The Star-Crossed Lovers is a track from Such Sweet Thunder, a twelve-part jazz suite by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn released in 1957 and inspired by William Shakespeare. The piece, also known as Pretty Girl, was written for Ellington’s orchestra and is part of the Shakespeare homage that the album presents. Such Sweet Thunder was recorded from August 1956 to May 1957 and released by Columbia, with the concept born after Ellington and Strayhorn explored Shakespeare at the Stratford festival in Canada. The Star-Crossed Lovers runs about four minutes on the original LP, with a stereo master around 4:15, and features Duke Ellington on piano along with notable players such as Johnny Hodges and Paul Gonsalves. The album is in the jazz genre and is regarded as a significant Shakespeare-inspired work in Ellington’s catalog.
