David L. Maggin in his book Dizzy: The Life and Times of John Birks Gillespie says, “‘Woody’n You,’ dedicated to Woody Herman and one of Dizzy’s most enduring compositions, undergirds pungent chromatic dissonance with a Latin rhythmic feeling.” In his liner notes for 1957’s Relaxin’ with the Miles Davis Quintet, which includes a take on “Woody’n You,” Ira Gitler further explains that the tune was played by Herman behind tap dancers but that Herman never recorded it.

The trumpeter’s composition debuted on saxophonist Coleman Hawkins’ 1944 recording date. It was saxophonist/arranger/musical director Budd Johnson, a big enthusiast of bebop, who instigated the Hawkins session which included among the twelve-man orchestra Dizzy, Oscar Pettiford and Max Roach. Hawkins’ recording of “Woody’n You” was named record of the year by Metronome magazine in 1945, and the session has been collected on a CD called Rainbow Mist.

According to Gary Giddins in Visions of Jazz: The First Century, “The Hawkins date was hailed by some as the first recorded example of modern jazz.” However, Gillespie had recorded “Jersey Bounce” in 1942 on a little known Les Hite date where he introduced his “...after-hours workshop sounds. For the next two years, his activities were obscured by a recording ban instigated by the musicians’ union. By 1944, the Hite recording had been forgotten....” Dizzy would not lead a recording session until January, 1945.

Giddins goes on to say that “the full force of [Gillespie’s] trumpet playing and his mature conception would be revealed in the mid-‘40s in dozens of performances that constitute the most innovative body of trumpet playing since Armstrong.”

In 1946 with the help of composer/arranger Gil Fuller, Dizzy organized his 17-piece big band to record the first bop big band which included among its repertoire “Woody’n You,” now renamed “Algo Bueno.” Dizzy recorded it again in June of that year on his Spotlite radio broadcast, this time featuring Thelonious Monk and Ray Brown.

Early in his career Gillespie had developed a passion for Afro-Cuban music and was instrumental in injecting that influence into bop, which he termed “Cubop.” Once the Cuban conga player/composer Chano Pozo joined Dizzy’s group, the music became more intensely Latin. Says Maggin, “The Latin-tinged ‘Algo Bueno’ (‘Woody’n You’) became more overtly Afro-Cuban as Chano took the lead percussion role....”

The chord changes of “Woody’n You” continue to generate harmonic interest in the tune. In addition to the fine Miles Davis rendition, many jazz greats have recorded the tune, among them Bud Powell, Sonny Rollins, Max Roach, Eric Dolphy, Anthony Braxton (on piano), the MJQ, and recently pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba, who is also featured on the tune with drummer Ignacio Berroa’s group.