I was born in San Francisco, adopted and whisked away to a sleepy town in Oregon. My mother was a Southern Belle and my father is a WW II Fighter Ace turned Sportscaster turned Lawyer. Records were played constantly and I loved to memorize Nat King Cole songs. Dean Martin was a favorite of my mothers and of course, I loved Frank Sinatra. My parent’s Albee-esque marriage crumbled when I was twelve. I longed for the sophistication of New York, and ran off to Sarah Lawrence College at the age of 17.
After college, I went to Sean Swinney’s studio to record a classical demo for opera competitions. While we were mixing the tape I told Sean that my roots were in rock and jazz and that I would love to do some jazz singing again someday. He gave me a couple of pianist’s names and I wrote them down in my book. Every year I would transfer these names into my new datebook. In the summer of 1996 I finally called one. I called Christopher Cherney. All I wanted to do was make a demo.
I cut a deal with Chris to make a three song jazz demo. He worked with me on the songs, got the musicians together, and we went in and made the tape. It went so well that we decided to try and write some original music together. Chris was roommates at the time with Tony Romano, a fabulous guitar player. Chris, Tony and I have been playing together since.
"Discovery of an Unknown Strayhorn Masterpiece"
Christopher Cherney Recounts The Story Behind No One Knows
Early in 1990 I found myself at Charles Collin Music in Manhattan. Much to my delight I found a stack of Ellington music, including several of the Sacred Concerts and a book called “Salute the Dukeâ€. I was astounded when I was informed that all of the books I was buying were ordered for Gil Evans, only he did not have a chance to pick them up before he passed. I would peruse the books often and found “Salute the Duke†the most fascinating of all. Dozens of tunes I did not know by Duke, Billy Strayhorn, Mercer Ellington, Johnny Hodges, Juan Tizol, and other Ellingtonians. This is where I found “No One Knowsâ€, a Billy Strayhorn gem.
Years later I was at an IAJE convention, hanging out with the Strayhorn clan at the Billy Strayhorn booth. I asked Gregory Morris, Billy’s uncle, about “No One Knowsâ€. He had not heard of it, and consulted their database but found nothing. The next day I brought him a copy, and it is now in their catalogue. Darby Dizard and I now present this little known masterpiece. We hope you love it as much as we do.
-Chris Cherney, August 6, 2007