THE CHAMP - Free Jazz Leadsheet

"The Champ" was composed by Dizzy Gillespie and first recorded on February 6, 1951, in New York by Gillespie and His Orchestra. The recording highlighted Gillespie’s signature fusion of bebop and Afro-Cuban rhythmic elements.

The tune resurfaced in later big-band and small-group performances, admired for its energetic riff-based structure and call-and-response figures. Though instrumental, it conveys a celebratory, triumphant character driven by strong rhythmic accents and a repeating blues-influenced motif, making it a staple of Gillespie’s concert repertoire.