Your Favorite Bird Composition

trumpet · 01-03-2004, 06:41 PM

What is your favorite Bird Composition, mine would have to be Donna Lee

Larry Smithee · 01-04-2004, 11:18 PM

I don’t actually know which tune of Bird’s I could pick as a favorite. I’ve never heard one I didn’t like. They are consistently inventive and always filled with harmonic integrity. It’s hard for me to understand why the earlier swing players found his music to be so far out.
Larry

JackD · 01-05-2004, 09:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by trumpet

What is your favorite Bird Composition, mine would have to be Donna Lee

I think Miles Davis wrote that tune - he wrote this 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 as the composer. It wasn't Bird's fault, though. The record company just made a mistake and I didn't lose no money or nothing."

My favourite Bird tune would probably be "Yardbird Suite".

Larry Smithee · 01-05-2004, 10:03 AM

Despite the Miles biography citation, Donna Lee is a Parker composition.
Larry

JackD · 01-05-2004, 12:37 PM

Are you sure? If so - I'd be interested to know where you heard that. Miles did make up a lot of stuff.

trumpet · 01-05-2004, 02:36 PM

That is interesting, Donna Lee reminds me more of Bird's energy than Mile's Coolness. Well, if I can't pick Donna Lee, then Anthropology.

Larry Smithee · 01-06-2004, 10:49 PM

Look guys. Donna Lee is not only a Bird tune but it's a FAMOUS Bird Tune. But it you want a diffinitive source as proof try the Aebersold play-along called "All Bird". And, of course, there it is clearly attributed to Charlie Parker.
Larry

JackD · 01-07-2004, 10:24 AM

Check out this page: http://www.basssick.com/xtra/rote.html

I think we've stumbled across a contentious issue.

Gil Evans seemed to think it was a Davis tune, as he asked his permission to use it for a big band arrangement for the Claude Thornhill Orchestra.

I'm currently reading "So What", a Miles biography by John Szwed (I recommend it, it's very interesting) and he writes something about this:

Quote:

"Donna Lee" ... was by Davis, his first recorded composition. ... Miles later claimed the tune and said the record company had made a mistake ... But questions have since been raised about the composition's origins. ... "Donna Lee" is largely based in the harmonic structure and melodic contours of ... "Back Home Again in Indiana." ... [The] melody also alludes to ... "On the Banks of the Wabash". ... The melody of "Donna Lee" also sounded very similar to a solo recorded by Fats Navarro on a record called "Ice Freezes Red". And others said that they had heard lines similar to the melody of "Donna Lee" improvised many times by Charlie Parker when he played "Indiana".

Szwed also raises this intersting point:

Quote:

The various takes of the tune show that Miles had problems playing it that day in the studio, and he never recorded it again.

01-03-2004, 06:41 PM	#1 (permalink)
trumpet New Friend Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Maryland Posts: 26	Your Favorite Bird Composition What is your favorite Bird Composition, mine would have to be Donna Lee

01-05-2004, 02:36 PM	#6 (permalink)
trumpet New Friend Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Maryland Posts: 26	miles davis That is interesting, Donna Lee reminds me more of Bird's energy than Mile's Coolness. Well, if I can't pick Donna Lee, then Anthropology.
	__________________ T.J. Remsberg "There are no wrong notes in Jazz, only poor choices"- Jamey Abersold

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01-04-2004, 11:18 PM	#2 (permalink)
Larry Smithee New Friend Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Tennessee Brand: married with no children but love kids Posts: 46	I don’t actually know which tune of Bird’s I could pick as a favorite. I’ve never heard one I didn’t like. They are consistently inventive and always filled with harmonic integrity. It’s hard for me to understand why the earlier swing players found his music to be so far out. Larry

01-05-2004, 10:03 AM	#4 (permalink)
Larry Smithee New Friend Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Tennessee Brand: married with no children but love kids Posts: 46	Despite the Miles biography citation, Donna Lee is a Parker composition. Larry

01-05-2004, 12:37 PM	#5 (permalink)
JackD Mezzo Forte User Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Manchester / London Posts: 762	Are you sure? If so - I'd be interested to know where you heard that. Miles did make up a lot of stuff.

01-06-2004, 10:49 PM	#7 (permalink)
Larry Smithee New Friend Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Tennessee Brand: married with no children but love kids Posts: 46	Look guys. Donna Lee is not only a Bird tune but it's a FAMOUS Bird Tune. But it you want a diffinitive source as proof try the Aebersold play-along called "All Bird". And, of course, there it is clearly attributed to Charlie Parker. Larry

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