Duke Ellington & His Orchestra - Take the "A" Train

[motreby]

This band can play perfect even in thier sleep...Amaaazing...!!!

[kaylamorful]

Hi, amazing video, do you know if this dvd is still available or the title of the performances, pretty please?

[jasjemine]

I absolutely LOVE Duke Ellington, and even though my friends find this weird (I'm 12), I just keep on listening to it. <3

[Uniformcid]

i love playing this song

[custardapple777]

Too short ! This is my favorite version of Take The A Train followed by the Clifford Brown/ Max Roach/ Harold Land one.

How did you get this awesome footage ?

[kenjames64]

@custardapple777 I've had a boot DVD of this gig for years. Bought it at a garage sale. I still find the stereo sound and video quality amazing for the time (1962). These uploads don't do the actual "tape" justice. It's just too cool to see the Duke playing these classic compositions with such a seasoned band.

[custardapple777]

@kenjames64 Cool story !  Dunno why Ray Nance isn't more famous

[mkehandgrenades]

is it just me or did duke come down with a case of vitiligo or whatever michael jackson said he had.

[geckaliyoruz]

4 people missed the 'A' train

[robertgonzo1978]

I'm a motorman on the A train. With all the crime on that line, he should have made a song about a horse pulled carrage.

[kenjames64]

@robertgonzo1978 Maybe crime wasn't as pervasive on the A train in 1939, when the song was composed by Billy Strayhorn. What is it like to be a motorman? I've got this romantic idea of what it would be like to run a train ... I'm really curious.

[BoudiccaBlanc]

@robertgonzo1978

Times change. :((

[disneyfan81]

It never gets old. First the tinkling piano intro. Then the horn section cuts loose. Magic!!

[ATangProductions]

...Duke has an odd face when he plays..kinda turns me on

[kenjames64]

@ATangProductions Why are the linked comments always so inappropriate and weird -- like yours? Where the fuck are these videos being reposted?

[ATangProductions]

@kenjames64 I dunno...but it wasn't meant to be a serious comment...person like you should learn to loosen up

[mkehandgrenades]

@ATangProductions i think its just how this music makes you feel. Like you cant stop smiling cuz you did too much blow and you got that swing.

[MrFeltnormal]

cant hear the piano :(

[tedheath58]

The fans who are sorry, but poor sound quality I think everyone heard.

Take a little better, but I think, a little unsatisfactory.

(In Japanese environment, I use Google translation)

[kenjames64]

@tedheath58 This is YouTube, not your home theater with 1080p and 3d. You're welcome to post the high-def versions of this 50-year-old performance.

[bmsoundtrack]

@tedheath58 This is actually really nice quality, and that's coming from somebody who has a modern recording of this and an old one on CD.

[PigfootAbernathy]

The Mozart of jazz!!

Rest Peacefully

DUKE ELLINGTON (1899-1974)

[FluidDruid23]

Could listen to this stuff all day long... :o)

[Thundermonkeyms]

Lol, today a friend of mine commented that jazz is a lot of things, but the one thing it never is is ANGRY. So true. XD

And also Duke Ellington is amazing. :)

[mikegreenemusic]

Has anyone noticed that they dont have any stands nor music remarkable!!

[pwnmonkeyisreal]

doesn't get any better than this! so full of style and character.

[iroc1171]

the original a train, cant get any better than this!

[liora1954]

Nothing like the Big bands!!!!

[OhnoesJG]

harmon mute without stem KOOL!

[robin17171]

I could listen to this OVER AND OVER AND OVER again, and never get bored.

[MrMaymac]

Simply spectacular, Duke Ellington at the piano, is wonderful with a spectacular orchestra aligned and with a spectacular pace, it is also wonderful the muted trumpet, there is nothing more to say how great it is!

Greetings from Mexico.

~~Miguel Ángel~~

[therealhotwaffles]

favorite jazz piece ever! Love it!

[toffeltrompetet]

Try clapping on 1 and 3 instead of 2 and 4. It just don't work.

[samadjhi]

The A train is a subway that goes up to Harlem which at the time of conception of this song was considered the show capital of the world.

[trompeyta]

2 people must have taken the B train!

