Throughout his Career, Edward "Duke Ellington
made it a point to write music specifically for the incredibly talented musicians he employed. Many stayed in his band for their entire career and were very faithful to him. Duke's band came to prominence in New York City at the cabaret called the Cotton Club. It was a dinner theatre of sorts that featured black entertainment for mostly white audiences also known as a black and tan. Duke wrote for the theatre shows at the Cotton Club and honed his unique compositional and orchestrational style combining instruments for musical color and effect to suit and support the shows.
One of the great musicians Duke employed was Cat Anderson. Cat recorded and was a featured soloist with Duke's Orchestra from 1951 to 1977. He was featured to create excitement through his ability to play high on the trumpet. When I say high, I mean in a register that is super-human! Much of Duke's library, though available commercially or through transcription is impossible to recreate just because he wrote for these super-human performers.
Here is a short video clip of Duke's band performing The Opener:
Cat's solo is at the end. Feel free to leave a comment if you think Cat is the Cat's Meow of high-note trumpet players!