(photo by Tom Marcello)
Chuck Wayne [Charles Jagelka 1923-1997] was a guitarist and teacher who helped bridge the swing era with the modernist bebop revolution of the mid-1940s. Wayne worked along 52nd Street and took part in recording sessions with Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Dizzy Gillespie, Barney Bigard and many others. He was a member of Woody Herman’s band and worked with George Shearing’s Quintet from 1949-52. Wayne toured and recorded with Tony Bennett in the 1950s and eventually became a staff musician for CBS television from 1959-71. He later taught at the Westchester Conservatory of Music and wrote four books on theory for jazz guitarists.
When the Music Division acquired the Chuck Wayne Collection last year, we were expecting to find the guitarist’s music scores, manuscripts, photographs, correspondence and other paperwork. There was one item, though, that proved somewhat startling; an unpublished 10” acetate disc of a recording session from 1946. 
(Larry Appelbaum, Diane Wayne)
While any unpublished recording by Chuck Wayne would be reason to celebrate, this disc documents part of a session in Oklahoma City and contained an intriguing original song by Wayne loosely based on the chord changes to How High the Moon. Wayne titled it Sonny, for the trumpeter Sonny Berman, who is heard on the recording with Wayne.
To hear Wayne and Berman together (they met in Woody Herman’s Orchestra) is a pleasure, but the revelation is that the tune Wayne called Sonny is remarkably similar to a song made famous years later by Miles Davis under the title Solar. With permission from Wayne’s wife Diane, here is an excerpt from the original acetate disc. The grooves are worn and the disc is quite noisy, but the melody is clear, especially to those who know the now famous jazz standard.
Wayne failed to register this song for copyright. Seventeen years after the recording of Sonny was made, Prestige Music Co., Inc. registered Solar for copyright. The copyright registration paperwork is dated Aug. 8, 1963 and shows the composer of the song as Miles Davis.
Wayne told people over the years that his song had been appropriated, and in fact The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz entry for Wayne states: “He performed and recorded with Woody Herman’s First Herd (May-December 1946), and while with Herman composed Sonny, which Miles Davis later appropriated and claimed as his own composition, under a new title, Solar.” This story has circulated for years but only a few have heard the song Sonny as recorded by Wayne and friends, at least not until now.
July 3, 2012 at 11:18 am
Bravo!
July 3, 2012 at 5:34 pm
Yet another example of Miles’ tendency to make dubious claims of composership. I hope that the Wayne estate is able achieve economic justice in this matter.
July 3, 2012 at 9:35 pm
Thanks Larry; great work!
Is there a happy ending to this story for Mrs. Wayne or was Chuck’s inaction the spoiler?
July 3, 2012 at 9:57 pm
Not surprising, as Miles Davis was known for “borrowing” tunes from other musicians and making them his own. There is a similar story about a tune “Four,” that is listed as Miles Davis’ tune.The story I’ve heard, however, attributes this tune to a trumpeter from West Coast, who later showed Miles the tune. And a tune “Blue in Green” on the famous “Kind of Blue” album clearly sounds very Bill Evans like. He was the one who played the first two chords for Miles, from which the tune was created. But again, Miles is typically credited as it’s composer.
Nevertheless, the history of Jazz can not exist without the artistic contribution from Miles, in writing, playing, and leading the bands.
July 5, 2012 at 6:32 am
Wow! What an interesting find! — Since I’m a big fan of Sonny Berman, I tried to imagine him, improvising on “Sonny” a.k.a. “Solar” before I heard the above acetate sound — And indeed: It’s very much reflecting his trumpet style.
By the way: There is a reason why Miles called it “Solar”: The 12-bar chord sequence is pointing strongly up to heaven, namely to “How High The Moon”.
Certainly only for making it not too obvious, Miles hasn’t entitled it “Lunar”.
July 5, 2012 at 10:30 am
Slightly simpler turnaround, but that IS Solar.
July 5, 2012 at 1:14 pm
Announcement: Whenever I will perform “Solar” with my students in the future, I will point to Chuck’s authorship, and I will also call it “Sonny”.
Maybe that I’ll even rename the original line I wrote on the changes in 1989 from “Miles” to “Chuck”
))
July 5, 2012 at 7:30 pm
There are some subtle differences between the Miles and Chuck version (namely the first chord is C major in Chuck’s version and C minor/Maj7 in Miles’) While some may argue it is not a big difference please note the corrupt practice of several contemporary music publishers to change ONE word in a song and thus gain a new copyright on it!
Further, it is NOT the changes to How High the Moon,which is a 32-bar tune, not 12 measures.
Thank you for bringing this to light! What a wonderful story and I sincerely hope the Wayne estate is able to recoup some of the royalties after all these years!
July 7, 2012 at 3:27 am
Très intéressant. Merci pour ce travail.
July 7, 2012 at 10:20 am
Won’t you let (genius) deadmen in peace?
July 8, 2012 at 7:07 pm
Sonny>>> Sunny >>>Solar
Reconnaissons tous de même à Miles le CmM7 (2 first bars) de Solar, par rapport au C6 de Sonny, change franchement le caractère du morceau de Chuck Wayne,
Miles, truand de grande classe !!
July 9, 2012 at 11:31 am
On review several comments posted here did not fall within our comment policy and we have removed them and will not post comments that quote those comments in full.
July 9, 2012 at 5:58 pm
Oh, man! There you go again…
Well done, Larry!
July 9, 2012 at 10:47 pm
I think back in those days the record companies did a lot of that, without the actual artists being to blame….
July 11, 2012 at 12:10 pm
Thank you very much for this eye-opener of an article, Larry. And of course it’s an ear-opener, too.
Cheers,
Lenny
July 11, 2012 at 12:28 pm
Deeelightful! Thank you!
July 11, 2012 at 6:11 pm
It’s so fantastic that truth prevailed after more than 60 years.
Anyway, it’s an immortal tune, regardless of the composer.
Vielen Dank from Germany.
Horst
July 16, 2012 at 5:48 pm
Great job.
July 19, 2012 at 5:47 pm
Miles should be dig up an punished….along with mozart…some of those notes had already been used……give it a rest…..i think the truest statement was “failed to register for copyright”….great songS let it go…..
July 20, 2012 at 1:33 am
Does any one know if Chuck ever owned and played a sunburst ES 175D?
October 15, 2012 at 4:16 am
Wow. I hope this can be resolved in the Wayne estates favor. Unbelievable!
October 15, 2012 at 5:39 pm
Has the excerpt been removed? There is only a blank space–no link or file–following the “here’s an excerpt” paragraph.
October 16, 2012 at 5:50 pm
@Gregory: The excerpt has been restored. Thanks for responding.