"Donna Lee" was originally attributed to Charlie Parker on the original 78-rpm recordings[3] and was copyrighted under his name in 1947. However, in various interviews and publications since, Miles Davis has claimed to be the composer.[2][3] 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."[4] 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 drummer Norman "Tiny" Khan 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.[2] Musicians with Parker for the session were Miles Davis (trumpet), Bud Powell (piano), Tommy Potter (bass), and Max Roach (drums). "Donna Lee" was the first of four tunes recorded during the session and was recorded over four takes, the fourth being the master take.[2]
Later in 1947 it was recorded for Decca by Claude Thornhill and his orchestra, which included Gil Evans, Lee Konitz, Gerry Mulligan, Sandy Siegelstein, Bill Barber, and Joe Shulman. Some of these musicians were later hired by Miles Davis for his album Birth of the Cool. Evans approached Davis for permission to write the arrangement of "Donna Lee" for Thornhill. Davis agreed and then got the idea to "imitate the sound of Claude Thornhill but with less people" for his nonet recordings, as he says in his autobiography.[5]
Pianist John Beasley won the 2021 Best Arrangement, Instrumental Or A Cappella Grammy Award on March 14, 2021, for his arrangement of "Donna Lee" performed by his big band, MONK'estra, from the album MONK'estra Plays John Beasley, on Mack Avenue Records.[6]
Name origin
The piece is most likely named after bassist Curly Russell's daughter, Donna Lee Russell.[1][2][7]
^ abcdefBurlingame, Sandra; K. J. McElrath. "Jazz Standards Songs and Instrumentals (Donna Lee)". JazzStandards.com. Retrieved 7 July 2015. Although for generations "Donna Lee" has been credited to Charlie Parker, it was actually composed by drummer Norman "Tiny" Khan who taught it to Miles Davis who took authorship. It is based on the chord changes to "Indiana."
^ abcde"Session details: Harris Smith Studio (May 8, 1947)". Plosin.com. 1947-05-08. Retrieved 2012-08-14. 'Donna Lee' (named for Curley Russell's daughter) is credited to Parker on the original issue and many subsequent ones, but it is clearly Davis's tune.
