Unlocking Bebop Vocabulary: A Trumpet Solo on the Changes to Donna Lee!

🎺 Unlocking Bebop Vocabulary: A Trumpet Solo on the Changes to Donna Lee

If you've ever tried to solo over Donna Lee, you know it’s not for the faint-hearted. This bebop standard—famously recorded by Charlie Parker (and arguably written by Miles Davis)—has become a rite of passage for aspiring jazz musicians.

In this post, I’m going to break down some of the bebop language I used in a trumpet solo I wrote on the chord changes to Donna Lee. You’ll get some insights into how to practice jazz vocabulary, and you can download the solo as sheet music here - https://www.jazzetudes.net/

🔑 Why Donna Lee? Why This Solo? Donna Lee trumpet solo

Donna Lee sits at the heart of the bebop tradition. Its rapid chord changes and non-stop motion make it a great workout for jazz improvisers. I wanted to create a solo that:

• Feels idiomatic and musical

• Highlights classic bebop language

• Provides material for practice and inspiration

Chorus 1 - Bebop jazz trumpet solo - Free pdf - Donna Lee

🧠 What is Bebop Language?

When we talk about “jazz vocabulary,” especially in the bebop context, we’re referring to a few key elements:

• Enclosures (targeting chord tones with chromatic movement)

• Approach notes

• Arpeggios and voice leading

• Bebop scales and chromaticism

• Rhythmic phrasing and eighth-note flow

These are the tools of the trade if you want to sound like Parker, Dizzy, or Clifford Brown.

🎼 Phrase Examples from Donna Lee trumpet solo

Here are a few examples from the solo and what’s going on under the hood in chorus 1:

🎵 Bar 1-4: Enclosure, chord notes, diminished bebop lick

🎵 Bar 5-8: Chord notes, fats lick, diminished bebop lick, approach notes

🎵 Bar 9-12: Chord notes, scale fragments, chromatic enclosure

🎵 Bar 13-16: Scale fragments, enclosures, chord notes, chromatic enclosure

🎵 Bar 17-20: Clifford Brown type enclosures, scale fragments, chromatic enclosure

🎵 Bar 21-24: Enclosures, scale fragments, chord notes, chromatic enclosure

🎵 Bar 25-28: Chord notes, enclosure, scale fragments

🎵 Bar 29-32:Chromatic enclosure, chord notes (#5),

So, in this chorus, even though at first glance it might seem there is a tone of language going on, in fact, there is only a few. These include -

Chord notes

Enclosures

Approach notes/scale fragments

Chromatic enclosures

Fats lick/broken chord notes

🎓 How to Practice This Language

This solo isn’t just for listening—it’s meant to be played and studied. A few practice ideas:

• Play it slowly with a metronome or backing track

• Isolate licks you like and transpose them to other keys

• Analyze how lines connect chord tones and voice-lead

• Improvise using the same phrases in different tunes (like Ornithology or Scrapple from the Apple)

🎁 Get the Solo (Free Download) Donna Lee trumpet solo

You can grab the full trumpet solo on Donna Lee, completely free by signing up to my newsletter.

👉 SIGN UP FORM

You’ll get a PDF in Bb pitch, perfect for trumpet, clarinet or tenor sax.

If you are interested, I teach monthly lessons here (level 2 includes everything in level 1) Buy me a coffee

Darren.