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Woodchopper's Ball

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Woodchopper's Ball", also known as "At the Woodchopper's Ball"[1] is a 1939 jazz composition by Joe Bishop and Woody Herman. The up-tempo blues tune in D-flat major was the Woody Herman Orchestra's biggest hit, as well as the most popular composition of either composer, selling a million records.[2]

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.[3] The song was covered by the British blues/rock band Ten Years After on their album, Undead. The original recording by Woody Herman and His Orchestra received the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 2002.[4]

"Twistin' at the Woodchopper's Ball" written by Ronn Metcalfe was a 1962 hit based on Herman's song, which attained a gold album status.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Woody Herman biography at AllMusic - retrieved on 25 May 2009
  2. ^ William Emmett Studwell and Mark Baldin: The Big Band Reader: Songs Favored by Swing Era Orchestras and Other Popular Ensembles. Haworth Press, 2000. ISBN 0-7890-0914-5. p. 158
  3. ^ The Real Book, Volume I, sixth edition. Hal Leonard. ISBN 0-634-06038-4. p. 447
  4. ^ Grammy Hall of Fame Awards at Grammy.com - retrieved on 25 May 2009