1. Duke Ellington Billy Strayhorn
"Take the 'A' Train" is a jazz standard by Billy Strayhorn that was the signature tune of Duke Ellington's band. Its title refers to the A subway service that runs through New York City, going at that time from eastern Brooklyn up into Harlem and northern Manhattan, using the express tracks in Manhattan. The song often opened Ella Fitzgerald's performances. Strayhorn, whom Ellington hired in 1939, set about studying Ellington's scores to learn his style. As Strayhorn became able to emulate Ellington's style more closely, he was allowed to take on more arranging. "Take the 'A' Train" was composed by Strayhorn in The song combines the propulsive swing of the 1940s-era Ellington band with the confident sophistication of Ellington and the black elite who inhabited Sugar Hill in Harlem. The tune is in AABA form, in the key of C, with each section being a lyric couplet.

2. Fats Waller
"Take the 'A' Train" is a jazz standard by Billy Strayhorn that was the signature tune of Duke Ellington's band. Its title refers to the A subway service that runs through New York City, going at that time from eastern Brooklyn up into Harlem and northern Manhattan, using the express tracks in Manhattan. The song often opened Ella Fitzgerald's performances. Strayhorn, whom Ellington hired in 1939, set about studying Ellington's scores to learn his style. As Strayhorn became able to emulate Ellington's style more closely, he was allowed to take on more arranging. "Take the 'A' Train" was composed by Strayhorn in The song combines the propulsive swing of the 1940s-era Ellington band with the confident sophistication of Ellington and the black elite who inhabited Sugar Hill in Harlem. The tune is in AABA form, in the key of C, with each section being a lyric couplet.

3. Ella Fitzgerald

4. J.J. Johnson

5. Miles Davis

6. Duke Ellington

7. Dizzy Gillespie

8. Oliver Nelson

9. Charlie Parker

10. Thelonius Monk

11. Charles Mingus

12. Count Basie

13. Delfeayo Marsalis