Bobby Timmons, music · Jon Hendricks, lyrics · First recorded by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers for Blue Note
Moanin'
Moanin' is a hard bop tune by pianist Bobby Timmons, built on call and response in F minor. Players love it for its gospel and blues feel and its short, easy-to-recognize theme. You will hear it on Blakey's 1958 Blue Note album and in vocal, trio and guitar versions.
▶ Plays the whole path in order, one recording after another.
- 1 Learn the song Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers✓
- 2 Hear a tenor saxophone lead Benny Golson with Roger Guerin and Bobby Timmons✓
- 3 Hear the band live Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers✓
- 4 Hear the song with words Lambert, Hendricks & Ross✓
- 5 Hear the composer's trio Bobby Timmons✓
- 6 Hear a later Blakey band Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers✓
- 7 Hear a second piano trio, live Oscar Peterson Trio✓
- 8 Hear a guitar version Wes Montgomery Trio✓
How the tune works
Thirty-two bars in four parts: an eight-bar call-and-response theme, the same theme again, an eight-bar bridge and a last eight-bar theme. In Benny Golson's account, Timmons had the opening eight bars, which he often played between tunes, and wrote the full song after Golson urged him to add a bridge. In the New York Jazz Workshop analysis, bar 2 of the theme moves from B♭ to F minor. The bridge contrasts with the theme through chords that step down in pairs, such as B♭m9 to A♭13, and G7♭9 to C7♯9.
Listen in this order
Play all 8 on YouTube ↗The path starts with Blakey's 1958 studio original, then follows the tune through a live Paris set, Benny Golson's tenor version, the Lambert, Hendricks & Ross vocal and Timmons's own trio. It ends with a later Blakey band in Tokyo, the Oscar Peterson Trio live and a Wes Montgomery guitar trio.
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Step 1 · Learn the song Now playing
Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers 1958
Moanin'
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- Listen for
- A call-and-response theme in F minor. Morgan, Golson, Timmons and Merritt each take a solo.
- Try this
- Play the opening theme along with the record, and stop after each call to sing the answer before you play it. Smaller version: play only the first call and its answer, and repeat them with the beat.
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Step 2 · Hear a tenor saxophone lead Now playing
Benny Golson with Roger Guerin and Bobby Timmons 1958
Benny Golson and the Philadelphians
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- Listen for
- A tenor saxophone, trumpet, piano, bass and drums lineup. Compare Golson's tenor here with his part on the Blakey take, and listen for Timmons at the piano on both. The take runs about three and a half minutes shorter than Blakey's.
- Try this
- Play the theme along with the record and leave a pause after each call, so you can hear how the tenor answers. Smaller version: play only the first four bars.
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Step 3 · Hear the band live Now playing
Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers 1958
“Moanin' (Live at the Olympia, Paris / 1958)”, Olympia Concert
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- Listen for
- A concert recording that runs 13:18, against 9:32 for the studio take. Golson is on tenor and Morgan on trumpet, as on the studio record.
- Try this
- Play the theme along with the live take. If you lose the beat, stop, tap beats 2 and 4 with the band, then join again.
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Step 4 · Hear the song with words Now playing
Lambert, Hendricks & Ross 1959
The Hottest New Group in Jazz
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- Listen for
- Three voices (Lambert, Hendricks and Ross) sing over trumpet, piano, bass and drums. At 2:34 it is the shortest take on this path.
- Try this
- Sing the opening call and its answer on a syllable such as doo, along with the record. Smaller version: hum the call and clap the answer.
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Step 5 · Hear the composer's trio Now playing
Bobby Timmons 1960
This Here Is Bobby Timmons
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- Listen for
- Piano, bass and drums only, with Timmons, Sam Jones and Jimmy Cobb. Hear the theme with no horns, and compare Timmons's solo with the one on the Blakey take.
- Try this
- Play the theme with your right hand and block F minor and B♭ chords with your left, then play along with the record. Smaller version: play the theme alone with no chords.
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Step 6 · Hear a later Blakey band Now playing
Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers 1961
“Moanin' (Live at Hibiya Public Hall, Tokyo, Japan 1/14/61)”, First Flight to Tokyo: The Lost 1961 Recordings
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- Listen for
- At 13:32 this live take runs four minutes longer than the 1958 studio take. Blakey is credited with spoken word as well as drums, and Shorter plays tenor in place of Golson.
- Try this
- Write down the order of the solos as you hear them; the lineup is trumpet, tenor saxophone, piano, bass and drums. Smaller version: tap beats 2 and 4 through the first three minutes.
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Step 7 · Hear a second piano trio, live Now playing
Oscar Peterson Trio 1961
“Moanin' (Live at the London House, Chicago, 1961)”, The London House Sessions
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- Listen for
- Piano, bass and drums in a club recording. Compare how this trio treats the theme with Timmons's own trio, and follow Ray Brown's bass.
- Try this
- Tap the beat along with the bass for the first minute, then play the theme once over it. Smaller version: tap the beat only.
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Step 8 · Hear a guitar version Now playing
Wes Montgomery Trio 1963
“Moanin' (Take 7)”, Portrait of Wes
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- Listen for
- A guitar, organ and drums trio: Montgomery, Rhyne and Brown, with no bass player listed. Follow the call and response of the theme on guitar.
- Try this
- Play the theme along with the record in F minor, with one chord under each call. Smaller version: play only the first call and its answer.
More great versions
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Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers 1958
“Moanin' (Alternate Take)”, Moanin'
A second pass at the tune from the same session, issued on the CD reissue.
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Bobby Timmons Trio 1964
From the Bottom
Timmons returns to his tune with Sam Jones and Jimmy Cobb, this time on organ.
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Tony Allen 2017
A Tribute to Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers
The Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen plays the tune with a seven-piece band, recorded live in Paris.
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Christian McBride Big Band featuring José James 2025
Without Further Ado, Vol 1
A big-band version from 2025 with José James singing.