One of many timeless songs of the Duke Ellington songbook, Billy Strayhorn's "Take the A Train" ranks among the best. Stayhorn himself was the complete opposite of Duke in many ways: Strayhorn was a homosexual, Duke Ellington was a ladies man, and Strayhorn was rather introverted while Duke Ellington was very outgoing. Despite their rather extreme personal differences, the two men were musical soulmates, and Strayhorn composed "Lush Life" and other songs for Duke's band.
"Take the A Train" is about taking the A subway train to get to Sugar Hill up in Harlem. Composed in 1939 (or was it in 1940?), the song alludes to reaching Duke Ellington's apartment in Harlem. Back in the day, the A subway train went from eastern Brooklyn to Harlem and uptown Manhattan. In addition, Sugar Hill was the neighborhood for prosperous and elite African-Americans during this period. Illustrious African-Americans who at different periods in history lived in Sugar Hill include W.E.B. Du Bois, Duke Ellington, and Thurgood Marhsall, the NAACP civil rights lawyer and eventually, a Supreme Court Justice.
The definitive recording of the song is of course Duke Ellington's in the early 1940s. The introduction/theme of the tune does sound like a train (trains are common metaphors and allusions in African-American blues and jazz music). This is one of the best songs of the swing era, and one of Duke Ellington's best. I also love any jazz song that alludes to Harlem, so this is an instant classic.
Ella Fitzgerald also sang the song. I prefer instrumentals over vocal jazz everytime, but her rendition is powerful. I usually dislike scatting, but with Ella it's bearable. And of course this version features Duke Ellington's band backing her.
Clifford Brown and Max Roach also recorded the tune, beginning with a train-like whistle to emphasize the train theme. As one would expect from Brown and Roach, their version swings harder than any other version, and Brown and Harold Land soar on trumpet and sax. My only problem with them is the lack of a real drum solo for Roach, who would've been interesting to hear play a melodic solo for an extended period of time, like his unforgettable solo on "Stompin at the Savoy," an old Chick Webb song about dancing at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem.
Charles Mingus, a big fan and longtime admirer of Duke Ellington in addition to being a student of the jazz tradition, also recorded the song a number of times. My favorite Mingus version is the Cornell live recording, featuring Eric Dolphy on bass clarinet. Played for about 17 minutes, everyone gets a chance to solo. It's fascinating to hear Dolphy's unique, avant garde bass clarinet solo, and pianist Jaki Byard explores jazz's early roots by playing a stride piano solo (sounding a lot like James P. Johnson, Willie the Lion Smith and other stride pianists of the 1920s. Another positive thing about this rendition is Dannie Richmond's drum solo, which actually worked well.
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