Germaine

“Germaine” was the first waltz composed by  Joseph Colombo, in 1931. Some 200 more tunes would follow, among them the most widely recognized and covered of the Swing/Musette tradition: “Cœur vagabond,” “Indifférence” and “Passion,” to name a few.

Here’s Joseph Colombo Du Bal Tabarin Et Son Ensemble playing “Germaine,” in 1937.

 

Another well-known early (1934) recording of the waltz was by Orchestra Guérino, with Baro Ferret on rhythm guitar.

 

And last but not least, here are Christophe Astolfi and Brad Brose playing Germaine, just for Django in June. Both will be on our guitar staff in 2017.

 

Jack Soref has prepared a lead sheet for the tune in three different formats, which you’ll find below. We encourage you to get started on that now; these waltzes do take some preparation! Be aware that although Christophe did sign off on Jack’s written version of the tune, the lead sheet was not intended to be an exact transcription of what Christophe is playing in the video, which includes a number of variations and embellishments. Those variations and embellishments are the sort of thing you may be interested in discussing with Christophe and the Loefflers when working with them at Django Camp. For now, we suggest you get as far as you can learning to play the chords and melody as written.

Lead Sheets
Germaine Standard and TAB

Germaine Standard

Germaine Bb Standard