medjuck Posted August 10, 2009 Report Share Posted August 10, 2009 (edited) Saw Lyle Lovett and his large band last night. Before he came on stage the band played "(Way Back Home In) Indiana" and at one point did a chorus of a bop tune I recognized but I couldn't remember the name or composer. Can anyone help? (Similarly The Ellington band used to play How High the Moon and do a couple of choruses of Ornithology in the midst of it.) Edited August 10, 2009 by medjuck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fer Urbina Posted August 10, 2009 Report Share Posted August 10, 2009 Donna Lee? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeHiYJQSs6A F Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free For All Posted August 10, 2009 Report Share Posted August 10, 2009 (edited) AKA "Contrafacts" Donna Lee (Back Home in Indiana) Ornithology (How High the Moon) Groovin' High (Whispering) Half Nelson (Ladybird) Countdown (Tune Up) Prince Albert (All the Things You Are) Chick's Tune (You Stepped Out of a Dream) Hot House (What is this Thing Called Love) Fried Bananas (It Could Happen To You) Quicksilver (Lover come Back to Me) KoKo (Cherokee) ...to name but a few. Plus a bunch of Tristano tunes.... Edited August 10, 2009 by Free For All Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fer Urbina Posted August 10, 2009 Report Share Posted August 10, 2009 As for authorship, I think this was initially credited to Charlie Parker but has been later established that it was Miles Davis who wrote it. As for the title, IIRC Donna Lee was bassist Curley Russell's daughter? (I think Allen Lowe was the source for this?). Two other "Indiana" contrafacts from those years are "Tiny's Con" and Fats Navarro's "Ice Freezes Red". Fernando Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medjuck Posted August 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2009 Donna Lee!! That 's it. What's "Fried Bananas"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted O'Reilly Posted August 10, 2009 Report Share Posted August 10, 2009 Donna Lee!! That 's it. What's "Fried Bananas"? A nice dessert, especially with brandy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Wheel Posted August 10, 2009 Report Share Posted August 10, 2009 (edited) Donna Lee!! That 's it. What's "Fried Bananas"? Listening to it on Rhapsody right now and I'm pretty sure it's a contrafact of It Could Happen to You. Edit: D'oh, missed FFA's post above. Countdown is only a quasi-contrafact. It's Tune Up radically reharmonized with Coltrane substitutions, just like he did to "Confirmation" to make "26-2". Edited August 10, 2009 by Big Wheel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllenLowe Posted August 10, 2009 Report Share Posted August 10, 2009 (edited) yes, Fried Bananas is It Could Happen to You, and yes, Curley told me about Donna Lee being named, in the studio, after his daughter. Years ago I had an interesting correspondence with the composer Johnny Green about using standard changes to re-write jazz lines. He was adamant that the changes to things like Body and Soul and Out of Nowhere belonged to him, no matter the tune, and told me of having successfully sued Hawkins when he did his post- Body and Soul improv without stating the melody. The name Hawk gave it escapes me now, but it's well known - Koester reissued it on Delmark - Edited August 10, 2009 by AllenLowe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted August 10, 2009 Report Share Posted August 10, 2009 I would think Johnny Green was full of shit. Hawk gave it 4 or 5 names. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul secor Posted August 10, 2009 Report Share Posted August 10, 2009 I didn't think you could copyrite chord changes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted August 10, 2009 Report Share Posted August 10, 2009 Correct. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffcrom Posted August 10, 2009 Report Share Posted August 10, 2009 Donna Lee!! That 's it. What's "Fried Bananas"? I don't think you ever got an answer to what you were really asking - it's a Dexter Gordon tune. And the recording Allen is talking about is probably "Rainbow Mist." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllenLowe Posted August 11, 2009 Report Share Posted August 11, 2009 (edited) yes, Rainbow Mist - but from what I recall Green actually won his lawsuit and Hawkins had to pay royalties. Green was a difficult guy, but he did send me some sheet music. and let's not forget - Donna is Sweet Georgia Brown. and Relaxin with Lee is - who knows - Edited August 11, 2009 by AllenLowe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted August 11, 2009 Report Share Posted August 11, 2009 "Stompin' At The Savoy" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Kart Posted August 11, 2009 Report Share Posted August 11, 2009 yes, Rainbow Mist - but from what I recall Green actually won his lawsuit and Hawkins had to pay royalties. Green was a difficult guy, but he did send me some sheet music. Doesn't prove anything either way, but on p. 288 of John Chilton's Hawkins bio, there is this 1957 quote from Green (after he'd listened to Hawkins' album of ballads with string orchestra backing, "The Gilded Hawk"): "If the improviser can improve on what the composer wrote instead of destroying it, more power to his embouchure." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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