Improvisation in "Moanin'"

This version of Moanin' was recorded by Charles Mingus.

This tune is in a very fast 4/4 swing style. It is in a minor key and does not follow the 12-bar blues chord structure, but rather has its own form.

Moanin', like most jazz music, features improvisation as its main form of melody. It begins with a very embellished baritone saxophone solo, before the bass-line is established. Following this, more instruments join in alternating between playing written melody and improvising over the bass-line.

This jazz tune is very interesting to analyze for improvisation because for much of what one would call the head of the piece, multiple instruments are actually improvising by either embellishing the written melody or just creating their own, altogether. It does still follow the standard head/solo/head structure of jazz, however, because there are several solo sections for a single instrument to showcase its improvisation over the main form.

There are many other elements of jazz in this tune that define it as a jazz piece, including its use of so-called jazz chords, its use of swing, and its use of jazz chords, which vary from standard chord intervals and often include the 7th, 9th, and/or 11th scale degree of the chord, giving it its jazzy feel.

For and example of how bluegrass roots itself in jazz through improvisation, read Improvisation in "Bluegrass Breakdown".