Donna Lee

Donna Lee is a jazz composition, which is attributed to Charlie Parker, but was created in 1947 at least, composed by Miles Davis.

The composition

The theme Donna Lee is a commonly played bebop piece, which is almost always played up tempo. It is in A flat major and is based on the harmonies of jazz standards written in 1917 Back Home Again in Indiana, composed by James Hanley ( 1892-1942 ). The theme is maintained in the song form A-B -A -C. The beginning of Donna Lee is a typical example of which is the usual modern jazz rhythmic displacement of a phrase; he recalls Ice Freezes Red, a bebop head of Fats Navarro.

Effect story

The composition was early to the classical repertoire of bebop and was out of Parker and Miles Davis, among others by Claude Thornhill, Wardell Gray, Herb Geller, Lee Konitz / Warne Marsh, Howard McGhee, Slide Hampton, Art Pepper, Oscar Peterson, Joe Pass, Steve Lacy, Archie Shepp, Peter Herbolzheimer, Clark Terry, Bobby McFerrin, Karrin Allyson, Jane Bunnett and Helge Schneider recorded.

One of the most virtuosic "Donna Lee" interpretations is the solo bassist Jaco Pastorius ( with Don Alias ​​on congas ) on his debut album Jaco Pastorius in 1976. Donna Lee was a favorite piece of avant-garde jazz saxophonist Anthony Braxton, who recorded it several times. It is also the last piece, the trumpeter Clifford Brown had recorded before his tragic death.