duke ellington plates
AIRING: Season 7, Episode 11
THE DETECTIVE: Tukufu Zuberi
THE PLACE: Brooklyn, New York
THE CASE:
1941, Manhattan bustles, and New York City’s newest subway line - the “A” train - is moving people in more ways than one. A new instrumental “Take the ‘A’ Train,” rolls up the charts and will become the signature song of pianist Edward Kennedy Ellington. The song will bring financial success to a pioneering music publishing venture, owned by Duke Ellington.
But was the young composer of “Take the A Train” himself denied full credit for the hit song? More than half a century later, Garfield Gillings, of Brooklyn, New York, has made a discovery, boxes of sheet music in a dumpster. Among the paper scores are metal sheets that look like printing plates for “Take the A Train."
History Detectives sets out to find the story behind these plates and to determine the role they played in this jazz classic.
Video: Duke Ellington Plates
Watch as Tukufu Zuberi visits Duke Eliington's 110th birthday celebrations in Central Park and interviews the Duke's grandson.
Think you have a case for the History Detectives? Send us your mystery here. 