O: Duke Ellington & His Famous Orchestra 15 febr 1941 on Victor
From Wikipedia
"Take the 'A' Train" is a jazz standard by Billy Strayhorn that was the signature tune of the Duke Ellington orchestra. It is arguably the most famous of the many compositions to emerge from the collaboration of Ellington and Strayhorn.
The use of the Strayhorn composition as the signature tune was made necessary by a ruling in 1940 by the American Society of Composers 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 in those days. Ellington turned to Billy Strayhorn and son Mercer Ellington, who were registered with ASCAP competitor BMI to "write a whole new book for the band," Mercer recalled." 'A' Train" was one of many songs written by Strayhorn, and was picked to replace "Sepia Panorama" as the band's signature song. Mercer recalled that he found the song in a trash can after Strayhorn discarded a draft of it because it sounded too much like a Fletcher Henderson arrangement.[1] 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.
The title refers to the then relatively new A subway service that runs through New York City, going at that time from eastern Brooklyn (opened in 1936) up into Harlem and northern Manhattan, using an express track section (opened in 1932) in Manhattan.
"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, directions that began, "Take the A Train". 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 Black 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.
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 Eb after the second chorus.)
Ella Fitzgerald sang and recorded this song many times from 1957 onwards; for a live version with Ella scatting, see her 1961 Verve release Ella in Hollywood. Midwestern Rockers, 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 Rolling Stones used the song as the introductory track on their 1982 live album "Still Life" (American Concert 1981).
The improvisational rock band Phish often performed the song early in their career. The last known performance by them was on April 13, 1994 at the Beacon Theatre.
In the 1984 film, Moscow on the Hudson, Robin Williams plays saxophone with a Russian circus, but wants to be a jazz musician. He is seen in the film playing "Take the 'A' Train."
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.
The Voice of America Jazz Hour, hosted by Willis Conover, used this song as its theme.
The Cherry Poppin' Daddies used the song's opening piano lick (albeit in a different key) to open their song 'Ding-Dong Daddy of the D Car Line'.
The opening number to the musical In The Heights includes a brief homage to this song when Usnavi sings, "You must take the 'A' Train / Even farther than Harlem to northern Manhattan and maintain / Get off at 181st and take the escalator / I hope you're writing this down, I'm gonna test ya later."
In 2009, the PBS series History Detectives aired an episode [1] revealing that an original set of publishing plates for the song were in the possession by Garfield Gillings of Brooklyn, NY. Gillings stated that he found the plates at least twenty years earlier in a dumpster. Reporter Tukufu Zuberi brought the plates to the Smithsonian Institution, where curator John Hasse, who oversees the Duke Ellington collection, certified that the plates were most likely used for the first publications for Ellington's Tempo Publishing Company. Archived copies of the published sheet music were nearly identical to prints that had been made from the publishing plates.
A 2012 episode of the Disney Channel sitcom Jessie is titled "Take the A-Train.. I Think?", where much of the cast gets lost on the A train.
Read here another story about the song on JazzStandards.com
Here Duke Ellington and his band in 1943
The Delta Rhythm Boys 1941
Diana Krall
The Original from 1941 and some others.
And here a list with recordings. (most from Second Hand Songs.)
| Take the 'A' Train | Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra | 1941 |
| Take the "A" Train | Glenn Miller and His Orchestra | 1941 |
