As someone who lives in an apartment with my living room facing an air 
shaft, I can truly appreciate the sage words of Duke Ellington:
Ellington has described the inspiration for this work in vivid terms. “You get the full essence of Harlem in an air shaft,” he explained. “You hear fights, you smell dinner, you hear people making love. You hear intimate gossip floating down. You hear the radio. An air shaft is one great loudspeaker, you hear people praying, fighting and snoring.” To convey this diversity of activities in sound, Ellington has expanded his palette and opened up his structure beyond the typical confines of 32-bar song form. And for a brief moment in American history, an art song with this type of intricacy could also be a commercial recording for a popular band. We may never see the like again. -Source: Jazz.com
Download: Harlem Air Shaft
stalherz
June 22, 2008
Outstanding post. What is often most important is the stuff people ignore.