Django in June

In this selection, Joscho offers three choruses of Django's Minor Blues at a moderate tempo. Not too difficult, and full of classic Django arpeggios and riffs.

Note: Joscho doesn't play the intro you see in the transcriptions. Look for the horizontal lines in his transcription to find the breaks between choruses. Our friend Ben Robertson reworked that transcription to clarify and fix a few things. You may want to download both.

This is from Tim's transcription of Stephane Grappelli's classic solo on the first recording of Minor Swing in 1937. These are Grappelli's 3rd and 4th choruses from that cut. Excerpted by permission from Tim's Stephane Grappelli: Gypsy Jazz Violin published by Mel Bay, which you can purchase from this page at djangobooks.com or directly from Mel Bay. An invaluable study.

Jo Privat's Rhythmes Gitans is included in our collection of "2nd tier" tunes you might want to learn before coming to Django in June. Here's Rob Reich's transcription of Privat's solo on the song from his now-classic (and highly recommended) 1966 album, Manouche Partie. This recording also features the great Matelot Ferret on guitar and Jean Tordo on clarinet.

Django and Grappelli are credited with this tune built on Rhythm Changes. You can learn the chords and melody on the page of this website devoted to "2nd tier" tunes for djamming. Evan Price took four full choruses on the tune at a recent concert with the Hot Club of San Francisco and was kind enough to transcribe it for you to study. Whether you learn it in its entirety or cherry pick the parts that are most interesting to you, this solo is chock full of great source material for students of improvisation at all levels (and on all instruments).

Although several Latin rhythms have been adopted (and adapted) by GJ players, the depth of our enthusiasm has not been matched by the breadth of our repertoire. In other words, we tend to beat a few good Latin tunes to death. As one small contribution to addressing that situation I recommend you learn Gonzalo Bergara's Elana's Bossa and beat it to death at Django Camp this summer. You can find a lead sheet and audio of the head on this page. Here we have audio and a transcription (courtesy of John McGann's transcription servce) of Gonzalo's first chorus on the tune from his CD Porteña Soledad. Though Gonzalo can fret-blister with the best of them, I think you'll find this quite an accessible solo. There's one fast riff in measure 16; I've isolated and slowed it down for your learning pleasure. Have fun. ~AL

Here's mando-maestro Jamie Masefield's take on the GJ standard, Swing Gitan. First he plays a slightly embellished version of the head, then two choruses. The lowest link shown right is a full transcription of all that. In case the tune is new to you, a simple lead sheet is included among the first collection of tunes you find on the main Get Ready Musically page of this website.