| Take the "A" Train | The Delta Rhythm Boys | 1941 |
| Take the "A" Train | Cab Calloway | 1941 |
| Take the "A" Train | Ike Carpenter and His Orchestra | 1947 |
| Take the "A" Train | Harry Carney With Strings | 1955 |
| Take the "A" Train | Clifford Brown and Max Roach | 1955 |
| Take the "A" Train | Les Elgart and His Orchestra | 1955 |
| Take the "A" Train | Milt Buckner | 1955 |
| Take the "A" Train | Johnny Hodges & The Ellington All-Stars Without Duke | 1957 |
| Take the "A" Train | Betty Roché | 1957 |
| Take the "A" Train | Candido & Orchestra Conducted by Ernie Wilkins | 1957 |
| Take the "A" Train | Jackie Gleason | 1957 |
| Take the "A" Train | Morty Craft and His Orchestra | 1958 |
| Take the "A" Train | Hazy Osterwald | 1958 |
| Take the "A" Train | Lem Winchester | 1958 |
| Take the "A" Train | Anita O'Day | 1958 |
| Take the "A" Train | The Dave Brubeck Quartet | 1958 |
| Take the "A" Train | George Williams and His Orchestra | 1959 |
| Take the "A" Train | Morgana King, Ernie Wilkins and His Orchestra | 1959 |
| Take the "A" Train | The Brothers Candoli Sextet | 1959 |
| Take the "A" Train | Ray Bryant | 1960 |
| Take the "A" Train | Esquivel and His Orchestra | 1960 |
| Take the "A" Train | The Bobby Hackett Quartet | 1960 |
| Take the "A" Train | Humphrey Lyttelton and His Band | 1960 |
| Take the "A" Train | Stuff Smith | 1960 |
| Take the "A" Train | Phineas Newborn Jr. | 1960 |
| Take the "A" Train | Maurice Vander, Kenny Clarke, Pierre Michelot | 1961 |
| Take the "A" Train | Billy Strayhorn | 1961 |
| Take the "A" Train | Dorothy Donegan | 1961 |
| Take the "A" Train | Dick Morgan | 1961 |
| Take the "A" Train | Erskine Hawkins | 1962 |
| Take the "A" Train | Eddie Jefferson | 1962 |
| Take the "A" Train | Count Basie and His Orchestra, Duke Ellington and His Orchestra | 1962 |
| Take the "A" Train | Maynard Ferguson | 1963 |
| Take the A Train | Dick Schory's Percussion Pops Orchestra | 1963 |
| Take the "A" Train | Tito Rodriguez, featuring Zoot Sims, Clark Terry, Bobbie Brookmeyer, Al Cohen, Bernie Leighton | 1963 |
| Take the "A" Train | The Stuff Smith Quartet | 1965 |
| Take the "A" Train | Pat Riccio Quartet Featuring Teddy Wilson | 1966 |
| Take the "A" Train | Sarah Vaughan | 1967 |
| Take the "A" Train | George Wein and His All-Stars | 1967 |
| Take the A Train | Booker Ervin | 1968 |
| Take the "A" Train | Jimmy McGriff Organ and Blues Band | 1968 |
| Take the "A" Train | Ray Nance | May 1969 |
| Take the "A" Train | Steve Allen | 1971 |
| Take the "A" Train | Dwike Mitchell, Willie Ruff | 1972 |
| Take the "A" Train | Johnny Meyer | 1973 |
| Take the "A" Train | The Anita Kerr Singers | 1974 |
| Take the "A" Train | Clark Terry's Big Bad Band | 1974 |
| A Train | Norman Blake, Tut Taylor, Butch Robins, Sam Bush, Vassar Clements, Dave Holland, Jethro Burns | 1975 |
| Take the "A" Train | Chris Barber with Ray Nance | 1975 |
| Take the "A" Train | Kenny Burrell | 1975 |
| Take the "A" Train | Roland Hanna | 1975 |
| Take the A Train | Sun Ra and His Arkestra | 1976 |
| Take the "A" Train | Carol Sloane | 1977 |
| Take the "A" Train | Frankie Capp / Nat Pierce | 1977 |
| Take the "A" Train | Joe Venuti and Dave McKenna | 1977 |
| Take the "A" Train | Tommy Turk | 1977 |
| Take the "A" Train | James Newton | 1978 |
| Take the "A" Train | Rob McConnell and The Boss Brass | 1978 |
| Take the "A" Train | Jimmy Takeuchi & Teddy Wilson | 1978 |
| Take the "A" Train | Toshiko Akiyoshi | 1978 |
| Take the "A" Train | Concord Super Band | 1979 |
| Take the "A" Train | Richard Tee | 1979 |
| Take the "A" Train | Toots Thielemans | 1979 |
| Take the "A" Train | Eddie Higgins | 1980 |
| Take the Coltrane | Ricky Ford | 1980 |
| Take the "A" Train | Milt Jackson, Ray Brown, Mickey Roker, Joe Pass | 1980 |
| Take the "A" Train | Duck Baker | 1980 |
| Take the A-Train | The George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band | 1981 |
| Take the "A" Train | Yasuko Agawa | 1982 |
| Take the A Train | Chaka Khan, Freddie Hubbard, Joe
