"Donna Lee" is a jazz standard attributed to Charlie Parker, although Miles Davis has also claimed authorship. Beginning with an unusual half-bar rest, "Donna Lee" is a very complex, fast-moving chart with a compositional style based on four-note groups over each change.
Authorship
"Donna Lee" was originally attributed to Charlie Parker on the original 78-rpm recordings and was copyrighted under his name in 1947. However, in various interviews and publications since, Miles Davis has claimed to be the composer. Among these is a statement Davis made in his autobiography: "I wrote a tune for the album called 'Donna Lee', which was the first tune of mine that was ever recorded. But when the record came out, it listed Bird [Parker] as the composer. It wasn't Bird's fault, though. The record company just made a mistake." Although Davis claimed being the author, noted composer, arranger Gil Evans in a radio interview on WKCR FM, NYC stated publicly that the true author of the piece was composer drummer Tiny Kahn who taught the melody to Davis who then taught it to Parker.
Recordings
"Donna Lee" was recorded by the Charlie Parker Quintet on May 8, 1947, for Savoy in New York City.
Name origin
The piece is most likely named after bassist Curly Russell's daughter, Donna Lee Russell.
See also
- List of jazz contrafacts