[presidentialfan]

two people missed the like button

[edwardconway27]

I love the old version (1940s)

[Wafflesmart]

this song... is so AWESOME

[funkydancegirl45]

1 person missed the like button

[cez1005]

Trumpet vs Trombone vs Saxophone?

[kenjames64]

@sigmayacht This piece was written for Ellington in 1938 by Billy Strayhorn, his songwriting collaborator for almost 30 years. Hodges, Carney, Nance and Hamilton, in particular, had each been with Ellington's orchestra (off and on) for more than two decades. These men knew the head arrangement without needing to think about it. Listen to how dialed in that reed section is -- and the rest is pure jazz.

[Essentialism155]

@sigmayacht If that's the impressive part, you're missing the -entire- thing. Jazz isn't about the sheet music. All these guys know all the songs they play by heart, in any key.

No sheet music is the easy part. Play it 10 times and you know most of it by heart. 0:00 - 0:49. The main tune and the chords is all that's on the sheet anyway. Everything else is all them, mate.

[theinvisiblelight]

Man, that trumpet solo really gets me.

[hoodlifenigga1]

i like te old audio

[BigBenUN]

GTA IV!!! :)

[Impercepted]

Funny how band directors always tell us not to tap our feet. It looks "unprofessional". BUT these guys are like top level musicians and what are they doing? Tapping their feet.

Stupid band directors.

[theinvisiblelight]

@Impercepted no offense but they're idiots. 

[Drogado88]

@Impercepted yeah yeah!! haha. But imagine a symphony orchestra tapping like crazy, hahaha. That'd be hillarious

[mrcatman97]

i know how to play the trumpet part of this song

[it0Tpt]

@mrcatman97

me too=]]

[andynomark]

Just what, could make you dislike this?

[PajamaSnake]

black people used to be cool!

[jschill360]

@PajamaSnake Used ta be coo? Yo man u mad racist :D

just kidding

[jazzluvr4u]

This tune got me addicted to jazz music! Duke was, and forever will be a great American composer, arranger and entertainer! Classy, sophisticated, bar none truly an inspiration!

[skunkin53]

Db?

[westcoastdigital]

The Duke is the man. This is a truly timeless classic. The whole band was the Duke's instrument. What a sound

[FenderJag95]

this (AMAZING) song makes me hunger for portillo's (for those of you from chicago...

[saxplayerfy1]

GREAT Trumpet-Solo...GREAT Big Band

[nidiaaw]

One of the most important songs in American music history. PERIOD!!

[Juliaflo]

@nidiaaw I second that.

[swanniG2]

So the other day I'm cruising down the road in Algonquin in my Sabre GT and this comes on, and I was like oh yeah! lol go Jazz nation radio for giving gta 4 a good soundtrack!

[SSselfsponsored]

his look at :13 is priceless

[ledZeppelinkid4706]

these cats are really swingin!

[dochatfield1]

you can learn everything about music from listening to this.

[synystersevilheir]

That's a tight rhythm section. Beautiful walking 'line as well.

[Birthangel1]

on solo trumpet is Ray Nance

[Birthangel1]

@Birthangel1 sorry ... posted to wrong video. Someone asked that question on another version of this.

[MrKeyboardman1]

To greats - the Duke & Basie

[TheccalniDitorec]

This is seriously good, I wouldn't say good, but its got a tune you can't resist.

I didn't know about Duke up until I read about his influence on music in US history.

[ScottSherry93]

wtf? this is was soooooo hip back then how is it sad?

[kenjames64]

@TheQuartet4 Duke always did that...turned to the audience (or camera) while playing; this goes back to the Cotton Club days in the 1920s, where his orchestra played hundreds of shows. I think it's partly a remnant of the subservient role black entertainers in any genre occupied in pre-Civil-Rights America, partly his innate sense of showmanship, and partly just pride. He's the Duke!

[kenjames64]

@TheQuartet4 And there ain't nothing sad about "Take the 'A' Train." It's about as celebratory and swinging as jazz gets.

[kenjames64]

@kenjames64 And listen to how tight that reed section is. At this point, Carney and Hodges had played together for almost 30 years. Add Gonsalves on tenor and Russell Procope on alto, and you've got arguably the greatest reed section in big-band history. (Sidney Bichet and Ben Webster both played in this section at different points.)

[zipper179]

@kenjames64 YOU TELL 'EM, HOSS..!

