Owner content reviewed — 2026-10-18T10:57:15Z by admin. Coverage measures presence, not accuracy. Content review does not certify rights or musical perfection.
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✓ Recording evidence
✓ Key & form
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✓ History
✓ Playing notes
✓ Practice plan
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✓ Django recording
✓ Django solo study aid
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Django's Recordings
Django recordings for this tune. Uploader dates and take labels remain source claims; only an evidenced exact association enables a row’s Listen control.
1 historical recording entries · source text preserved
Entry
Year
Recording / session / release evidence
Listen
01
1935
Chasing Shadows, Sept.1935, P 77537 ,"Fremeaux FA 303, Classics 727, JSP 341, Conifer CDHD165, Vogue 668003-1"," - Stephane Grappelly (v), Django Reinhardt, Joseph Reinhardt, PierreFerret (g), Louis Vola (b)."
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A dash means no video has been associated with this exact historical recording. Tune-level listening resources remain available above.
History & Listening
The University of Chicago sheet-music inventory identifies Benny Davis’s words and Abner Silver’s music in a 1935 edition. Django’s inherited entry is from September 1935. The existing Samy Zouari transcription is preserved. Dmitry Kushnirov’s proposed solo-guitar arrangement is a new interpretation, not labelled as a recreation of Django’s complete solo.
Tune details
Music: Abner Silver
Words: Benny Davis
Source-attributed publication / composition: 1935
Original key: Not established
Study level: Intermediate; major/minor colour and bridge direction
Melody & head
Listen for the change into G minor and how the soloist connects it to the preceding major-key phrase.
A full concert set containing Chasing Shadows is not offered as a tune-only performance without a verified start time.
The E-flat A section alternates tonic and B-flat7, then passes through C minor and F minor before returning. A half-diminished A chord and D7 lead into G minor at the bridge. The later E-flat-minor-sixth colour is another specific change, not evidence that the whole tune is minor. Keep the melody audible over these shifts. Check the video key before playing with the chart.
Chart & Form
The E-flat A section alternates tonic and B-flat7, then passes through C minor and F minor before returning. A half-diminished A chord and D7 lead into G minor at the bridge. The later E-flat-minor-sixth colour is another specific change, not evidence that the whole tune is minor. Keep the melody audible over these shifts.
Inherited chart is preserved verbatim as historical study material, not silently corrected or newly authenticated. Check the specific caveats below and match the arrangement and key to the selected video. External teaching material remains on its creator’s site.
Chasing shadows : play-back n°031 (Nuages de Swing 100 years Django 100 new play-a-long)
Laurent Courtois et Nuages de Swing
2m59s · Video available when checked; creator-described attribution.
Creator-provided play-along; instrumentation and feel vary by selection. Check the key and full arrangement before joining in; the guide chart may use another key.
Chasing Shadows - Django Reinhardt et Stéphane Grappelli 1935 (gypsy jazz/guitar solo transcription)
Samy Zouari
source-described; accuracy not independently verified
Creator presents a study of Django’s recorded solo. Use it alongside the original recording; exact transcription accuracy has not been independently reviewed.
F-sharp on D7 points toward G minor; B-flat supplies the minor third on arrival.
G-flat distinguishes E-flat minor colour from the G natural of E-flat major.
Pitch choices
Begin with the named chord tones. Add passing notes only after the melody and cadence are secure.
Play the last two bars of the A section into the first two bars of the bridge. Land on B-flat over G minor and hold it. Repeat with one short pickup, then practise the bridge-to-A return with equal care.
Comping & voicings
Use soft chord releases and clear phrase lengths. Avoid thick voicings under the melody’s sustained notes.
Voicing note sets
Compare E-flat–G–B-flat with E-flat–G-flat–B-flat; the single changed voice should be easy to hear.
Keep the accompaniment clear
First establish an even pulse; add rhythmic variation only when the melody leaves space.
A full concert set containing Chasing Shadows is not offered as a tune-only performance without a verified start time.
Practice room
Begin at 80–100 bpm with a relaxed swing
Your assignment
Play the last two bars of the A section into the first two bars of the bridge. Land on B-flat over G minor and hold it. Repeat with one short pickup, then practise the bridge-to-A return with equal care.
Loop these changes
Play the last two bars of the A section into the first two bars of the bridge.
Metronome
Count quarter notes first. Then place the click on beats 2 and 4 at half the click rate, keeping the phrase length unchanged.
Transposition
Move one short cadence to a nearby key by naming its chord tones, then return to the chosen study key.
At the session
E-flat major (inherited chart); 32-bar AABA study grid. Agree the arrangement, pickup and ending before counting in.
Start together
Count a clear tempo and use the final cadence of the agreed arrangement.
Finish together
Cue the final tonic together; agree any tag before starting.
A full concert set containing Chasing Shadows is not offered as a tune-only performance without a verified start time.
A full concert set containing Chasing Shadows is not offered as a tune-only performance without a verified start time.
Arranging the tune
Solo guitar
Keep the melody uppermost and begin with a single bass note under each harmony. Compare E-flat–G–B-flat with E-flat–G-flat–B-flat; the single changed voice should be easy to hear.
Trio or larger group
Use soft chord releases and clear phrase lengths. Avoid thick voicings under the melody’s sustained notes.
Vocal considerations
Choose a comfortable singing key and transpose the accompaniment as a whole; lyrics are not reproduced here.
This player guide combines inherited recording evidence and editorial study notes. Musical study notes are editorial suggestions; compare them with the recording.
Recording attribution and, where supplied, distributor credits; not a verified take association.
Illustration credit & provenance
Original AI-assisted illustration created for Djangopedia
Original AI-assisted editorial artwork inspired by the tune’s mood. It does not depict a documented historical event.
Generated with the native image-generation tool on 2026-10-18; original editorial artwork, not a historical photograph.
Prompt: Create an original horizontal 3:2 editorial serigraph illustration for the jazz tune chasing shadows. An angular guitarist walks down a narrow evening street; long playful shadows of guitar and rooftops stretch ahead in rhythmic zigzags. Mid-century jazz screen-print: strongly simplified geometric silhouettes, inventive asymmetry, broad flat shapes, limited ink palette of aubergine, dusty pink, deep teal and ivory, rough ink edges, restrained paper grain, playful sophisticated poster design. No gradients, no photographic rendering, no text, no border. Original composition only. Subjects and instruments stay inside frame.
