Billy Strayhorn, jazz composer, in an interview with Stanley Dance.
Grades:
9
Themes:

That's another thing. I'll tell you what I was trying to do—the original idea of "A" train. I was always a great fan of Fletcher Henderson's. He wrote so many wonderful arrangements. One day, I was thinking about his style the way he wrote for trumpets, trombones and saxophones, and I thought I would try something like that.

Now this was a combination of circumstances. At the end of 1940, there was a fight between ASCAP and radio, and at the beginning of 1941, all ASCAP music was off the air. When we opened at the Casa Mana, the third of January 1941, we had airtime every night, but could not play our library. We had to play non-ASCAP material. Duke was in ASCAP, but I wasn't. So we had to write a new library, and "A" train was one of the numbers.

The reason we gave it that title was because they were building the Sixth Avenue subway at that time, and they then tuned off and went to the Bronx, but the "A" train kept straight on up to 200 and Something Street. People got confused. They'd take the "D" train and it would go the Harlem and 145th Street, but the next stop would be on Eight Avenue under the Polo Grounds and the one after that would be in the Bronx. So I said I was writing directions—Take the "A" train to Sugar Hill. The "D" Train was really messing up everybody. I heard so many times about housewives who ended up in the Bronx and had to turn around and come back.

("Take the 'A' Train," World of Duke Ellington by Stanley Dance. Published by DaCapo Press, New York, 1970. 32-33.)



In partnership with PBS.

Featured High School Resources

Poetry Packet for High School

ACTIVITIES

National Poetry Month Themed Packet for High School

To celebrate Poetry Month, this resource shares 3 activities that will help high school students to engage with poetry i...

Add to Folder
creative writing
children's book
activities
classroom tools
language arts and writing
vocabulary
Create new folderCREATE NEW FOLDER
lesson plans for animal farm - kit for a complete unit on the novel

LESSON PLANS

Animal Farm Teaching Unit Kit

Everything you need to teach a full or partial unit on Animal Farm Help your students dive into the modern relevance, m...

Add to Folder
creative writing
children's book
activities
classroom tools
language arts and writing
vocabulary
Create new folderCREATE NEW FOLDER
Romeo and Juliet Teaching Unit Kit

LESSON PLANS

Romeo and Juliet Teaching Unit Kit

A complete teaching kit for a full or partial unit on Romeo and Juliet Take your students on a thought-provoking, insig...

Add to Folder
creative writing
children's book
activities
classroom tools
language arts and writing
vocabulary
Create new folderCREATE NEW FOLDER

Related Resources

REFERENCE

Gordon Parks

1912- Film Director, Photographer, Writer, Composer Birthplace: Ft.

Add to Folder
creative writing
children's book
activities
classroom tools
language arts and writing
vocabulary
Create new folderCREATE NEW FOLDER

REFERENCE

Ralph Johnson Bunche

1904-1971 Won Nobel Peace Prize in 1950 Birthplace: Detroit, MI Education: University o...

Add to Folder
creative writing
children's book
activities
classroom tools
language arts and writing
vocabulary
Create new folderCREATE NEW FOLDER

REFERENCE

Alice Walker

1944- Novelist, poet Birthplace: Eatonon, GA Graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, 1965 ...

Add to Folder
creative writing
children's book
activities
classroom tools
language arts and writing
vocabulary
Create new folderCREATE NEW FOLDER

REFERENCE

James Baldwin

  1924-1987 Novelist Birthplace: New York, NY James Baldwin was born in Harlem...

Add to Folder
creative writing
children's book
activities
classroom tools
language arts and writing
vocabulary
Create new folderCREATE NEW FOLDER

REFERENCE

Langston Hughes

1902-67 American poet and central figure of the Harlem Renaissance Birthplace: Joplin, MO Education: Lincoln Universi...

Add to Folder
creative writing
children's book
activities
classroom tools
language arts and writing
vocabulary
Create new folderCREATE NEW FOLDER

REFERENCE

Richard Wright

border=0> 1908-1960 Author Birthplace: Roxie, MS In 1927, after ye...

Add to Folder
creative writing
children's book
activities
classroom tools
language arts and writing
vocabulary
Create new folderCREATE NEW FOLDER
loading gif