Nov. Song Of The Month: Troublant Bolero

MikeK · November 2022

This month's tune is a unique gem in the arsenal of gypsy jazz tunes & a delight to play. But this is assuming your bandmates are savvy about the proper touch that it takes to handle the bolero rhythm. Written by Django, he first recorded it in 1948 in Brussels. But my favorite version is from Rome in January or February of 1949. Here's a link to it:

https://youtu.be/b6sWW2CJ-Gs

This version features Django with Stephane Grappelli on violin, Gianni Safred on piano, Carlo Pecori on bass & Aurelio de Carolis on drums. Other notable versions include those by Bireli Lagrene, Pearl Django and Angelo Debarre with Tchavolo Schmitt. It's a superb song with that infectious bolero rhythm. My band plays it in E major and I'll post the chart that we use later.

wim · November 2022

It's a shame that very few people seem to play the E chords like the Django way, because the voice leading there (with descending 7ths) adds an interesting splash of color. Plus, how often do you get to play the "spooky" EmM7 voicing as a rhythm player in this style, not very often!

It's also interesting the differences in bolero rhythm technique - between the 1 and the beat 2 of the bar, some ppl strum the chord 3 times like a triplet flourish (bass CHOCOLATE-PIE chord bass chord bass chord) and other ppl only 2 times (bass APPLE-PIE chord bass chord bass chord). I suppose the first way is more similar like a real (Cuban) bolero, but the second way is more similar like the Django recordings. Well, what do you prefer??

This was one of the tunes that got me into Django in the first place. But now, I'm a little exhausted of it - I actually prefer Django's "other" bolero.

rudolfochrist · November 2022

I prefer the apple pie bolero technique 😊

Buco · November 2022

Depends on the festive occasion. Sometimes I have a taste for chocolate pie, sometimes apple pie. Lately though, more often it's apple pie, chocolate pie can be too layered.

Wim, can you point to a specific recording with Django chords? I've always used what I learned in the GJ circles.

tomcunn · November 2022

how did django play an e chord?

wim · November 2022

We can only speculate how Django would have placed it exactly with his hands, but it sounds as though he's in the open position. The two chunky intro chords sound like E7#9 [022133] and then move it down one fret to get some sort of crazy A7 like [x11022]

That descending 7th thing is like an Emaj7 / E7 / E6 then EmM7 / Em7 / A7, it's probably also in open position (to use the open G string). I don't know if Django's fingers could have formed EmM7 up at the 7th position, but in the open position it's quite easy.

I'll try and make a short video to upload later