Lullaby of Birdland by George Shearing

Overview

Key: A♭ major · Chords used: 14 · Sections: 5

Form: Intro → A Section → A Section → Bridge → A Section

Where these chords come from: a chord chart of this song written by a musician and shared on the iReal Pro forums, archived in the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). It's one musician's reading of the song, not a transcription checked against the recording. This page shows that chart as-is: the analysis below is generated directly from it by code, not written by AI. Consecutive repeats of a chord are shown once, and the piano voicings are our playable arrangement of each chord symbol, not a note-for-note transcription.

Section by section

Intro

• Cm7 – Fm7 – B♭m7
  iii7 – vi7 – ii7
• E♭7 – A♭maj7 (×2)
  V7 – Imaj7
• Gm7♭5 – C7
  viiø7 – III7

A Section 1

• Fm – Dm7♭5 – G7 – C7 – Fm – B♭m7 – E♭7 – Cm7 – Fm7 – B♭m7 – E♭7 – A♭maj7 – Gm7♭5 – C7♭9
  vi – #ivø7 – VII7 – III7 – vi – ii7 – V7 – iii7 – vi7 – ii7 – V7 – Imaj7 – viiø7 – III7b9

A Section 2

• Fm – Dm7♭5 – G7 – C7 – Fm – B♭m7 – E♭7 – Cm7 – Fm7 – B♭m7
  vi – #ivø7 – VII7 – III7 – vi – ii7 – V7 – iii7 – vi7 – ii7
• E♭7 – A♭maj7 (×2)
  V7 – Imaj7

Bridge

• Cm7♭5 – F7♭9 – B♭m7 – E♭7♭9 – A♭maj7 (×2)
  iiiø7 – VI7b9 – ii7 – V7b9 – Imaj7
• C7♭9
  III7b9

A Section 3

• Fm – Dm7♭5 – G7 – C7 – Fm – B♭m7 – E♭7 – Cm7 – Fm7 – B♭m7
  vi – #ivø7 – VII7 – III7 – vi – ii7 – V7 – iii7 – vi7 – ii7
• E♭7 – A♭maj7 (×2)
  V7 – Imaj7
• Gm7♭5 – C7
  viiø7 – III7

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
Cm7	iii7	In the key	Intro, A Section
Fm7	vi7	In the key	Intro, A Section
B♭m7	ii7	In the key	Intro, A Section, Bridge
E♭7	V7	In the key	Intro, A Section
A♭maj7	Imaj7	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, A Section, Bridge
Gm7♭5	viiø7	In the key	Intro, A Section
C7	III7	Secondary dominant (V/vi)	A Section
Fm	vi	In the key	A Section
Dm7♭5	#ivø7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
G7	VII7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
C7♭9	III7b9	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section, Bridge
Cm7♭5	iiiø7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Bridge
F7♭9	VI7b9	Secondary dominant (V/ii)	Bridge
E♭7♭9	V7b9	Borrowed from A♭ minor	Bridge

Harmonic highlights

• E♭7♭9 (V7b9) is borrowed from the parallel key, A♭ minor.
• C7 acts as V/vi: it resolves to Fm.
• F7♭9 acts as V/ii: it resolves to B♭m7.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “Lullaby Of Birdland” (credited “Shearing George”, style Medium Swing) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Performer/songwriter confirmed from Wikidata.
• Section names: from the chart's own markings: section names written on the chart (Intro, Verse, Chorus…) are kept, and rehearsal letters are shown as “A Section”, “B Section” and so on (the B of an AABA song is called the Bridge).
• Cross-check: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “Lullaby Of Birdland” (credited “Shearing George”, style Medium Swing) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Performer/songwriter confirmed from Wikidata. A separately posted chart of the same song; its chords match this page's closely when both are read in the same key (similarity 76%).
• Chord charts are often written in a key that suits a particular singer or band, so this may not be the key of the original recording.
• About the song: Wikipedia.
• Verified: two community charts of this song, posted in different forum threads, agree on its harmony. They're still charts, not transcriptions checked against the recording.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.