Description

Billy STRAYHORN – ‘Take the A Train’ (Jazz Standard) – for FIVE CELLOS (made famous by Duke Ellington)

arranged for Cello Ensemble by Chris Hill

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PDF 1 – ALL   CELLO   PARTS (no general score)

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Notes:

“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.”

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 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.

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.

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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.

Here is more on this musician:

Chris Hill studied cello with Joy Hall, George Issac, Christopher Bunting and in masterclasses with Paul Tortelier. As a cellist he has experience of both a recitalist and concerto soloist.

Chris has conducted the Thornbury Orchestra (Gloucestershire, U.K.) since January 2003. Under his admirable leadership the orchestra has grown from a chamber orchestra to a full symphony orchestra with significant forces that many other groups are envious of. Chris was formerly a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers but now concentrates on music in many forms. He currently leads a Cello Octet (The Celli Peppers), plays in the POET string quartet and runs various little projects to give musicians a chance to perform works that are not in the normal repertoire. He is an advocate of modern music, particularly from local composers, instigating the tradition in Thornbury Orchestra of playing a local contemporary piece in each concert.

To make contact please visit: https://www.thornburyorchestra.org.uk

Chris now also conducts the Thornbury Chamber Players, performing in smaller venues that Thornbury Orchestra has now out-grown. He also organises the annual Big Cello Day, which brings together 50 to 60 cellists of all ages. To meet the demands of these groups Chris also arranges music and may yet find time to compose…..

ENGLISH

Welcome to Johnstone-Music! A big Anglo-Spanish web for MUSICIANS and especially CELLISTS – original music scores for orchestral instruments and keyboard. Plus articles, audios, videos, resources, catalogues, news etc. Official web of the professional cellist David Johnstone, principal cello Navarre Symphony Orchestra (Spain), chamber musician and soloist in many premieres. Hundreds of cello arrangements in the web for a symbolic charge per download or for free.

The following have taken his work onboard, sometimes with special collaborations as composer-arranger-performer: the Philadelphia Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de Euskadi, Orquesta Sinfónica de Venezuela, Orchestre Nouvelle Generation de Montreal, the Gulbenkian Orchestra (Lisbon), Orchestra da Camera del Locarnese (Suiza), The Zagreb Soloists, the Saint Petersburg Musical Theatre “Zazerkalye” Chamber Orchestra, the Wroclaw Chamber Orchestra Leopoldinum (Poland), Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra (New Zealand), Camerata Cambrensis (Basque country), Ensemble Metamorphosis of Belgrade (Serbia), with Ara Malikian (Non Profit Music Chamber Orchestra – Madrid), and a long etc.. Currently, many courses, conservatoires and music schools, university String departments etc. use his repertoire; there are dozens of his arrangements on ‘You Tube’ …

Directly from the home page visit our sections:

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