DUKE ELLINGTON AND BILLY STRAYHORN

ELLINGTON, Edward Kennedy ‘Duke’ (1899-1974) and Billy STRAYHORN (1915-1967). Take the ‘A’ Train. New York: Tempo Music, 1941.

First edition of the printed piano-vocal score, signed by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. Inscribed in red ballpoint pen on the front cover ‘To Andy Mansfield, Madly, Billy Strayhorn’ and in black ballpoint pen on the first page ‘Duke Ellington’.

Billy Strayhorn joined the Duke Ellington Orchestra in 1939 and quickly became Ellington’s chief collaborator and arranger. Reportedly, Strayhorn was inspired to write Take the ‘A’ Train by the directions Duke provided on his first arriving in New York from Pittsburgh, and it soon became the signature tune of the Ellington Orchestra. The recipient, Andy Mansfield, was a Los Angeles radio broadcaster known for the music programmes Turn Back the Clock and America’s Popular Music.

Printed piano-vocal score, bifolium, 305 x 228 mm.

[With:] – V.I.P.’s Boogie / Jam with Sam. Columbia Records, 1951. 10-inch single signed on the A-side label in white ink by Duke Ellington and in black ink by Billy Strayhorn, vocalist Jimmie Grissom, drummer Louie Bellson and saxophonist Harry Carney, additionally signed by eleven other members of the Orchestra on the B-side label and the original brown paper sleeve . The additional signatures of singers Betty Roché and Jimmy Grissom, who do not appear on the recording, indicate that the record was likely signed at Birdland in November 1952.

[With:] STRAYHORN, Billy (1915-1967). Mercer Records presents the Billy Strayhorn Trio. Mercer Records, 1950. Album signed in blue ballpoint pen on the rear slick ‘Billy Strayhorn’. A scarce recording on the short-lived Mercer label started by Ellington’s son Mercer and jazz writer Leonard Feather. The ‘Trio’ consisted of Strayhorn and Duke Ellington, with either Wendell Marshall or Joe Shulman on bass.

[And:] ELLINGTON, Edward Kennedy ‘Duke’ (1899-1974). Primping from the Prom – Duke Ellington and his Orchestra. CBS, 1973. Album signed and inscribed in blue ballpoint pen on the front of the sleeve ‘To My Friend Jon Swenson [illegible], Good Luck, Duke Ellington xxxx’.