Lush Life: A Biography Of Billy StrayhornAuthor: David Hajdu A finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award Billy Strayhorn (1915 67) was one of the greatest composers in the history of American music, the creator of a body of work that includes such standards as "Take the 'A' Train." Yet all his life Strayhorn was overshadowed by his friend and collaborator Duke Ellington, with whom he worked for three decades as the Ellington Orchestra's ace songwriter and arranger. A "definitive"