Dicing with Donna (Donna Lee)

Back home in Indiana
He plays those bebop bass lines
with a rapid tempo hurl
and it’s all Curly’s girl
can do to keep up with the changes.
Pretty Donna Lee
sittin’ in the sidelines
Smilin’ at her Daddy’o,
heating the beat
while Miles swings along
and let’s old Bird take the lead.

Earlier, sooner, later, now
A skitter skatter,
pitter patter
virtuoso harmonies
from the thin men.
And old Fats wasn’t so old.
ice freezing blood red at 26,
Indiana spawning
chromatic melodies
to make your toes curl.

Miles, sweet nineteen,
he’d been kissed,
don’t tell me not,
sliced and diced
that solo sizzle,
gave birth to Bird’s
cool bebop drizzle
like rain drops
fast on a window pane.
No music so fine,
no sound so sublime.
A dime each time it’s played
by fresh young dukes
out to nuke the opposition.

Jaco’s solo speed undone
His fingers hazing, trailing some
The time all tempo-fused and random
The conga questioning rhythm grows
What to do when Donna’s done.
What indeed? The thread’s unspun.

How Duke Jordan Changed the World - performed to Jordu

When Jordan penned this number it was new
and few had tried to do what he could do.
He'd played with all the best
that was Jordu
You know the rest
Parker's inspiration caught Duke's ear
but he missed the chance to dance in France
Instead, he worked with Getz
and gigged some more
That was Jordu

Bebop plays it hard in all the uptown clubs
The scene in 41 was just fermenting
By 54 the scene had crystallized
The music Duke played, it really jumped
The first to lay it down for all to hear
was Clifford Roach with Brown,
they played it clear,
but as the good in jazz - they all die young.
Brown bought the farm.

I know you want to hear the rest of the story
and I'm going to oblige.
Just you settle now and listen
to the way in which the music goes on and on and...
Inside the rhythm it gives a little bit
and we hear the way in which
the given notes inform the melody,
though improvising was the order of the day.
And I don't have to tell you all
how hard it is to tell the folks
all listening to the beat,
'cos you're listening now,
in tandem with the souls who've gone before.
Best beloved we sit with them now,
and the world can't hear them
though they hold them dear.
Reign in your emotions for a while.
Hear what I say...

(solos)

When Jordan penned this number it was new
and few had tried to do what he could do.
He'd played with all the best
that was Jordu
You know the rest
Parker's inspiration caught Duke's ear
but he missed the chance to dance in France
Instead, he worked with Getz
and gigged some more
That was Jordu

Bebop plays it hard in all the uptown clubs
The scene in 41 was just fermenting
By 54 the scene had crystallized
The music Duke played, it really jumped
The first to lay it down for all to hear
was Clifford Roach with Brown,
they played it clear,
but as the good in jazz - they all die young.
Brown bought the farm.
That was Jordu
That was Jordu