Take the "A" Train Take the "A" Train "Take the 'A' Train" is a jazz standard by Billy Strayhorn that was the signature tune of the Duke Ellington orchestra. The use of the Strayhorn composition as the signature tune was made necessary by a ruling in 1940 by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). When ASCAP raised its licensing fees for broadcast use, many ASCAP members, including Ellington, could no longer play their compositions over radio, as most music was played live on radio at the time. Ellington turned to Billy Strayhorn and son Mercer Ellington, who were registered with ASCAP
Mercer Ellington Ellington is president of the Duke Ellington Center for the Arts. After Ellington died, his son Paul became the executor of both his and the Duke Ellington estate and kept the Duke Ellington Orchestra alive. Ellington's eldest grandson, Edward Kennedy Ellington II, also is a musician and maintains a small salaried band known as the Duke Ellington Legacy, which frequently comprises the core of the big band operated by The Duke Ellington Center for the Arts. His daughter Mercedes was born in 1939 to Ellington and Ruth Batts, to whom he was never married. Ellington was married three times. His