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 pedal-point and bi-tonal 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 tryst—It is the hour of la