Continuing work on the Hoagy Carmichael and Billy Strayhorn tribute shows. Usually I would only work on one show at a time, because usually I would only do one a month at most. Carmichael and Strayhorn, how dare you have birthdays exactly one week apart? They're happening on the Sunday before and after Thanksgiving, and I don't expect to have much time during Thanksgiving week, so they both have to be completely planned out before the 22nd.
I finished the Carmichael book (which was written in an insufferable style -- he used the word peripatetic twice in the first 20 pages! but chock full of good information), watched a terrible movie about him, and ordered a box set that sounds terrific. I can't wait for it to arrive. It has lots of early recordings, some of which are rare. I also put the movie To Have and Have Not in my queue because I want to play that clip of him chatting with and playing for Lauren Bacall.
I'm about halfway through the Billy Strayhorn bio, which is fantastic. I had no idea Strayhorn was such an interesting person. (It's called Lush Life and I highly recommend it.) I also ordered another book, Something to Live For, that was sort of a musical biography, and I'm embarrassed to admit that it's too technical for me. I don't even read music, and I just can't follow it. I got it used from Amazon Marketplace and based on a sticker on the jacket, I think it was used as a textbook in a music theory class at NYU.
Something to Live For was still worth it (especially at used prices) for the appendices: one lists every song Strayhorn ever wrote or cowrote, and how they were copyrighted. Another lists every song Strayhorn ever arranged that he didn't write, and when it was first recorded. It's invaluable information for preparing this show. It's been a challenge because first of all, Strayhorn's impact is harder to get at. It's easy to find a list of every song Hoagy Carmichael ever wrote. Much harder with Billy Strayhorn, who didn't get songwriting credit for many of the songs he wrote, and influenced many other songs with his arrangements. Secondly, Strayhorn is much more jazz than what I normally play. I normally don't play instrumentals at all, just under talksets, and most of Strayhorn's work was instrumental. So it will be a departure from my normal shows. I hope the listeners won't mind.
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