"Jumpin' at the Woodside" is a song first recorded in 1938 by the

Count Basie Orchestra The Count Basie Orchestra is a 16 to 18 piece big band, one of the most prominent jazz performing groups of the swing era, founded by Count Basie in 1935 and recording regularly from 1936. Despite a brief disbandment at the beginning of the 195 ...

, and considered one of the band's signature tunes. When first released it reached number 11 on the ''Billboard'' charts and remained on them for four weeks. Since then, it has become a frequently recorded

jazz standard Jazz standards are musical compositions that are an important part of the musical repertoire of jazz musicians, in that they are widely known, performed, and recorded by jazz musicians, and widely known by listeners. There is no definitive lis ...

Song details

The song was recorded on August 22, 1938 for

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label * Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label * Decca Studios, a recording facility in W ...

and was released on December 17 of that year. It charted as high as #11 and was on the charts for four weeks. That original 1938 recording features solos by

Earle Warren Earle Warren (born Earl Ronald Warren; July 1, 1914 – June 4, 1994) was an American saxophonist. He was part of the Count Basie Orchestra from 1937. Early life Warren was born in Springfield, Ohio, on July 1, 1914. "He played piano, banjo, and ...

(alto sax),

Buck Clayton Wilbur Dorsey "Buck" Clayton (November 12, 1911 – December 8, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter who was a member of Count Basie's orchestra. His principal influence was Louis Armstrong, first hearing the record "Confessin' That I Love You" ...

(trumpet),

Lester Young Lester Willis Young (August 27, 1909 – March 15, 1959), nicknamed "Pres" or "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and occasional clarinetist. Coming to prominence while a member of Count Basie's orchestra, Young was one of the most i ...

(tenor sax), and

Herschel Evans Herschel "Tex" Evans (9 March 1909 – 9 February 1939) was an American tenor saxophonist who was a member of the Count Basie Orchestra. He also worked with Lionel Hampton and Buck Clayton. He is also known for starting his cousin Joe McQueen's ...

(clarinet). The song is considered one of the Basie band's "signature" tunes, a "favorite", and even "a definition of swing." While many liner notes credit the tune only to Basie, historians and others also credit band member

Eddie Durham Edward Durham (August 19, 1906 – March 6, 1987) was an American jazz guitarist, trombonist, composer, and arranger. He was one of the pioneers of the electric guitar in jazz. The orchestras of Bennie Moten, Jimmie Lunceford, Count Basie ...

. Like many Basie numbers of that era, it was a "

head arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

" collaboratively created by the band. Sullivan indicates Durham wrote the tune in 1937 and then Basie refined it. The tune was based on earlier songs such as ''Jammin' for the Jackpot'' and ''John's Idea''. Durham had left the band by the time it was recorded. The word "jumpin" in the title is a

triple entendre A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, of which one is typically obvious, whereas the other often conveys a message that would be too socially a ...

– it means lively as in "the joint is jumping", a synonym for dancing or a synonym for sex.

The Woodside Hotel

The location in the title refers to the Woodside Hotel, which was located on Seventh Avenue at 142nd Street in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...

(and has since been demolished). It was operated by Love B. Woods, an

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

who operated a number of "dingy flophouses", some of which had "unsavory reputation . But the Woodside distinguished itself by becoming a popular place for jazz musicians and

Negro league baseball The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Latin Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be ...

teams to stay while in New York during

segregation Segregation may refer to: Separation of people * Geographical segregation, rates of two or more populations which are not homogenous throughout a defined space * School segregation * Housing segregation * Racial segregation, separation of humans ...

. Later, Woods would become better known for his involvement in operating the

Hotel Theresa The Hotel Theresa is located at 2082-96 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard between West 124th and 125th Streets in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. In the mid-20th century, it was a vibrant center of African American life in ...

, a much more upscale hotel that was called the "Waldorf of Harlem". The band stayed at the Woodside repeatedly and even rehearsed in the basement of the hotel. Singer

Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, in ...

(who sometimes performed with the band) also stayed at the Woodside in 1937 when the band was playing at the

Roseland Ballroom The Roseland Ballroom was a multipurpose hall, in a converted ice skating rink, with a colorful ballroom dancing pedigree, in New York City's theater district, on West 52nd Street in Manhattan. The venue, according to its website, accommodated ...

