The Champ

When I first started listening to jazz and going to gigs there were two distinct themes. If it was a New Orleans outfit such as The Saints Jazz Band (remember the name) from Manchester you could guarantee that, sometime during the evening, they would play, as their fans demanded and insisted upon, When the Saints Go Marching in. Often more than once.

However, should you be at the City Hall and listening to the big bands of Ted Heath or Jack Parnell the number that you (or your partner) wanted to go home with - apart from Lita Roza or Dickie Valentine - was The Champ. Composed by Dizzy Gillespie it was probably dedicated to either Rocky Marciano or Sugar Ray Robinson, the two most charismatic boxers of that era.

The simplicity of its head placed it on a level with When the Saints Go Marching in however, looking at this piano transcription that I've just discovered reveals the harmonic depths of the piece.

I still have the Vogue 78 of Dizzy's original version that also has Milt Jackson, Budd Johnson, JJ Johnson, Percy Heath and Art Blakey on it. I played it so many times when I was living at home that my parents insisted that, after every time I played it, I had to listen to something by Bach, Beethoven or Brahms - the three Bs. They didn't actually but it adds flavour to the post.

What I'm getting around to (eventually) is what do we know about this Harold Hood who wrote the piano transcription? Googling seems to suggest he was a ragtime cowboy Harold. The music suggests otherwise. Lance