Henderson, Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Lenny White |
1982 |
| Take the "A" Train | Jimmy Forrest With Shirley Scott | 1982 |
| Take the "A" Train | Toshiyuki Miyama & New Herd | 1982 |
| Take the "A" Train | Jonathan and Darlene Edwards | 1982 |
| Take the "A" Train | Acker Bilk | 1983 |
| Take the "A" Train | Peter Herbolzheimer Rhythm Combination & Brass | 1983 |
| Take the "A" Train | The Ray Brown Trio featuring Gene Harris | 1984 |
| Take the "A" Train | Panama Francis and the Savoy Sultans | 1984 |
| Take the "A" Train | Hilton Ruiz | 1985 |
| Take the "A" Train | Ronny Whyte Trio | 1985 |
| Take the "A" Train | The Don Lusher Big Band | 1986 |
| Take the "A" Train | World Saxophone Quartet | 1986 |
| Take the "A" Train | Cedar Walton, David Williams [1], Billy Higgins | 1987 |
| Take the "A" Train | Marian McPartland | 1987 |
| Take the "A" Train | Doc Severinsen & The Tonight Show Band | 1987 |
| Take the "A" Train | Max Neissendorfer Trio | 1988 |
| Take the "A" Train | Jimmy and Stacy Rowles | 1988 |
| Take the "A" Train | Paul Bley Trio | 1989 |
| Take the Coltrane | Bill Perkins-James Clay Quintet | 1989 |
| Take the "A" Train | The Cedar Walton Trio | 1989 |
| Take the A Train | Joe Henderson | 1991 |
| Take the "A" Train | Peter Appleyard | 1991 |
| Take the "A" Train | Gerry Wiggins | 1991 |
| Take the "A" Train | Spanky Wilson | 1991 |
| Take the "A" Train | Terrence Farrell | 1992 |
| Take the "A" Train | Laszlo Gardony | 1993 |
| Take the "A" Train | Claude Williams | 1993 |
| Take the "A" Train | The Gene Harris Quartet | 1993 |
| Take the "A" Train | James Carter Quartet | 1994 |
| Take the "A" Train | Rex Allen's Swing Express | 1994 |
| Take the "A" Train | Franz Jackson, Marcus Belgrave | 1994 |
| Take the "A" Train | The Harry Allen-Keith Ingham Quintet | 1994 |
| Take the Coltrane | John McLaughlin With Elvin Jones and Joey DeFrancesco | 1995 |
| Take the "A" Train | Brian Melvin Quartet | 1995 |
| Take the "A" Train | Dave Rasmussen Jazz Orchestra | 1995 |
| Take the A Train | Floyd McDaniel & Erwin Helfer | 1995 |
| Take the "A" Train | Clarence Gatemouth Brown | July 15, 1997 |
| Take the "A" Train | Herb Pomeroy | 1997 |
| Take the "A" Train | Heinz v. Hermann Jazz Ahead | 1999 |
| Take The A-train | Herman Brood | 1999 |
| Take the A-Train | Coco Schumann Quartett | 1999 |
| Take the A Train | Joscho Stephan | January 31, 2000 |
| Take the "A" Train | Joe Newman, Ove Lind Quintet Featuring Lars Estrand | 2000 |
| Take the "A" Train | The Demagogue Reacts! | 2000 |
| Take the A-Train | Westwind Brass | 2000 |
| Take the "A" Train | Tommy Newsom | August 7, 2001 |
| Strayhorn Medley | Emilie-Claire Barlow | 2001 |
| Take the 'A' Train | Darius de Haas | June 4, 2002 |
| Take the "A" Train | The Danny Moss Quartet Plus Roy Williams | 2002 |
| Take the "A" train | Manuel Rocheman | 2003 |
| Take the A Train | Bobby Zee & Zoe | 2003 |
| Take the A Train | Guymon Ensely Quintet | 2003 |
| Take the "A" Train | Joan Stiles with Clark Terry, Frank Wess | April 6, 2004 |
| Take the "A" Train | Swing Girls | August 21, 2004 |
| Take the "A" Train | Charlie Watts and The Tenet | August 24, 2004 |
| Take the A-Train | Jim Lammers | 2004 |
| Take the "A" Train | Farrell/Nicolls | 2005 |
| Take the A Train | Ed Neumeister Quartet | 2005 |
| Take the "A" Train | Eldar | May 30, 2006 |
| Take the "A" Train | Giancarlo Mazzù, Luciano Troja | 2006 |
| Take the A Train | Bill Carrothers and Marc Copland | 2006 |
| A Train | Warren Battiste | 2008 |
| Take the "A" Train | The Dana Legg Stage Band | September 8, 2009 |
| Take the "A" Train | Nikki Yanofsky | April 20, 2010 |
| Take the "A" Train | Robi Botos Quintet | 2010 |
| Take the A Train | Cynthia Felton | 2010 |
| Take the "A" Train | Bernie Worrell | June 7, 2011 |
| Take the "A" Train | Ira Sullivan & Stu Katz | September 20, 2011 |
| I'm
Beginning to See the Light / Take the 'A' Train / Cotton Tail |
Joe Jackson with Christian McBride & Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson | June 21, 2012 |
