Credited to Charlie Parker, music · Miles Davis said he wrote it · First recorded for Savoy in New York
Donna Lee
Credited to Charlie Parker, Donna Lee is a fast bebop line over the chords of Indiana. Miles Davis said he wrote it, and players use it as a test of clean, fast playing. You will hear it on records by Parker, Clark Terry, Jaco Pastorius and Oscar Peterson.
▶ Plays the whole path in order, one recording after another.
- 1 Learn the song Charlie Parker All Stars✓
- 2 Meet the source song Original Dixieland Jass Band✓
- 3 Hear it live Charlie Parker, Chet Baker and Sonny Criss✓
- 4 Hear it on bass Jaco Pastorius✓
- 5 Hear a trumpet lead Clark Terry Quintet✓
- 6 Hear it with guitar Oscar Peterson✓
- 7 Hear two saxophones Lee Konitz with Warne Marsh✓
- 8 Hear it stretched Anthony Braxton✓
How the tune works
Thirty-two bars in four eight-bar sections, A B A C. Bars 1 to 4 sit on A♭, F7 and two bars of B♭7, and bars 5 to 8 go B♭m7, E♭7, A♭ and E♭m7 with A♭7 or D7, which leads to D♭. B opens on D♭ for two bars, then A♭ and F7 bring back the home key, and B♭7, B♭7, B♭m7 and E♭7 turn round to the second A. The second A repeats bars 1 to 4. Bars 21 to 28 then leave for F minor: C7, Gm7♭5 to C7♭9 in some charts, then Fm7 against C7 chords, and a diminished chord in bar 28. C ends by coming home through A♭ or Cm7 with F7, then B♭m7 E♭7 and A♭, and many charts add a B♭m7 E♭7 turnaround in the last bar. The changes belong to Indiana, which jam sessions played in A♭ by the early 1940s.
The changes under Charlie Parker's two alto choruses on the 1947 Savoy session, transcribed in the Weimar Jazz Database. The Learn Jazz Standards sheet reads bars 8, 10, 22, 29 and 32 differently.
Use the key buttons to move the chart to the key you play in.
Listen in this order
Play all 8 on YouTube ↗The path starts with the 1947 record and the 1917 song whose changes it borrows, then a live Parker jam filed under both titles. It continues with Jaco Pastorius on bass, a trumpet-led quintet, a trio with guitar, two saxophones in 1955 and Anthony Braxton's 1974 trio session.
-
Step 1 · Learn the song Now playing
Charlie Parker All Stars 1947
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Parker takes two 32-bar alto choruses in the Weimar transcription, at about 226 beats per minute. Count them by listening for the A♭, F7, B♭7 opening each time round.
- Try this
- Play the first eight bars of the chart as block chords, one chord per bar, at half the record's tempo. Smaller version: play only the root of each chord.
-
Step 2 · Meet the source song Now playing
Original Dixieland Jass Band 1917
“Indiana”
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- A lively 1917 instrumental played by a five-piece band. The same chord changes later carry Donna Lee, so listen for the form and the home key.
- Try this
- Find the home note of this record by ear and play it. Then compare it with the A♭ home chord of the Donna Lee chart and say whether the 1917 band plays higher or lower.
-
Step 3 · Hear it live Now playing
Charlie Parker, Chet Baker and Sonny Criss (Harry Babasin All Stars) 1952
“Indiana / Donna Lee”, Inglewood Jam 6-16-52
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- An 11-minute live jam, with Parker and Sonny Criss on alto saxophone and Chet Baker on trumpet. Because it is filed under both titles, listen for the changes of Indiana underneath.
- Try this
- Play the home chord on beat one each time the band seems to return to the top of the form. Smaller version: tap the beat and mark where each new soloist starts.
-
Step 4 · Hear it on bass Now playing
Jaco Pastorius 1975
Jaco Pastorius
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Only two players, Pastorius on electric bass and Don Alias on congas, and the track runs 2:27. Metheny described the bass phrasing as hornlike, so listen for lines that sound like they came from a saxophone or trumpet.
- Try this
- Play the first eight bars of the chart as block chords under the record, since no chord instrument plays. If the notes clash, the record may sit in a different key from the chart; move the chart until it fits. Smaller version: play only the root of each chord.
-
Step 5 · Hear a trumpet lead Now playing
Clark Terry Quintet 1957
Serenade to a Bus Seat
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- The front line is trumpet and tenor saxophone, Terry and Johnny Griffin, with Wynton Kelly on piano, Paul Chambers on bass and Philly Joe Jones on drums. The track runs 4:04.
- Try this
- Play bars 21 to 28 of the chart as block chords, one chord per bar, and notice the pull between the F minor and C7 chords. Smaller version: play only Fm and C7, alternating each bar.
-
Step 6 · Hear it with guitar Now playing
Oscar Peterson (with Joe Pass and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen) 1978
The Paris Concert
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- A trio of guitar, piano and bass, live, at 2:55. Listen for which instrument plays the head and which plays chords behind it, then compare with the chart.
- Try this
- If you play guitar, play bars 1 to 8 of the chart as shell chords (root and third only) along with the track. Smaller version: one chord per bar on the lowest strings.
-
Step 7 · Hear two saxophones Now playing
Lee Konitz with Warne Marsh 1955
Lee Konitz with Warne Marsh
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Two saxophones, Konitz on alto and Marsh on tenor, with Sal Mosca on piano, Billy Bauer on guitar, Oscar Pettiford on bass and Kenny Clarke on drums. Wikipedia files the album as cool jazz, so compare its sound with the Savoy record.
- Try this
- Play bars 1 to 8 of the chart as block chords under the opening of the record, adjusting the tempo to match. Smaller version: play only the root of each chord.
-
Step 8 · Hear it stretched Now playing
Anthony Braxton 1974
In the Tradition Volume 2
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Yanow says the rhythm section mostly ignores what Braxton plays on this album. Listen for how the saxophone and the trio each treat the changes in the chart.
- Try this
- Pick one chord from the chart, such as A♭, and play it for eight bars while the record plays. Notice when Braxton's line agrees with it and when it does not. Smaller version: do it for one minute.
More great versions
-
Claude Thornhill and His Orchestra 1947
The Transcription Performances 1947
Claude Thornhill's orchestra played a Gil Evans arrangement of Donna Lee in 1947.
-
Clifford Brown 1955
The Beginning and the End
Clifford Brown plays Donna Lee on a session recorded in Philadelphia and issued on Columbia in 1973 as The Beginning and the End.
-
Art Pepper and Warne Marsh 1974
“Donna Lee (Live at Donte's, April 26, 1974)”, Unreleased Art, Vol. 9: Art Pepper & Warne Marsh at Donte's, April 26, 1974
Art Pepper and Warne Marsh play Donna Lee live at Donte's on April 26, 1974, a 12-minute track from the Unreleased Art series.
-
Jaco Pastorius and the Word of Mouth Big Band 1982
“Donna Lee (Live)”, Truth, Liberty & Soul
Pastorius plays Donna Lee live at Avery Fisher Hall in New York on June 27, 1982, in a 13-minute version from his Word of Mouth Big Band concert.
-
Karrin Allyson 1997
“Donna Lee / (Back Home Again in) Indiana”, Daydream
Karrin Allyson scats Donna Lee joined to Indiana on her 1997 album Daydream, in an arrangement she wrote with Bill McGlaughlin.
-
John Beasley's MONK'estra 2020
MONK'estra Plays John Beasley
John Beasley's MONK'estra big band plays Beasley's arrangement of Donna Lee, which won the 2021 Grammy for Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella.