A brisk standard that moves from long tonic stretches into dominant chains and a minor-subdominant ending. Its energy comes from rhythmic clarity, not from filling every stable bar.
Owner content reviewed — 2026-10-06T18:35:42Z by admin. Coverage measures presence, not accuracy. Content review does not certify rights or musical perfection.
See what is here and what is missing
✓ Recording evidence
✓ Key & form
✓ Chart
✓ History
✓ Playing notes
✓ Practice plan
✓ Backing track
✓ Django recording
✓ Django solo study aid
✓ Illustration
✓ Sources
✓ Difficulty
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.
2 historical recording entries · source text preserved
Entry
Year
Recording / session / release evidence
Listen
01
1935
Chinatown, 30/9/35, 2010-HPP ,Unissued," - Stephane Grappely's Hot Four - Grappelly (v), Django & Joseph Reinhardt (g) Pierre Ferret (g), Louis Vola (b)"
—
02
1935
Chinatown, Oct.35, 2037-HPP ,Inissued
—
A dash means no video has been associated with this exact historical recording. Tune-level listening resources remain available above.
History & Listening
Chinatown is credited here to Jean Schwartz. The source date is 1910; publication, composition and later lyric adaptations may have separate dates. The inherited archive lists 2 recording entries, with dated entries spanning 1935–1935. These are archive rows, not a claim that every entry is a distinct released take. The linked recording rows preserve the original discographical wording. Compare their dates, matrices and personnel when choosing a performance to study.
Tune details
Music: Jean Schwartz
Words: William Jerome
Published / composed / adapted — see history: 1910
Original key: Not established
Study level: Intermediate; advanced where the inherited roadmap needs reconstruction
Melody & head
Learn the quick articulation slowly enough that every pickup remains in time.
Listening task: Learn the quick articulation slowly enough that every pickup remains in time. Mark the key, pickup, phrase lengths and ending before comparing another version.
Session evidence
Chinatown, 30/9/35, 2010-HPP ,Unissued," - Stephane Grappely's Hot Four - Grappelly (v), Django & Joseph Reinhardt (g) Pierre Ferret (g), Louis Vola (b)"
Compare the first and last listed entries for tempo, instrumentation and arrangement. Do not infer identical takes from a shared title. Build interest while the harmony stays on C.
The inherited chart is in C major. Confirm the backing track’s sounding key, pickup and complete form before playing; an instrument label may describe a transposed score.
Chart & Form
C and G7 establish the opening. E7–Am and D7–G7 add direction; the final phrase uses F–Fm–C before the last dominant route.
Chord symbols and source cell divisions are preserved from Djangopedia. Slashes mark rhythm; 0 is inherited diminished notation whose exact voicing should be checked against the melody. This is a chord reference, not a melody transcription.
Chinatown, My Chinatown - Gypsy Jazz Backing Track 240 BPM - Django Reinhardt
Hot Club de France
240 BPM · 3:20 · Owner-approved study selection. YouTube identity and player availability checked 6 October 2026; musical accuracy and exact take not independently certified.
Owner selected 6 October 2026. Preferred practice resource; confirm its sounding key and full form before playing.
Chinatown, My Chinatown (EASY!! Theme) | Gypsy Jazz Guitar Free Tab
DjangoKOR
Owner-approved study selection. YouTube identity and player availability checked 6 October 2026; musical accuracy and exact take not independently certified.
Owner selected 6 October 2026. Easy theme demonstration with TAB; not a verified recreation of Django’s improvised solo.
No match is established in the current chart metadata.
Behind the illustration
Owner-selected illustration. A lively 1910s–1930s city neighbourhood street with Chinese-owned café architecture and ordinary well-dressed diverse adult passers-by; a swing duo plays by a window. Respectful street life, spare urban geometry, no caricatures, exoticized faces or fake lettering.
Original AI-assisted editorial artwork inspired by the tune; not a documented historical scene.
Original AI-assisted illustration created for Djangopedia
Collectif Paris Swing feat. Giacomo Smith // Chinatown my Chinatown // studio session
Collectif Paris Swing and Giacomo Smith · Edouard Pennes
2017 · Paris studio session, March 2017 · YouTube title, uploader metadata and player availability checked 6 October 2026. Independent interpretation; proposed order awaits owner decision. No full-video musical audition claimed.
Start with the chord tones of each written harmony. Resolve G♯ on E7 into A over Am.
Use passing notes only after the destination chord and phrase length are secure; this guide does not assign one scale indiscriminately to the whole tune.
Limit yourself to a two-note motif during the opening six tonic cells. Save a longer phrase for E7–Am, then leave space before the ending.
Comping & voicings
Hold a consistent pulse through the long C area. Make the final minor-subdominant colour a phrase event rather than a sudden dynamic accent.
Voicing note sets
C6: C–E–A; E7: E–G♯–D; Fm: F–A♭–C.
Keep the accompaniment clear
Keep a quiet, even swing pulse, adjusting its density to the melody and ensemble.
Practise one chorus with only two chord attacks per bar, then restore four without changing tempo.
Using constant eighth notes simply because the tempo is fast.
Crowding the melody with dense extensions or doubling another accompanist’s register.
Practice room
Start around 100–140 bpm; increase only after the form stays secure
Your assignment
Limit yourself to a two-note motif during the opening six tonic cells. Save a longer phrase for E7–Am, then leave space before the ending.
Loop these changes
Resolve G♯ on E7 into A over Am.
Trace A–A♭–G through F–Fm–C.
Metronome
Begin with four quarter-note clicks. Halve the click rate and hear beats 2 and 4 while maintaining the same phrase lengths.
