Balcony Serenade Billy Strayhorn

This is, in fact, (Under The) Balcony Serenade from The Perfume Suite which is from Duke Ellington s Black, Brown Beige So, yes, it is the Duke Ellington Orchestra However, not enough credit has ever been paid to Billy Strayhorn and, since this is Stray s composition and, he s clearly leading this musical moment, I m listing it that way. The movement is introduced by Cat Anderson on trumpet The entire orchestra follows with a passage leading to an unaccompanied cadenza played by Strayhorn. In the cadenza, we hear examples of Billy s style the studied use of compositional devices such as pedalpoint and bitonal chords. Strayhorn then sets a gently rocking tempo to bring in the main theme; richly scored for the saxophone section. The theme is built in four bar phrases: A B A C A A B, then softer: A B. This lovely piece always reminds me of 2 lovers fulfilled confronting an unwanted end to a trystIt is the hour of la