Sonny Rollins, music · Jon Hendricks, lyrics · First recorded with Miles Davis for Prestige in Hackensack, New Jersey
Airegin
Airegin is a jazz standard by tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins, and its title spells Nigeria backwards. Players like its minor-key A sections and a B section that moves down by half steps. You will hear it on records by Miles Davis, Wes Montgomery, Dexter Gordon and Brad Mehldau.
▶ Plays the whole path in order, one recording after another.
- 1 Learn the song Miles Davis with Sonny Rollins✓
- 2 Hear a second reading Miles Davis Quintet✓
- 3 Hear two altos Phil Woods and Gene Quill✓
- 4 Hear it with words Lambert, Hendricks & Ross with Zoot Sims✓
- 5 Hear a guitar quartet Wes Montgomery✓
- 6 Hear a piano trio live Bill Evans Trio✓
- 7 Hear a tenor-led quintet Dexter Gordon✓
- 8 Hear it today Brad Mehldau Trio✓
How the tune works
Airegin runs 36 bars in four strains: an 8-bar A, a 12-bar B, A again and an 8-bar C. Each A section sits in F minor. Fm7, C7♯9, Fm7 and F7♭9 fill the first four bars, and B♭m7, F7♯9, B♭m7 and B♭m7 fill the last four. The B section opens on D♭maj7 and steps down by half steps through Cmaj7, Bmaj7 and B♭maj7. Cmaj7, Bmaj7 and B♭maj7 each follow their own ii–V. B♭m7 and E♭7 then lead to A♭maj7, and Gm7♭5 with C7 turns the tune back to F minor. The C section opens like B with D♭maj7, Dm7♭5 and G7, then moves through F7, B♭m7, E♭7 and A♭maj7 to the same turnaround.
The changes under Miles Davis's trumpet solo on the first recording (June 1954), transcribed in the Weimar Jazz Database. Published charts differ in some chord extensions and in the last eight bars.
Use the key buttons to move the chart to the key you play in.
Listen in this order
Play all 8 on YouTube ↗The path starts with the first recording and Miles Davis's 1956 quintet. It then hears two altos, a vocal version, a guitar quartet, a live piano trio, a tenor quintet and a 2011 trio.
-
Step 1 · Learn the song Now playing
Miles Davis with Sonny Rollins 1954
Miles Davis with Sonny Rollins
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Trumpet, tenor saxophone, piano, bass and drums play the tune in 5:00. Davis solos first and Rollins second, and Learn Jazz Standards points to this recording for the intro.
- Try this
- Play the first eight bars of the chart (the A section) at a slow tempo, one chord per bar. Smaller version: play only the root of each chord.
-
Step 2 · Hear a second reading Now playing
Miles Davis Quintet 1956
Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quintet
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- The same instruments as step 1 return with Coltrane, Garland, Chambers and Jones, in 4:25. Listen for the vamp under the first A section of the solos.
- Try this
- Play the A section twice and then the 12-bar B section once from the chart, slowly, with two chords in the bars that have two. Smaller version: play only the roots.
-
Step 3 · Hear two altos Now playing
Phil Woods and Gene Quill 1957
Bird Feathers
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Two alto saxophones play the tune over piano, bass and drums, and the take runs 6:25. Compare its length with the two Davis versions.
- Try this
- Play the B section of the chart (bars 9 to 20) slowly, with two chords in the bars that have two. Smaller version: play only the root of each chord.
-
Step 4 · Hear it with words Now playing
Lambert, Hendricks & Ross with Zoot Sims 1959
The Swingers!
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Three voices sing Hendricks's lyric over tenor saxophone, piano, guitar, bass and drums, and the take runs 3:32.
- Try this
- Play the eight-bar A section chords from the chart once the first A section starts on the record, one chord per bar. Smaller version: play only the roots.
-
Step 5 · Hear a guitar quartet Now playing
Wes Montgomery 1960
The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- The guitar quartet plays at about 292 bpm, with Montgomery soloing first and Flanagan following on piano.
- Try this
- Play the first four bars of the chart (Fm7, C7♯9, Fm7, F7♭9) slowly, then raise the metronome in small steps. The track itself runs far faster, so do not aim to match it at first. Smaller version: play only the roots.
-
Step 6 · Hear a piano trio live Now playing
Bill Evans Trio 1967
“Airegin (Live, May 28, 1967)”, The Secret Sessions: Recorded at the Village Vanguard 1966-1975
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Piano, bass and drums play the tune in a club in 4:17. Philly Joe Jones also drums on the 1956 Davis quintet version at step 2.
- Try this
- Play the A section from the chart with the root in the left hand and the chord in the right, one chord per bar. Smaller version: play the root and the third only.
-
Step 7 · Hear a tenor-led quintet Now playing
Dexter Gordon 1972
Ca'Purange
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- A tenor saxophone leads over piano, bass and drums, and the take runs 5:05. The album also has an alternate take at 5:32, so the two can be compared.
- Try this
- If you can solo over changes, play one chorus of the A section using only chord tones, one note per beat. Smaller version: play the A section chords as one whole note per bar.
-
Step 8 · Hear it today Now playing
Brad Mehldau Trio 2011
Where Do You Start
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- A piano trio of Mehldau, Larry Grenadier and Jeff Ballard plays the tune for 6:23. It is one of eleven tracks on an album of mostly other composers' tunes.
- Try this
- Play all 36 bars of the chart at a slow tempo, one chord per bar and two in the bars that have two. Smaller version: play only the B section (bars 9 to 20).
More great versions
-
Art Pepper 1959
Art Pepper + Eleven: Modern Jazz Classics
Art Pepper plays Airegin with an eleven-piece band arranged by Marty Paich, recorded in Los Angeles on March 14, 1959.
-
Grant Green Quartet 1962
Nigeria
Grant Green recorded Airegin on January 13, 1962, with Sonny Clark on piano, Sam Jones on bass and Art Blakey on drums.
-
Don Patterson with Sonny Stitt 1968
Funk You!
Organist Don Patterson and saxophonist Sonny Stitt recorded an organ-driven hard bop Airegin for the 1969 album Funk You!
-
Hubert Laws 1974
In the Beginning
Hubert Laws plays Airegin on piccolo over a very fast samba pattern from drummer Steve Gadd, on the 1974 CTI album In the Beginning.
-
The Manhattan Transfer 1985
Vocalese
The Manhattan Transfer sing Jon Hendricks's lyric for Airegin on their 1985 album Vocalese, with piano, guitar, bass guitar and drums.
-
Scott Colley with Chris Potter and Bill Stewart 1997
This Place
Bassist Scott Colley, Chris Potter and Bill Stewart play Airegin on Colley's album This Place, a Jazz Guitar Comprehensive top pick.