"Woodchopper's Ball", also known as "At the Woodchopper's Ball" is a 1939

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

composition by

Joe Bishop Joe Bishop (November 27, 1907 – May 12, 1976) was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist and composer. Early life and education Bishop was born in Monticello, Arkansas. He learned piano, trumpet, and tuba when he was young, and also played ...

and

Woody Herman Woodrow Charles Herman (May 16, 1913 – October 29, 1987) was an American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading groups called "The Herd", Herman came to prominence in the late 1930s and was active until his dea ...

. The up-tempo blues tune in

D-flat major D-flat major (or the key of D-flat) is a major scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B and C. Its key signature has five flats. It is enharmonically equivalent to C-sharp major. The D-flat major scale is: : Its ...

was the Woody Herman Orchestra's biggest hit, as well as the most popular composition of either composer, selling a million records. The tune has been performed by numerous artists and is considered a jazz standard. It is included in the first volume of Hal Leonard's '' Real Book''. The song was covered by the British blues/rock band

Ten Years After Ten Years After are a British rock group, most popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Between 1968 and 1973, the band had eight consecutive Top 40 albums on the UK Albums Chart. In addition, they had twelve albums enter the US ''Billboar ...

on their album, ''

Undead The undead are beings in mythology, legend, or fiction that are deceased but behave as if alive. Most commonly the term refers to corporeal forms of formerly-alive humans, such as mummies, vampires, and zombies, who have been reanimated by supe ...

''. The original recording by Woody Herman and His Orchestra received the

Grammy Hall of Fame Award The Grammy Hall of Fame is a hall of fame to honor musical recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance. Inductees are selected annually by a special member committee of eminent and knowledgeable professionals from all branches of ...

in 2002.Grammy Hall of Fame Awards
at ''Grammy.com'' - retrieved on 25 May 2009 " Twistin' at the Woodchopper's Ball" written by Ronn Metcalfe was a 1962 hit based on Herman's song, which attained a

gold album Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

status.

References

Songs about parties 1939 songs 1939 singles Instrumentals Jazz compositions 1930s jazz standards Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients Songs with music by Woody Herman Ten Years After songs {{1930s-jazz-composition-stub

See also

References