Here is a wonderful, oft-overlooked early composition of Django and Stephane’s. It’s a sweet, mellow swing tune sure to be echoing throughout the Smith campus this summer. If you didn’t download the entire packet of Tier 2 tunes from the Get Ready page, here are Jack Soref’s charts for Are You In The Mood::
Note from Jack: If you are looking at the chart we have provided for this tune don’t panic. I decided it would be fun to try writing out the rubato intro from the original recording. If you take a listen to the recording, I think you will find that it’s not as strange as it might look at first glance. It is also completely optional. At a jam session, it might be a better idea to skip those first four bars, and get right to the tune itself. Another option would be to take the idea of that intro and workout your own lines on those introductory chords. Here are a couple nice versions of this tune to inspire you.
Django and Stephane’s original recording:
Django in June 2016 guest artists Les Violons de Bruxelles play their beautiful arrangement:
Stephane Grappelli in 1979 on his album ‘Young Django’ improvising another lovely intro:
Now give the tune a try yourself! Here is a playback track to practice with, courtesy Nuages de Swing: