Minor Swing (composition)

"Minor Swing"
1937 release on the Swing label
Single by Quintette du Hot Club de France
Recorded25 November 1937[1]
Genre
LabelSwing No. 23
Producer(s)Charles Delaunay

"Minor Swing" is a gypsy jazz tune composed by Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli, first recorded by their group The Quintet of the Hot Club of France in 1937. It is considered to be one of Reinhardt's signature compositions,[2] as well as a jazz standard of the swing era.

Structure

Minor Swing is written in the key of A minor. Apart from the brief introduction and final coda or playout, there is no discernible melody, just a repeated sequence of chord changes over which the key players improvise continuously until by some mutual agreement the end is decided and the playout performed.[citation needed] The introduction comprises a set of partial arpeggios over the chords Am/Dm/Am/Dm/Am/Dm/E7, followed by the main changes which are Am/-/Dm/-/E7/-/Am/-/ which are followed by Dm/-/Am/-/E7/-/Am/E7/, then the cycle begins again, until the playout which comprises some set arpeggios following the pattern of the first half of the tune with one repeat. In some modern treatments, the E7 in the middle of the second stanza may be replaced with Bb7 (a tritone substitution) and/or the second stanza sometimes replaced with a cycle of fifths based treatment for effect, i.e. Dm7/G7/Cmaj7/Fmaj7/Bø/E7/Am (etc.).[3] Although the chord changes may appear unremarkable and the entire structure somewhat repetitive, in live performance it is a well known vehicle which permits the soloist or soloists to demonstrate their virtuosity and musical skill for creating interesting melodic and rhythmic excursions over the familiar chord patterns, as well as the opportunity to quote from Django's own recorded melodic inventions over his own tune.

Reception and legacy

In a blog post for Jazz at Lincoln Center, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis considers "Minor Swing" to be an "essential" jazz recording.[4]

Recordings

By Django Reinhardt

Biographer Charles Delaunay has compiled the folliwng list of recordings that Django Reinhardt was a part of:[5]

  • Paris, 25 November 1937: Django Reinhardt, guitar; Stéphane Grappelli, violin; Joseph Reinhardt & Eugène Vées, rhythm guitars; Louis Vola, double bass
  • Paris, March 1947: Django Reinhardt, guitar; Eddie Bernard, piano (French Radio broadcast; as "No Name Blues")
  • Paris, 29 August 1947: Django Reinhardt, guitar; Maurice Mernier, clarinet; Eugène Vées, rhythm guitar; Emmanuel Soudieux, double bass; André Jourdan, drums
  • Brussels, December 1948: Django Reinhardt, guitar; Hubert Rostaing, clarinet; Henri "Lousson" Baumgartner, rhythm guitar; Louis Vola, double bass; Arthur Motta, drums
  • Rome, January/February 1949: Django Reinhardt, guitar; Stéphane Grappelli, violin; Gianni Safred, piano; Carlo Pecori, double bass; Aurelio de Carolis, drums
  • Rome, April–May 1950: Django Reinhardt, guitar; André Ekyan, clarinet; Raph Schecroun, piano; Alf Masselier, double bass; Roger Paraboschi, drums

Sources

  • Delaunay, Charles (1981). Django Reinhardt. Ashley Mark Publishing Company. ISBN 0-9506224-6-X.
  • Dregni, Michael (2004). Django: The Life and Music of a Gypsy Legend. Oxford University Press US. ISBN 0-19-516752-X – via Internet Archive.
  • Givan, B.M. (2010). The Music of Django Reinhardt. Jazz perspectives. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-472-03408-6.
  • "Wynton Marsalis Chooses His Top 50 Essential Jazz Recordings". Jazz at Lincoln Center (Blog). 15 April 2024. Archived from the original on 7 September 2024.
  • Moulou, Patrick (26 June 2007). "Minor Swing". Complete Django: The Ultimate Django Book (English and French ed.). Bookmakers International. pp. 52–53.
  • Phillips, M.; Chappell, J. (2012). "Minor Swing". Guitar For Dummies, with DVD. For Dummies. Wiley. ISBN 978-1-118-11554-1.
  • Wahrhaftig, Barry (29 May 2014). "Analysis and Breakdown of Stochelo Rosenberg's "Minor Swing" Solo from Live at the North Sea Festival". DjangoBooks. Archived from the original on 27 December 2021.

References

  1. ^ Givan 2010, p. 223.
  2. ^ Dregni 2004, p. 138.
  3. ^ Wahrhaftig 2014.
  4. ^ Jazz at Lincoln Center 2024.
  5. ^ Delaunay 1981, p. 171ff.

Minor Swing (composition) at MusicBrainz