recording.
Listen in this order
Play all 8 on YouTube ↗Eight versions in teaching order: Billy Strayhorn's own piano, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Coltrane with Johnny Hartman, Coltrane's quintet, McCoy Tyner's trio, Joe Pass on solo guitar and Joe Henderson. Each step gives one thing to listen for and one thing to try.
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Step 1 · Hear the composer's own piano Now playing
Billy Strayhorn 1961
The Peaceful Side
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Strayhorn plays with a vocal group that sings no words, and no bass or drums are credited on this track. A reviewer calls the album quiet and spare, played at relaxed tempos.
- Try this
- Play the chorus melody slowly with your right hand and hold one chord per bar in your left, using the chart below. Leave the verse for later.
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Step 2 · Follow the sung phrases Now playing
Ella Fitzgerald 1957
Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Song Book
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- Listen for
- Ella Fitzgerald sings it with Oscar Peterson credited on piano. The track runs 3:40, so you can follow the whole song in one short listen.
- Try this
- Sing or hum the melody along with her, one phrase at a time. Then play each phrase on your instrument and compare it with what she sang.
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Step 3 · Hear it arranged with strings and percussion Now playing
Nat King Cole 1949
Lillian / Lush Life
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Cole sings over strings, flute and clarinet, French horn, congas and bongos. Compare how full this sounds with Strayhorn's solo piano.
- Try this
- Hum the melody along with the record, then play it on your instrument at the same tempo.
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Step 4 · Hear the version most players know Now playing
John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman 1963
John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman
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- Listen for
- Hartman sings with Coltrane on tenor, McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass and Elvin Jones on drums. Listen for Coltrane's tenor lines behind the voice. Michael Cuscuna writes that Coltrane overdubbed such phrases on this track after the session.
- Try this
- Follow the chart below while the record plays and point to the bar you hear. Start with the chorus.
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Step 5 · Hear a long tenor saxophone performance Now playing
John Coltrane 1958
Lush Life
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Coltrane leads on tenor, with Donald Byrd on trumpet and Red Garland on piano. At 14 minutes it is the longest track on this page, so follow the chart below and see how long you keep your place.
- Try this
- Play the root of each chord from the chorus chart, one per bar, while the record runs. Playing a solo over all the changes is a bigger project, so start with the roots.
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Step 6 · Hear it as a piano trio Now playing
McCoy Tyner 1977
Supertrios
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Tyner plays piano with Eddie Gómez on bass and Jack DeJohnette on drums. Compare how he handles the chords here with his playing behind Johnny Hartman in 1963.
- Try this
- Play the chorus chords from the chart below with the root in your left hand and a seventh chord in your right, one chord per bar. If you play bass, follow the roots on the chart and compare them with Gómez's line.
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Step 7 · Hear it on solo guitar Now playing
Joe Pass 1973
Virtuoso No. 4
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Joe Pass plays alone, so one guitar carries the melody and the chords. Notice which chords he plays under the melody and compare them with the chart below.
- Try this
- Play the chorus melody on guitar or piano and add a chord on beat one of each bar from the chart below. If that is too much, play the melody alone and add one chord every two bars.
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Step 8 · Hear a modern tenor reading Now playing
Joe Henderson 1991
Lush Life: The Music of Billy Strayhorn
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Joe Henderson leads on tenor saxophone, and the session lineup adds Wynton Marsalis, Stephen Scott, Christian McBride and Gregory Hutchinson. Compare his tone and phrasing with Coltrane's 1958 version.
- Try this
- Pick one four-bar line of the chorus chart. Play its chords slowly, then play the melody over them. Soloing over the changes takes more work, so a smaller version is to play one chord tone per bar.
More great versions
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Chet Baker and Russ Freeman 1956
Quartet: Russ Freeman/Chet Baker
Chet Baker plays trumpet with Russ Freeman on piano, Leroy Vinnegar on bass and Shelly Manne on drums, in a November 1956 session.
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Sarah Vaughan 1956
Sassy
Sarah Vaughan sings with Hal Mooney's orchestra on the opening track of her album Sassy.
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Stan Getz 1972
Captain Marvel
Stan Getz plays tenor saxophone with Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Tony Williams and Airto Moreira.
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Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Pass 1973
Take Love Easy
Ella Fitzgerald sings with Joe Pass on guitar and no other instrument, on the first of their four studio albums together.
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Linda Ronstadt 1984
Lush Life
Linda Ronstadt sings it in a Nelson Riddle arrangement, on the second of her three albums with him.
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Kurt Elling 2009
“Lush Life (Live)”, Dedicated to You: Kurt Elling Sings the Music of Coltrane and Hartman
Kurt Elling sings it live at Lincoln Center on an album that honors the Coltrane and Hartman record.