Donna Lee is a fast, complex bebop jazz standard written in A-flat, based on the chord changes of (Back Home Again in) Indiana. It was originally attributed to Charlie Parker on a 1947 Savoy 78 rpm recording, though Miles Davis later claimed authorship and some sources point to drummer Tiny Khan; Claude Thornhill later recorded a Decca arrangement in 1947 that helped shape the Birth of the Cool sound. The Parker quintet session on May 8, 1947 in New York City features Miles Davis, Bud Powell, Tommy Potter, and Max Roach, and Donna Lee was the first of four takes with the master on take 4. The tune is named after Curly Russell's daughter Donna Lee. Since then it has become a bebop staple with many covers by artists such as Jaco Pastorius, Mel Tormé, Tito Puente, and Steve Lacy, and modern arrangements like John Beasley’s MONK’estra won a Grammy in 2021. It is a contrafact using Indiana’s changes, known for its half-bar rests and rapid four-note groupings.
