The story behind puzzle No. 5
Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra · Single · Victor · 1941
The title is a set of directions. Take the A train uptown to Harlem, and you would find Duke Ellington's home. Billy Strayhorn turned those directions into the most famous theme song in big band history.
Duke Ellington's orchestra made the famous recording of Take the A Train for Victor on February 15, 1941. It replaced Sepia Panorama as the band's theme song and stayed that way for decades, opening concerts and radio broadcasts around the world.
Ellington led the band, but the tune belongs to Billy Strayhorn, his longtime collaborator. Strayhorn met Ellington in Pittsburgh in December 1938, and Ellington gave him subway directions to his home that began with the A train. Timing helped too. A fight over licensing fees kept music licensed by ASCAP off the radio in 1941, so Ellington could not broadcast most of his own catalog. Strayhorn's new tunes were licensed through a different organization, so the band suddenly needed them.
Listen for the saxophones carrying the melody in smooth, tight harmony, with brass punching in around them. Ray Nance takes the trumpet solo, which other trumpeters have copied note for note ever since. After the second chorus the band jumps up from C to E flat, like a subway car picking up speed.
Who's on it
Keep listening
Play Strayhorn's Chelsea Bridge next, written the same year. It shows his ballad side, with harmonies that still sound modern.
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