William "Billy" Strayhorn (1915-1967)
Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Jazz composer and arranger. Collaborator with Duke Ellington. Billy Strayhorn's "Take the A Train" became the Ellington orchestra's theme song. A graduate of Westinghouse High School, Strayhorn had his musical talents nurtured here.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
Billy Strayhorn grew up in Pittsburgh's Homewood neighborhood and honed his gifts at Westinghouse High School before becoming one of the great composers and arrangers in American jazz. His decades-long partnership with Duke Ellington produced some of the era's most enduring music, and his composition "Take the A Train" became the Ellington orchestra's signature theme. A classically trained musician with a sophisticated ear, Strayhorn shaped the sound of the Ellington band from behind the scenes.
Why it matters
Strayhorn stands among the towering figures of 20th-century American music, and his Pittsburgh roots tie the city to the golden age of jazz composition.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
Billy Strayhorn came of age in Pittsburgh in the years between the world wars, a period when the city's Black community was building one of the richest musical cultures in America. Neighborhoods alive with clubs, churches, and rehearsal rooms nurtured a remarkable generation of jazz talent, and a gifted young musician here could find both training and inspiration close to home.
It was also the era when jazz was maturing from dance-hall entertainment into a sophisticated American art form. Big bands were becoming showcases for real composition and arrangement, and the demand for musicians who could not only play but write and shape a whole orchestra's sound was growing.
Strayhorn's story begins in that world — a classically minded young man in a city that took its music seriously, at the very moment American jazz was reaching for new depth and ambition.
People & events
The marker roots Strayhorn's gift in a specific place: Westinghouse High School, where his musical talents were nurtured. He was a graduate of the school, and his early training gave him a command of harmony and structure that would set him apart — a composer's education as much as a performer's.
His life changed through his partnership with Duke Ellington, one of the towering figures of American music. The collaboration between the two men became one of the most fruitful in jazz, with Strayhorn working closely alongside Ellington as composer and arranger over many years.
Out of that partnership came "Take the A Train," the piece that became the Ellington orchestra's signature theme. That a single composition could come to stand for one of the greatest bands in jazz says everything about the reach of Strayhorn's craft.
Its place in the American story
Strayhorn belongs among the towering figures of twentieth-century American music. Much of his most important work shaped the sound of the Ellington orchestra from behind the scenes — a reminder that some of the era's most beloved music was the product of a deep creative partnership, not a single name on a marquee.
His story also ties Pittsburgh firmly to the golden age of jazz composition. The city that trained him gave American music one of its most refined and enduring voices, and its schools and neighborhoods deserve a share of the credit for what he became.
And there is a larger current here, one the marker marks under African American history and education: the way Black artistic genius, nurtured in community institutions like a neighborhood high school, went on to define a national culture. Strayhorn's music is woven into the American songbook that the whole world now hears.
If you visit
This is a marker to visit with music in your ears. Before you come, or as you stand here, put on the Ellington orchestra's theme and let it place you — you are near the roots of the person who wrote it.
The site invites you to think about beginnings rather than fame. A great composer was once a schoolboy in this city, and the point of the marker is that the place helped make the artist. Look at the ordinary streetscape and imagine the extraordinary talent it helped shape.
It makes a rewarding stop on a tour of Pittsburgh's jazz heritage, a chance to connect a familiar melody to a real neighborhood and a real school. Come curious about the man behind the music, and you'll leave hearing that A Train theme a little differently.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · Billy Strayhorn
- · Duke Ellington
Themes & tags
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