How essential Strayhorn was to Ellington can be immediately gaged by the number of Ducal classics he is known to have worked on or written entirely by himself, including, among hundreds of others, "Something to Live For," "Satin Doll," "Passion Flower," "Chelsea Bridge," and "Day Dream." While Strayhorn was largely associated with pop-style songs and romantically-slanted instrumentals such as those mentioned above, he also wrote any number of hard-hitting uptempo jazz classics, such as "Johnny Come Lately," "Raincheck," "U. M. M. G" and the Ellington band's hit theme song, "Take The A-Train."

In both his arranging and composing styles, Strayhorn so thoroughly absorbed the Ellington oeuvre that he was able to build on it, and, as we have seen, become as vital a contributor to the band as Ellington himself. Most listeners still can't tell the difference between the writing of either man, the same judgement also applies to their piano playing. However, long-standing Ellington musicians and Strayhorn biographer David Hajdu point out that Strayhorn wrote with even greater sensuality and sensitivity, and structured a composition more organically than his older collaborator (who came out of the ragtime and stride tradition of unpredicatable stops and starts).

TRIBUTE ALBUMS
THE BILLY STRAYHORN PROJECT / MICHAEL HASHIM QUARTET: LOTUS BLOSSOM; Marian McPartland; GREAT AMERICAN SONGWRITERS: VOL. 5: DUKE ELLINGTON & BILLY STRAYHORN