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Ray Nance
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== Ellington tenure == Ellington hired Nance to replace trumpeter [[Cootie Williams]], who had joined [[Benny Goodman]], in 1940.<ref name="LarkinJazz" /> Nance's first recorded performance with Ellington was at the [[Duke Ellington at Fargo, 1940 Live|Fargo, North Dakota ballroom dance]].<ref name="allmusic7209">{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/ray-nance-p7209/biography |title=Ray Nance | Biography, Albums, & Streaming Radio |website=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=May 5, 2016}}</ref> Shortly after joining the band, Nance was given the trumpet solo on the earliest recorded version of "[[Take the "A" Train]]", which became the Ellington theme.<ref name="LarkinJazz" /> Nance's "A Train" solo is one of the most copied and admired trumpet solos in jazz history. Indeed, when Cootie Williams returned to the band more than twenty years later, he would play Nance's solo on "A Train" almost exactly as the original. [[File:Ray Nance 1943.jpg|thumb|upright|Nance in Duke Ellington's orchestra, 1943]] Nance was often featured on violin, and was the only violin soloist ever featured in Ellington's orchestra (especially noteworthy is his violin contribution to the original 1942 version of "The 'C' Jam Blues"). He is also one of the better known male vocalists associated with Ellington's orchestra. On later recordings of "[[It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)]]", Nance took the previously instrumental horn riff into the lead vocal, which constitute the line "Doo wha, doo wha, doo wha, doo wha, yeah!" He was often featured as vocalist on "Jump for Joy," "[[Just A-Sittin' and A-Rockin']]" and "[[Just Squeeze Me (But Please Don't Tease Me)]]". His multiple talents (trumpet, violin, vocals and also dancing) earned him the nickname "Floorshow". Nance was absent from the Duke Ellington Orchestra for three or four months in 1946, including the date of that year's Carnegie Hall concert. In 1949, Nance participated, along with Ellington sidemen [[Russell Procope]], [[Johnny Hodges]] and [[Sonny Greer]] on several [[Ivory Joe Hunter]] sessions, for King Records of Cincinnati.
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