The last of three programmes in which David Hajdu explores the life of Billy Strayhorn , one of the great jazz composers and arrangers, an extraordinarily complex man who created songs such as Take the "A" Train, Chelsea Bridge and Lush Life. This programme explores Strayhorn's last years and looks at his final efforts to reclaim his musical identity from the shadow of Duke Ellington. Music includes Paris Blues, Blood
Count and Lotus Blossom, played by the Ellington Orchestra, Imagine My Frustration, sung by Ella Fitzgerald , and Upper Manhattan Medical Group by Strayhorn himself. Producer Dave Batchelor
Repeated New Year's Day 11.30pm