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JAZZ STANDARD – Strayhorn-Ellington – ‘Take the A Train’ – 5 CELLOS

Other Identification:
“Take the A Train” was written by a kid who lived in Pittsburgh named Billy Strayhorn. Strayhorn was a soda jerk and drugstore delivery boy by day, a musician by night, and a composer all the time.

In 1938, Strayhorn was introduced to Duke Ellington, who asked the young musician to play for him after a show. “And Strayhorn did the gutsiest thing imaginable,” author David Hadju says. “He played ‘Sophisticated Lady,’ and he said, ‘Well, Mr. Ellington, this is the way you just played it in concert,’ and he showed that he could mimic Ellington perfectly. Then he said, ‘Well, this is the way I would play it.’

Hadju added: “Right there, the whole dynamic between the two of them was established through the course of their whole life. And Strayhorn proceeded for 30 years to take what Ellington did and add to it himself.”

Movements or sections:
In light of a court ruling in 1940 Duke Ellington could no longer afford to play his compositions over radio, remembering that most music was played live on radio at the time. Ellington turned to Billy Strayhorn and also to his son his Mercer Ellington, who were registered with ASCAP’s competitor BMI, to write a whole new book for the band. The wonderful ‘A’ Train was one of many tunes written by Strayhorn, and was even picked to replace “Sepia Panorama” as the band’s signature song. However, we are lucky to have this creation with us – Mercer recalled that he found this very composition in the rubbish bin after Strayhorn discarded a draft of it because it sounded too much like a Fletcher Henderson arrangement!

The song was first recorded on 15th January, 1941 as a standard transcription for radio broadcast; but the first (famous) commercial recording was made the following month on 15th February 15, 1941.

Instrumentation: FOR A QUINTET OF FIVE CELLOS
Arranged by Chris Hill

All the music (individual parts, no score) is contained in 1 PDF.

Approximate difficulty:
This is QUITE/VERY DIFFICULT for cello players because of the very high speed, but is well possible for advanced players thanks to the present reworking for FIVE cellos by CHRIS HILL.

Dedicatee of this presentation (if applicable):
David Johnstone is extremely grateful to conductor, cellist and arranger CHRIS HILL for permission to include and share some of his work in the Johnstone-Music web site.

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