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| "Take the 'A' Train" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Billy Strayhorn | |
| Written | 1939 |
| Genre | Jazz standard |
| Composer(s) | Billy Strayhorn |
| Lyricist(s) | Lee Gaines (1942); Joya Sherrill (1944) |
"Take the 'A' Train" is a jazz standard by Billy Strayhorn that was the signature tune of the Duke Ellington orchestra. [1]
In 1976, the 1941 recording by Duke Ellington on Victor Records was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. [2]
The use of the Strayhorn composition as the signature tune was made necessary by a ruling in 1940 by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). When ASCAP raised its licensing fees for broadcast use, many ASCAP members, including Ellington, could no longer play their compositions over radio, as most music was played live on radio at the time. Ellington turned to Billy Strayhorn and son Mercer Ellington, who were registered with ASCAP's competitor BMI, to "write a whole new book for the band," Mercer recalled. "'A' Train" was one of many tunes written by Strayhorn, and was picked to replace "Sepia Panorama" as the band's signature song. Mercer recalled that he found the composition in a trash can after Strayhorn discarded a draft of it because it sounded too much like a Fletcher Henderson arrangement. [3] The song was first recorded on January 15, 1941 as a standard transcription for radio broadcast. The first (and most famous) commercial recording was made on February 15, 1941. [4]
"Take the 'A' Train" was composed in 1939, after Ellington offered Strayhorn a job in his organization and gave him money to travel from Pittsburgh to New York City. Ellington wrote directions for Strayhorn to get to his house by subway. The directions began with the words "Take the A Train", referring to the then-new A subway service that runs through New York City, going at that time from eastern Brooklyn, on the Fulton Street Line opened in 1936, up into Harlem and northern Manhattan, using the Eighth Avenue Line in Manhattan opened in 1932.
Strayhorn was a great fan of Fletcher Henderson's arrangements. "One day, I was thinking about his style, the way he wrote for trumpets, trombones and saxophones, and I thought I would try something like that", Strayhorn recalled in Stanley Dance's The World Of Duke Ellington.
Although Strayhorn said he wrote lyrics for it, the recorded first lyrics were composed by, or for, the Delta Rhythm Boys. The lyrics used by the Ellington band were added by Joya Sherrill, who was 20 at the time (1944). She made up the words at her home in Detroit, while the song played on the radio. Her father, a noted Detroit activist, set up a meeting with Ellington. Owing to Joya's remarkable poise and singing ability and her unique take on the song, Ellington hired her as a vocalist and adopted her lyrics. The vocalist who most often performed the song with the Ellington band was trumpeter Ray Nance, who enhanced the lyrics with numerous choruses of scat singing. Nance is also responsible for the trumpet solo on the first recording, which was so well suited for the song that it has often been duplicated note for note by others.
The song was performed by Ellington and the band in the 1943 film Reveille with Beverly with vocalist Betty Roché. The band is depicted performing in a railroad passenger car, not a subway car.
Based loosely on the chordal structure of "Exactly Like You", the song combines the propulsive swing of the 1940s-era Ellington band with the confident sophistication of Ellington and the black elite who inhabited Sugar Hill in Harlem. The tune is in AABA form, in the key of C, with each section being a lyric couplet. (The Ellington band's version begins in C and rises to the key of E♭ after the second chorus.)
Ella Fitzgerald sang and recorded this song many times from 1957 onwards; a live version with Fitzgerald scatting is on her 1961 Verve release Ella in Hollywood . The Midwestern rock band Chicago added their version in 1995 on their back-to-the-roots-disc, Night & Day Big Band . Jo Stafford recorded an intentionally inept interpretation of the song under the pseudonym Darlene Edwards.
The tune, in a version taken from Duke Ellington and his orchestra's 1941 album Hollywood, was included in the soundtrack of the 2008 video game Grand Theft Auto IV from the fictitious in-game jazz music radio station "JNR 108.5 (Jazz Nation Radio)".
The song was the theme song of the Voice of America Jazz Hour , heard worldwide on shortwave radio, for many years. [5]
In 1999, National Public Radio included this song in the "NPR 100", in which NPR's music editors sought to compile the one hundred most important American musical works of the 20th century.
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life.
William Thomas Strayhorn was an American jazz composer, pianist, lyricist, and arranger who collaborated with bandleader and composer Duke Ellington for nearly three decades. His compositions include "Take the 'A' Train", "Chelsea Bridge", "A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing", and "Lush Life".
Ella at Duke's Place is a 1965 studio album by Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington, accompanied by his Orchestra. While it was the second studio album made by Fitzgerald and Ellington, following the 1957 song book recording, a live double album Ella and Duke at the Cote D'Azur was recorded in 1966. Ella at Duke’s Place was nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 1967 Grammy Awards.
Ella in Hollywood is a live 1961 album by Ella Fitzgerald, with a jazz quartet led by Lou Levy, recorded in Hollywood, Los Angeles.
Ella and Duke at the Cote D'Azur is a 1967 live album by Ella Fitzgerald, accompanied by the big band of Duke Ellington.
The Complete Ella Fitzgerald Song Books were a series of eight studio albums released in irregular intervals between 1956 and 1964, recorded by the American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, supported by a variety of orchestras, big bands, and small jazz combos.
The Stockholm Concert, 1966 is a 1966 live album by the American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, accompanied in part by the Duke Ellington Orchestra. The recording remained unreleased until 1984.
Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Song Book is a 1957 studio album by the American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, accompanied by Duke Ellington and his orchestra, focusing on Ellington's songs.
...And His Mother Called Him Bill is a studio album by Duke Ellington recorded in the wake of the 1967 death of his long-time collaborator, Billy Strayhorn. It won the Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album in 1968.
"Lush Life" is a jazz standard that was written by Billy Strayhorn from 1933 to 1936. It was performed publicly for the first time by Strayhorn and vocalist Kay Davis with the Duke Ellington Orchestra at Carnegie Hall on November 13, 1948.
"Satin Doll" is a jazz standard written by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn with lyrics by Johnny Mercer. Written in 1953, the song has been recorded by Ella Fitzgerald, Carmen McRae, Billy Eckstine, Nancy Wilson, Bobby Short, and many other vocalists. As an instrumental, it has been recorded by hundreds of jazz artists. Its chord progression is well known for its unusual use of chords and opening with a ii-V-I turnaround.
"Things Ain't What They Used to Be" is a 1942 jazz standard with music by Mercer Ellington and lyrics by Ted Persons.
Never No Lament: The Blanton-Webster Band is a 2003 three-disc compilation combining the master takes of all the recordings by Duke Ellington's Orchestra during the years of 1940 to 1942 with an additional nine tracks, including five alternative takes and four additional masters. An expanded version of The Blanton–Webster Band, this reissue, according to Allmusic, "truly worth either an initial investment or reinvestment". All About Jazz: New York observed that these performances, from what is often considered "the band in its prime", "not only set the standard for big bands and jazz orchestras, but created an ideal near insurmountable to improve upon". The Penguin Guide to Jazz selected this compilation as part of its suggested "Core Collection."
"Rocks in My Bed" is a 1941 song written by Duke Ellington.
"Just A-Sittin' and A-Rockin'" is a 1941 song written by Billy Strayhorn and Lee Gaines.
"Day Dream" is a jazz standard composed by Billy Strayhorn with lyrics by John Latouche and written in 1939. It was first recorded by saxophonist Johnny Hodges and his ensemble on November 2, 1940. Duke Ellington was credited as co-composer on the label of the original 78 RPM release, though he is not generally considered to be one of the song's creators.
"Chelsea Bridge" (1941) is an impressionistic jazz standard composed by Billy Strayhorn.
The Greatest Jazz Concert in the World is a 1967 live album featuring Duke Ellington and his orchestra, Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, T-Bone Walker, Coleman Hawkins, Clark Terry and Zoot Sims. It was released in 1975.
Joya Sherrill Sings Duke is a 1965 album by Joya Sherrill recorded in tribute to the bandleader and composer Duke Ellington. Several members of the Duke Ellington Orchestra accompany Sherrill on the album.