Transposition
Transpose the first complete phrase up a whole step, including its cadence. Name chord functions before finding new fingerings.
Return to C major and play the melodic phrase from memory.
At the session
Chinatown — C major; 32 printed bars with a different final phrase. Agree the pickup, tempo and ending before counting in.
Start together
Suggested rehearsal entry: give two clear bars of count-in and start the agreed pickup or first melody note. This is not claimed as a historical Django introduction.
Finish together
Agree a final melody statement and hold its tonic arrival; remove any turnaround intended to restart the chorus. Check the chosen arrangement for tags or a separate coda.
32 printed bars with a different final phrase. Keep the head and solo chorus lengths explicit at the count-in.
Using constant eighth notes simply because the tempo is fast.
Arranging the tune
Solo guitar
Start with melody and bass only. Add the following colour without interrupting the melody: Resolve G♯ on E7 into A over Am.
Trio or larger group
Hold a consistent pulse through the long C area. Make the final minor-subdominant colour a phrase event rather than a sudden dynamic accent. Agree the full roadmap and signal the last head before it starts.
Vocal considerations
Choose a comfortable vocal key and transpose the whole arrangement, including its introduction and ending.
Further study
Compare the final F–Fm movement with I Saw Stars and other major-key standards, keeping each tune’s phrase rhythm distinct.
Chord symbols and source cell divisions are preserved from Djangopedia. Slashes mark rhythm; 0 is inherited diminished notation whose exact voicing should be checked against the melody. This is a chord reference, not a melody transcription.
Compare the linked archive entries before attributing one arrangement to all Django performances. Keep composition history separate from the dates of Django’s recordings.
This player guide combines inherited recording evidence and editorial study notes. Musical study notes are editorial suggestions; compare them with the recording.
Photo identification and provenance; reuse rights remain unverified
Illustration credit & provenance
Original AI-assisted illustration created for Djangopedia
Original AI-assisted editorial artwork inspired by the tune; not a documented historical scene.
Generated with the native image-generation tool on 2026-10-26; original editorial artwork, not a historical photograph.
Prompt: Use case: stylized-concept. Create one finished original landscape 1536x1024 (3:2) raster illustration for Djangopedia, tune Chinatown.
Tune context for interpretation only: Chinatown is credited here to Jean Schwartz. The source date is 1910; publication, composition and later lyric adaptations may have separate dates. The inherited archive lists 2 recording entries, with dated entries spanning 1935–1935. These are archive rows, not a claim that every entry is a distinct released take. The linked recording rows preserve the original discographical wording. Compare their dates, matrices and personnel when choosing a performance to study.
Scene: A lively 1910s–1930s city neighbourhood street with Chinese-owned café architecture and ordinary well-dressed diverse adult passers-by; a swing duo plays by a window. Respectful street life, spare urban geometry, no caricatures, exoticized faces or fake lettering.
Art direction: Lively late-1930s editorial cartoon screenprint: rhythmic black contours, expressive adult posture, flat separated colour plates and a strong asymmetrical composition. Palette: deep indigo, dusty turquoise, burnt orange and warm paper. Subtle dry ink and paper texture, controlled print misregistration. Make it an artwork with a memorable singular idea, readable as a thumbnail and rewarding at full size; vary viewpoint and composition.
Constraints: entirely original composition, not a copy of an artist's print. No title, words, notation, logos or watermark. No photorealism, glossy 3D, gradients, airbrushed romantic haze, generic sunset or decorative hearts. If Django appears, swept-back dark hair, pencil moustache and a distinct mature individual face; period clothes, no ethnic stereotypes. Respect plausible instruments and hands, keep key subjects within frame. Use strong flat ink shapes rather than photorealistic rendering.
Research & rights notes
Specialist review of original editorial playing advice
Original key and precise composition date where not independently established
Inherited notation, session details and arrangement variants
Photograph reuse permissions
Photograph provenance and rights are stated separately. Attribution does not establish permission.
Chinatown, My Chinatown - Gypsy Jazz Backing Track 240 BPM - Django ReinhardtHot Club de France240 BPM · 3:20 · Owner-approved study selection. YouTube identity and player availability checked 6 October 2026; musical accuracy and exact take not independently certified.Owner selected 6 October 2026. Preferred practice resource; confirm its sounding key and full form before playing.✓ Featured
Chinatown C backing trackBacking tracks240 BPM · C major · 1:39 · Owner-approved study selection. YouTube identity and player availability checked 6 October 2026; musical accuracy and exact take not independently certified.Owner selected 6 October 2026. Preferred practice resource; confirm its sounding key and full form before playing.Select video
Chinatown, My Chinatown | Jazz Backing Track | C Major 208 BPMThe Binary WoodshedThe inherited chart is in C major. Confirm the backing track’s sounding key, pickup and complete form before playing; an instrument label may describe a transposed score. · 4:28Select video
Collectif Paris Swing feat. Giacomo Smith // Chinatown my Chinatown // studio sessionCollectif Paris Swing and Giacomo Smith · Edouard Pennes2017 · Paris studio session, March 2017 · YouTube title, uploader metadata and player availability checked 6 October 2026. Independent interpretation; proposed order awaits owner decision. No full-video musical audition claimed.Stage 4N private performance. Clarinet, saxophone, piano, guitar and bass; contrasting hot-jazz ensemble.✓ Featured
Charlie Roman Hot Club - Chinatown, My ChinatownCharlie Roman Hot Club · Charlie Roman Jazz BandThe Keep, Brooklyn · YouTube title, uploader metadata and player availability checked 6 October 2026. Independent interpretation; proposed order awaits owner decision. No full-video musical audition claimed.Stage 4N private performance. Independent Hot Club performance, not a Django solo transcription.Select video