Subtitled ‘The Music of Billy Strayhorn’, here pianist DiMartino is providing a tribute to Strayhorn (1915-1967) who will always be best remembered for his nearly three decades with Duke Ellington where he worked as arranger, composer and sometimes pianist. Ellington once said, “Strayhorn was my right arm, my left arm, all the eyes in the back of my head, my brain waves in his head, and his in mine.” There is just one vocal track on the album, where the quartet is joined by Raul Midón for “Lush Life”, one of Strayhorn’s most well-known numbers, written when he was just fifteen! This is a gorgeous rendition, with reverb on the vocals and perfect accompaniment from DiMartino, and in many ways is the standout on the album as there is so much emotion contained within it, and the world just stops while it is playing.

Although DiMartino may not need any musical assistance on that song, for the rest of them he is joined by tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander, bassist Boris Kozlov, and drummer Lewis Nash, and they run through these in a manner only possible when musicians know the material intimately and understand what everyone is going to do within the arrangement. The album was recorded in just one day in July 2019, and the use of space within the songs is incredibly important. There are those sections where Alexander is noticeable by his absence, and plenty of others where DiMartino defers to others to take the lead. DiMartino first came across Strayhorn’s music when he was fifteen and was asked to learn “Lush Life”, coincidentally the same age as Strayhorn when he wrote it, and since then he has been inspired and intrigued by the music and arrangements. With a forty-five year professional music career behind him, he felt it was finally time to bring his own take to the classic songs, making them work for his quartet just as Strayhorn used to have them work for Duke’s orchestra. This is a delicious album, one which any fan of Strayhorn, Ellington, DiMartino or great jazz will just relax right into it. Sit back and savour it, like a fine wine.

Rating: 9/10

Links:
https://johndimartino.com/
https://www.sunnysiderecords.com/