Duke Ellington and His Orchestra introduced “Take the ‘A’ Train” in 1941 and the song immediately climbed up their repertoire as a signature tune. The first recording of the tune, made on February 15, entered the charts in July and remained there for seven weeks, rising to number eleven. The same recording became a hit two years later, charting at number nineteen for one week. Unlike many of you may think, the soon-to-become standard wasn’t written by Ellington, but by his collaborator Billy Strayhorn. Due to an ASCAP strike, Ellington could not air his compositions, so he enrolled the help of Strayhorn and Mercer Ellington, his son, neither of whom belonged to ASCAP. Ellington’s dilemma turned out to be a great opportunity for both Strayhorn and young Ellington. Neither musician squandered his fortunate circumstance. Strayhorn wrote such songs as “Take the ‘A’ Train,” “Johnny Come Lately,” “Chelsea Bridge,” “Day Dream,” and “After All.” Mercer wrote, among others, “Things Ain’t What They Used to Be,” “Blue Serge,” and “Moon Mist.”
"'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. Luckily, the tune survived and is now one of the best-known jazz compositions in the history of the genre. In “The World of Duke Ellington” by Stanley Dance, Strayhorn claims the title is about choosing the ‘A’ train over the ‘D’ train. He said he kept hearing about Harlem bound housewives who took the ‘D’ train and ended up in the Bronx, as it only went as far as 145th Street before turning off. If you want to go to Sugar Hill, you need to take the ‘A’ train! Another account has the title “Take the ‘A’ Train” evolving out of directions Ellington gave Strayhorn on how to get to Ellington’s Harlem apartment by subway.
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. His solo on ‘Take The ‘A’ Train’ was so integral to the composition that he repeated it nightly verbatim. When he left in 1965, Cootie Williams continued playing Nance’s solo note-by-note.
The lineup of the legendary RCA-Victor February 15 recording included Rex Stewart (cornet), Wallace Jones, Ray Nance (trumpet), Lawrence Brown and Joe Nanton (trombone), Juan Tizol (valve trombone), Barney Bigard (clarinet), Johnny Hodges (soprano sax, alto sax, clarinet), Otto Hardwick (alto sax, bass sax), Ben Webster (tenor sax), Harry Carney (clarinet, alto sax, baritone sax), Duke Ellington (piano), Fred Guy (guitar), Jimmy Blanton (bass) and Sonny Greer (drums.)
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