Other recordings and appearances

The song was used in famous

Lindy Hop The Lindy Hop is an American dance which was born in the Black communities of Harlem, New York City, in 1928 and has evolved since then. It was very popular during the swing era of the late 1930s and early 1940s. Lindy is a fusion of many danc ...

dance numbers by the troupe

Whitey's Lindy Hoppers Whitey's Lindy Hoppers was a professional performing group of exceptional swing dancers that was first organized in the late 1920s by Herbert "Whitey" White in the Savoy Ballroom and disbanded in 1942 after its male members were drafted into World W ...

in the Broadway show '' Hellzapoppin'' as well as other shows of that era. The routine was recorded in the 1941 film version which can be seen on

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(though the movie was released with different music over the sequence for licensing reasons). In addition to numerous Basie recordings over the years, the song has been recorded by a number of artists including

Lionel Hampton Lionel Leo Hampton (April 20, 1908 – August 31, 2002) was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, and bandleader. Hampton worked with jazz musicians from Teddy Wilson, Benny Goodman, and Buddy Rich, to Charlie Parker, Charles M ...

Monk Montgomery William Howard "Monk" Montgomery (October 10, 1921 – May 20, 1982) was an American jazz bassist. He was a pioneer of the electric bass guitar and possibly the first to be recorded playing the instrument when he participated in a 1953 session re ...

Oscar Peterson Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian virtuoso jazz pianist and composer. Considered one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time, Peterson released more than 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, ...

Django Reinhardt Jean Reinhardt (23 January 1910 – 16 May 1953), known by his Romani nickname Django ( or ), was a Romani-French jazz guitarist and composer. He was one of the first major jazz talents to emerge in Europe and has been hailed as one of its most ...

Buddy Rich Bernard "Buddy" Rich (September 30, 1917 – April 2, 1987) was an American jazz drummer, songwriter, conductor, and bandleader. He is considered one of the most influential drummers of all time. Rich was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York ...

, and others. In 1957,

Jon Hendricks John Carl Hendricks (September 16, 1921 – November 22, 2017), known professionally as Jon Hendricks, was an American jazz lyricist and singer. He is one of the originators of vocalese, which adds lyrics to existing instrumental songs and rep ...

wrote lyrics to the tune to be performed by

Lambert, Hendricks & Ross Lambert, Hendricks & Ross were an American vocalese trio formed by jazz vocalists Dave Lambert, Jon Hendricks and Annie Ross. From 1962 to 1964, Ross was replaced by vocalist Yolande Bavan. History The group formed in 1957 and recorded their f ...

. The appearances of

Gene Gene the Dancing Machine Eugene Sidney Patton Sr. (April 25, 1932 – March 9, 2015), also known as Gene Patton and more widely known by his stage name Gene Gene the Dancing Machine, was a television personality, dancer and stagehand who worked at NBC Studios in Bur ...

on ''

The Gong Show ''The Gong Show'' is an American amateur talent contest franchised by Sony Pictures Television to many countries. It was broadcast on NBC's daytime schedule from June 14, 1976, through July 21, 1978, and in first-run syndication from 1976 to 1 ...

'' would be prefaced with the opening bars of the song. The song is heard in the 1993 film ''

Swing Kids The Swing Youth (german: Swingjugend) were a group of jazz and swing lovers in Germany formed in Hamburg in 1939. Primarily active in Hamburg and Berlin, they were composed of 14- to 21-year-old Germans, mostly middle or upper-class students, ...

'' and in broadway musicals such as 1999's ''

Swing! ''Swing!'' is a musical conceived by Paul Kelly with music by various artists. It celebrates the music of the Swing era of jazz (1930s–1946), including many well-known tunes by artists like Duke Ellington, William "Count" Basie, Benny Goodma ...

'' and 2010's ''

Come Fly Away ''Come Fly Away'' is a dance revue conceived, directed and choreographed by Twyla Tharp, around the songs of Frank Sinatra. The musical, set in a New York City nightclub, follows four couples as they look for love. It premiered on Broadway in M ...

''. In the video game

Fallout 76 ''Fallout 76'' is a 2018 online action role-playing video game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is an installment in the ''Fallout'' series and a prequel to previous entries. ''Fallout 76'' is Bethesda ...

, the Count Basie version of the song is played on the in-game radio station 'Appalachia Radio'.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jumpin at the Woodside Count Basie 1938 songs 1938 singles 1930s jazz standards Songs about New York City