Crazeology

Crazeology is a bebop composition by Bennie Harris, a contrafact built on the chord changes of George Gershwin's I Got Rhythm. Also known under the alternate titles Little Benny and Bud's Bubble, the tune was first recorded by Clyde Hart's Hot Seven in December 1944 under the name Little Benny. Harris, a self-taught trumpeter active in New York's formative bebop scene during the mid-1940s, is better remembered as a composer than a performer, having also co-written Ornithology with Charlie Parker and penned tunes such as Reets and I and Wahoo. Crazeology features a fleet, angular melody with the syncopation, chromatic inflections, and rhythmic tension characteristic of early bebop heads, designed as a launching pad for virtuosic improvisation over its familiar harmonic framework. Charlie Parker recorded the tune with his sextet in 1947, with a group including Miles Davis, J. J. Johnson, Duke Jordan, Tommy Potter, and Max Roach, a session that helped cement the composition in the bebop canon. Bud Powell recorded it under the title Bud's Bubble in 1950. The tune has maintained a steady presence in the jazz repertoire, covered by artists ranging from Hank Mobley and Hampton Hawes to Roy Hargrove, whose 1991 recording on Public Eye featured Antonio Hart, Stephen Scott, and Christian McBride. It remains a valued vehicle for improvisers working within the rhythm changes tradition.