Swing Gitan: Tune of the Month, Feb 06.

Ando · December 2006

Jack, these are great threads!

arnollo · November 2007

Ok, some pretty basic questions here..
this is a song we play often, but as i suck at soloing ,i am still asking myslf questions about how to think on this one.
What is the role of the A7 here?
Apart from it, on the 8 first bars, it's all in Gm, but i can't see how the A7 would fit in the Gm....
Does anyone have an explanation?
I usually play anything sounding bad on Gm on the whole grille unless on the Ab7 where i play something like an AbM arpeggio or a diminuhed arpeggio.
can someone give me some ideas on how to think the grille so it's simplified, but still interesting?

HCPhilly · November 2007

Re. the A7 in Swing Gitane. It's a secondary dominant,
in other words, you could think of it as the dominant 7 of the D7,
and D7 is the "Big Daddy," dominant 7th chord of the key of Gminor.
[hope I haven't lost you!].
You could work on a few approaches to soloing on the Gmi-A7-D7
bit of S.G. The most obvious harmonic line is one that s also used in the melody. the line is d natural, for gm, C# for A7, and C natural for D7,
ending on Bb for the return to Gmi. The progression is a turnaround of sorts. It starts on the Tonic minor [i-mi], goes to II7 then V7, and back to i-mi. The most commonly used shapes or sounds are the basic triad gmi,
triad a7, [and 4 note a7, and a7b9], same for D7. In other words, the "Gypsy dominant 7," which is the dom. 7 b9. works for both 7th chords, respectively. Also the upper four notes are a diminshed chord, built on the 3rd of the chord. [Stay with me!] In other words, A7 b9 is spelled
A-C#-E-G-Bb. If you played a diminished 7th chord, based on any of the notes from C# on up, you will have a very useful cliche that is part of Gypsy Jazz 101. See Michael's G.P. for examples taken from Django's playing on "Dark Eyes."
Last quick note, the a7 is a kind of temporary rest point. Go for stating the chord, but try leaving some space before the d7 chord, if that makes sense.
Breathe[!], play like a singer, or like Deniro's charecter in the Deer Hunter,
["one shot"!] in other words play less, but mean what you play, don't over play the harmony. You can make up little melodies based on the harmonic line that I mentioned above, and work in some of the other chord tones, and make it swing!
Anyhow, I gotta' go now. PM me thru this site if you have any questions so far.
Happy Thanksgiving to you all.
Barry

arnollo · November 2007

Thanks a lot!
i had completely forgot about the secondary dominant thing.. thanks for your advices i will try to work on this..

benjamindau · February 2019

Buco · March 2019

Since this thread got brought up and I got reminded of the following, here's a video explaining how to play the intro Angelo way.
It's mostly arpeggios over Cm, A7, Gm, Eb7, A7, D7, Gm and D7 (which is the chords you would play accompanying somebody playing the intro) connected nicely. I posted it in a different thread when asked if I have a transcription tab but in case someone is looking for how to play this intro they probably look here. I wanted to learn how to play it and didn't find a good video showing it so I transcribed from Dorado's show at the Blue Note where Angelo was a guest. Eventually I might do a presentable video so this one unlisted. Always loved this intro.