What do Charlie Parker and Theodore Dreiser have in common? Well, damned little, you might say, seeing has how the creator of bebop and the master of early twentieth century American naturalist fiction never met, but there is a connection, however tenuous. In 1947, Parker went into a recording session, joined with Miles Davis on trumpet, Bud Powell on piano, Tommy Potter on bass, and Max Roach on drums. Among the sides they cut was “Donna Lee”, with Parker credited as composer. The YouTube video below, with no video, of course, presents the original recording, showcasing both the tune’s unusual structure and Parker’s fantastic technique and improvisational skill.
Many years later, Miles claimed that he had written the tune, but according to Wikipedia, jazz composer/arranger Gil Evans, who worked closely with Davis in the 1950s, identified drummer Norman "Tiny" Khan (left) as the true author of the piece. As Evans told it, Khan taught the melody to Davis who then taught it to Parker. Khan was active as a drummer/arranger in the “progressive” (loosely, “white bop”) scene in the late 1940s and early 1950s, dying when he was only 30, in 1953.
To me, this is “believable”. “Donna Lee” does not sound like a standard bop tune, of the sort Parker habitually composed. As far as I know, he never recorded it again, and never played it in a live session, and, again, as far as I know, neither did Davis. In fact, as far as I know (again), nobody did, until 1976, when legendary electric bassist Jaco Pastorius chose to perform it as a finger bustin’ tour de force in his solo album Pastorius that left his would be peers with jaws dropped, eyes popped, and mind blown. Below is first the original cut and then a portion of a live concert performance by the rock/fusion/jazz group Weather Report in 1982, featuring Jaco’s solo, as backed by drummer Pieter Erskine.
Jaco’s triumph opened the floodgates. Everyone wanted to prove that they could keep up with Charlie and Jaco. But where did the original “Donna Lee” come from? Who inspired Charlie/Miles/Tiny? Well, it was a vaudevillian jack of all trades named James F. Hanley (no photo available), whose tune “Indiana”—which appeared on one of the first jazz records ever made, in 1917, by the “Original New Orleans Jazz Band”—provided the chord structure on which “Donna Lee” was based. Here is an outstanding performance, by a 65-year-old Louis Armstrong, accompanied by Arvell Shaw on bass, Eddie Shu on clarinet, Danny Barcelona on drums, Billy Kyle on piano, Eddie Shu on sax, and Tyree Glenn on trombone .
Yet “Indiana” was itself derivative, “sampling” an even earlier tune, the seriously unjazzy “Moonlight on the Wabash”, composed in 1897 by Paul Dresser, brother of, yes, Theodore Dreiser. (Paul, interested in catering to the masses, unlike his more difficult brother, Americanized the family name.) Here is a recent, reverent performance by baritone George Spitzer, with Artis Wodehouse wailin’ on an 1887 Mason & Hamlin Liszt organ. Solid!
What have Paul, Jim, Tiny, Miles, Charlie, and Jaco wrought? Check out a small sample of what can be done with a driving, 32-bar tune. First up is Polish bassist Kinga Głyk, playing ukelele bass with Irek Głyk, drums, and Piotr Matusik, piano.
Next we have Portuguese vocalist Carmen Souza, accompanied by Theo Pascal, bass, “Tuche”, guitar, Joao Frade, accordion, and Mauricio Zottarelli, drums .
What about “Donna Lee” performed by bassoon quintet? Glad you asked. Listen to this arrangement by Alexandre Silvério Camaleon, featuring Alexandre, Romeu Rabello, Filipe Castro, Jose Arion Linarez, and Francisco Formiga. Recording by Wallas Pena.
We’ll finish with two more vocals, because there are few things more satisfying to me than a well executed bop vocal, and “Donna” has to be the tongue twister of tongue twisters. First up is Indian singer Chandana Bala Kalyan:
Finishing us off is Marina Pacowski, accompanying herself on piano:
Yep, that moonlight on the Wabash has cast some remarkable shadows, refractions, and reflections over the years. How fortunate we are that people aren’t afraid to color outside the lines!
Afterwords
Dreiser, not so well known as he might be these days, was perhaps the first American novelist to write honestly and openly about sex and class, stressing the “chemisms”—aka “hormones”—that shape our lives. Check out the uncensored version of Sister Carrie, which didn’t become available until 1980, rather than the 1900 original. Dreiser had a seriously ponderous and long-winded prose style, which was endlessly, and often justly, parodied back in the day, but, rather like Henry James, otherwise his near opposite in approach, he rewards the patient (most of the time).
“Dreiser” is German for “Dresser”. Paul, but not Theodore, changed his name during the “Hate All Things German” publicity campaign that swept the U.S. during World War I, with a lot of help from the Wilson administration. Wikipedia analyzes “Teutophobia” (which Word can spell) as a worldwide phenomenon here.
The Wabash is the longest river in Indiana.
How did you get them all playing at once–practically?!