Django wrote this beautiful, haunting ballad (actually titled Manoir De Mes Reves) and first recorded it in 1943 in Paris with the Quintette du Hot Club de France. Evidently he composed this tune as a theme for a symphony he never finished. That's something I'm sure we would all love to hear, what a shame that it was never completed. Below is the chart commonly used. My trio plays it as a mid-tempo bossa, which is really fun. It's a great tune to call at jams; most folks know it & the head is quite simple. Classic Django, beautiful & imaginative.
Comments
This was one of the first song I played on my Barault (2013) :
The two clarinet version is lovely, someone told me the intro is actually a verse from another French song but I can't remember the name (something about birds, oiseaux, maybe?). I also can't remember who told me that, it might have been Rino or Tcha. Does anybody know about that intro?
beautiful playing Wim, great intro too!
To recognize a sweet tune in such a simple Melodie is quite something, than tastefully adding the little Twists over E7 and Eb7 to make it a Django Tune, wonderfull!
It is also in a great Key for playing the head in Chords using open Strings or even Harmonics all the way:-) working on it...
Great footage, Wim. This is a song that lends itself particularly well to chord melody, as shown beautifully by Wim here. Notable covers of it include Chet Atkins, and more currently, Pearl Django. My favorite version is by Django in quartet form from 1953 in Paris, with Django on the electric guitar. I'll try to track it down and post a link here separately.
Go to about 2:40 in this video for Fapy doing an absolutely incredible solo version. One of my all-time favorite youtube videos.
Wim, whatever mic you used nicely captured the tone and sound signature of the guitar. That compression or whatever is going on inside that box comes through nicely. Super nice playing.
Thanks for the heads up on Chet's version, Mike.
Indeed, Buco. Joe Pass covered it too. I'll try to track down Chet & Joe's versions later and post them here for everyone to enjoy. But for now, here's my favorite--
https://youtu.be/KwnDSHb-tMU
I've got you covered, Mike. Here's a transcription of Joe Pass's version:
Flaco & Billy, thanks for your posts. Great additions to the conversation, both of you.
An elegant version by Raphaël Faÿs:
A cool one by Gerry Mulligan with the Concert Jazz Band:
... and, with less elegance and coolness, but more, uh, how should I say, "punk"? Diz Dizley and the John Barry Orchestra: