Donna Lee

Donna Lee

By Miles Davis

Eddie Asten/MUSIC 516

I choose the bebop tune “Donna Lee” because I like the tune, and because I thought it would be easy to find multiple recordings of the tune. The tune was actually written by Miles Davis although Charlie Parker is usually given credit for its authorship.

The first recording I found was by bassist extraordinaire Jaco Pastorius. Jaco and drummer Rashied Ali performed “Donna Lee” live on December 14, 1984 following a four-day workshop at Martinique. Several of Jaco’s bass students joined in during the recording. The sound quality of the recording is not the best, but it is still an incredible performance.

A trio did the second recording I found of “Donna Lee”. The musicians were Aladar Page on bass, Gusztav Csik on piano, and Geza Lakatos Pecek on drums. I have never heard of any of these musicians before, but they were great! After playing the traditional form of the tune everyone took a solo and was fantastic! At the end, the pianist played by himself and went through several styles, then back to the top with everyone. These guys played as well as anyone I have ever heard.

Last, I found a performance of “Donna Lee” by the Charlie Parker Quintet featuring Miles Davis on trumpet, Charlie Parker on alto saxophone, Bud Powell on piano, Tommy Potter on bass and Max Roach on drums. I could not find the date of the recording, but it was live, and it was from long ago. It was in black and white and these guys were very young. There were piano, trumpet and saxophone solos, but no drum solo. Again, this was a great performance. As all great jazz musicians do, it was amazing to hear how these great players communicated with each other and played off of ach other.

I found all three of these recordings on you tube by googling the name of the tune "Donna Lee". All three of these videos and many more came up in case anyone would like to try it.