In the original liner notes to the only LP released under Baro Ferret’s name, the now-classic, Swing valses d’hier et d’aujourd’hui, Charles Delaunay wrote:
“In the days when I was recording the first 78 rpm records of the great jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt for the Swing label, I had the opportunity to listen to, and record, another guitarist of no less outstanding talent: Baro Ferré. He was revolutionizing the musette waltz.”
This 1940 composition, credited to both Ferret and Gus Viseur represented one early call to arms in that revolution. In his preparation of the the written materials we’ll be using to learn it, Jack Soref used this recording as his primary reference.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYcLnDHLesI
Once you’ve downloaded lead sheets from the selection below I’d encourage you to read through the remarks Jack shared in correspondence with me as we were discussing how to approach the tune. You’ll find those remarks further down the page.
Jack’s notes:
“Christophe [Astolfi] had some small amendments he offered for the harmony, and suggested there may be some better fingerings for certain passages which we could look at more closely in June, perhaps in his classes. Fingerings can be so personal, and when translating a melody from another instrument there are often challenges. Usually you have to decide which challenge you want to present yourself with: a challenge for the left hand or one for the right.
“I think the best we can do is mention to guitarists using the tab that this is one of a number of ways to finger this melody and encourage them to experiment with alternative approaches to find what works best for them. I feel comfortable suggesting this because, really, I think that’s what we should do with almost any tablature presented to us as guitarists!”