[95Galante]

@kenjames64 I agree with that!

[95Galante]

@kenjames64 Amen to that!

[iVideoiTube]

@kenjames64

Very debatable comment.

And can we really call Eliington Swing? Maybe more Jazz.

[kenjames64]

@iVideoiTube jazz, indeed.

[moneymakerisawonderf]

the real music...Great

[guitarherochamp1]

Fallout 3 lol

[BT1ACTOR]

He was an ALPHA!

[mefeetbecold]

Oh my goodness I got CHILLS from this. I love jazz so much.

[milkbluemilk]

such a damn catchy song. why isn't music today this warm and cosy.

[TomBass411]

Jazz music is still alive and still this cozy :)

[WrestlerFRK09]

Duke Ellington....WHAT A FREAKIN GENIUS

[moloch49]

The anthem that defined the 1940s!

Transcendent!

[violinoscar]

So spot on. Beautiful....magical...inspira­tional.  A tune so hot that, how many is it? 70, 80 years later, bands are still playing it.

How the record companies have conned the youth of today by cramming formula pop down their throats.

I fell blessed to have been brought up in a house that had appreciation for Duke, Basie, Charlie Parker... all the greats

[icfecex]

cuando yo, joven, oía por la radio "Music USA, a two hours program..., la sintonía era este maravilloso "Take the A train". Cuando lo oía y ahora lo oigo con mis casi 80 años, me emociono tanto...

[championm1]

yo tengo 58 y aunque no es musica de mi epoca la aprecio en todo su esplendor,me gusta bailar el swing,estoy buscando esta misma cancion con jackie gleason es una mejor version mas ritmica

[stankology]

Tremendous in all aspects, real nice tempo on the bass, and the saxes are damn tight, tasty all around grooviness!

[robotchicen05]

i love this song, the best one in gta!

[eatme765wes]

J&R is the best station easily in GTA.

[AznEquazian]

listen to it every time i do drive by shootings lol

[billyconnearly]

You cunt! hahahaha

[kenjames64]

seriously, is this tune playing on the radio in Grand Theft Auto?

[TheBoomhahaha]

i think it is....its been a long time since i played it

[gathyman]

yeah its on the jazz station JNR. i heard and i was like NO WAY!!

[AznEquazian]

yessir lol. there are surprisingly a LOT of great jazz tunes

[czechnoob]

Yes it is... Jazz Nation Radio in GTA IV...

I keep loving Duke!

[czechnoob]

@kenjames64 It is... On Jazz Nation Radio ... I played GTA IV for a while... JNR has quite good tracklist :)

[BillyHarden]

@kenjames64, yes it´s one of the very, very few good songs in the whole game. It´s playing on Jazz Nation Radio (JNR) :O)

[kenjames64]

@BillyHarden That is just too cool!

[KhanShin]

@robotchicen05 yes it is... on Jazz Nation Radio, along with other jazz classics

[3811iberis]

This is the epitome of class, when musicians were the main focus, not over marketed no talents, and eye candy. Duke Ellington is an American music legend who's world renown, and this is certainly a treat to see, gracious kenjames64!!

[MrGta46]

i love that song so bad. i like all of the trombone guys , tenor saxophone guys,i like the alto saxophone's,baritone saxophone and trumpet's.

[Rephrat]

The Heifetz of Jazz !!!

[TR1xxx1]

Yep, Impossible to stop your foot from tapping... simply doesn't work. It's music that comes from the body and the soul... that's why.

[robin17171]

@TR1xxx1 I didn't even notice my foot tapping till I read this. Then again, I'm a jazz guy I'm always tapping my foot, whether it be to a recorded song like this or something going through my head.

[rufochka1]

love it.... absolutely amazing!

[4u2b1ib12]

Try, just try to stop your foot from tapping.

[RiversideIndian]

@4u2b1ib12  Can't

[josiah566]

@4u2b1ib12 Too busy trying to stop the nearby group of flies from dancing on my desk. Ellington's skill and swing transcend all species.

[Babbe]

@4u2b1ib12 I tried. 18 seconds later I failed.

[thefunnyman4]

@4u2b1ib12 I did. Then I started tapping with my hands.. xD

[slippydogg]

Amazing. REAL American music. Pure genius. All music should be like this...

[hinaxio]

genial