This piece is one in a long line that mixes the blues form with other forms like Birmingham Breakdown, Black And Tan Fantasy, The Mooche, Merry Go-Round, Jack The Bear, and many more to come, like The Blues from Black, Brown, And Beige, Happy Go-Lucky Local, and, of course, Harlem.

Normally, Ellington gave Strayhorn credit for his compositions and arrangements, but as in the case here and numerous other pieces where Strayhorn only contributed a few bars or even as much as a chorus or two, Ellington receives full credit. This is an early example where Ellington lifted eight bars of ensemble from Strayhorn’s unrecorded arrangement of Tuxedo Junction. Ellington’s instructions to Tizol (the copyist) said, “To TJ”. This section occurs twice accompanying Carney’s solos. The rest of the piece is Ellington.

Part of Ellington’s genius is his ability to integrate other’s contributions into his concept. In this case, Strayhorn’s aggressive 8-bar phrase is the perfect foil to the relaxed, understanded surrounding sections. Its relationship to the opening and closing chorus forms a palindromic rondo—ABCDCBA, which in European Classical music is a common form but rare in jazz.

Also integrated are the personalities of the soloists (Blanton, Tizol, Williams, Carney, a duet between the piano player and Blanton, and Webster) into the ensemble writing. In live performance (such as the Fargo recording in November), the two interior solo blues chorus were each repeated. Both Ellington and Webster stayed close to their recorded solos for the first chorus. The time restraints of the 78-rpm phonograph record forced the soloist to be more succinct and pithier. As in the case of other Ellington and Basie condensed recorded versions, this sometimes made for more focused forms.

Sepia Panorama served as the band’s radio opening theme until the ASCAP/BMI war (Warm Valley was the closing radio theme). Ellington, being an ASCAP composer could not have his compositions played on the radio, which BMI controlled. The remedy was to use a piece composed by Billy Strayhorn to begin and end each radio broadcast. Take The “A” Train took over in January 1941 and became the band’s theme for all performances henceforth, replacing Sepia Panorama on the radio, and the more evocative East St. Louis Toodle-oo on live performances.