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Player guide

In The Still Of The Night

Cole Porter's song combines a quiet tonic pedal with a contrasting minor-coloured middle passage. The inherited chart is a harmonic sketch, so phrasing must be established from the chosen arrangement.

If you study one thing

Keep the tonic pedal calm while the upper harmony moves.

Original editorial illustration for In The Still Of The Night: quiet low skyline and sustained horizon.
Original Djangopedia illustration · AI-assisted, 2026
Illustration credits
Chart keyG major
FormContrasting song sections; 25 source cells require duration review
FeelBallad / gentle swing
Meter4/4
MusicCole Porter
Guide coverage11 / 12 sections present

Owner content reviewed — 2026-10-06T18:37:38Z 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
EntryYearRecording / session / release evidenceListen
011936In The Still Of The Night, 15/10/36, OLA 1294-1,"Fremeaux FA 305, Classics 739 Affinity AFS 1003, JSP 344, EMI 780671-2, Jazz Time 790560-2, Mosaic MD6-190(6 CD Set).", - Paris - Louis Vola (b) replaces Simoens—
021937In The Still Of The Night, 29/5/37, Fremeaux FA 305," - BBC Jazz Show Programme - Stephane Grappelli (v), Django & Joseph Reinhardt (g), Pierre Ferret (g), Louis Vola (b)."—

A dash means no video has been associated with this exact historical recording. Tune-level listening resources remain available above.

History & Listening

In The Still Of The Night is credited here to Cole Porter. The source date is 1937; publication, composition and later lyric adaptations may have separate dates. The inherited archive lists 2 recording entries, with dated entries spanning 1936–1937. 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: Cole Porter

Words: Cole Porter

Published / composed / adapted — see history: 1937

Original key: Not established

Study level: Intermediate; advanced where the inherited roadmap needs reconstruction

Melody & head

  • Allow long vocal phrases to float over the pedal rather than breaking them at each chord symbol.

Study a documented Django entry ↗

Listening task: Allow long vocal phrases to float over the pedal rather than breaking them at each chord symbol. Mark the key, pickup, phrase lengths and ending before comparing another version.

Session evidence

In The Still Of The Night, 15/10/36, OLA 1294-1,"Fremeaux FA 305, Classics 739 Affinity AFS 1003, JSP 344, EMI 780671-2, Jazz Time 790560-2, Mosaic MD6-190(6 CD Set).", - Paris - Louis Vola (b) replaces Simoens

Compare another archive entry ↗

Compare the first and last listed entries for tempo, instrumentation and arrangement. Do not infer identical takes from a shared title. Keep the tonic pedal calm while the upper harmony moves.

Session evidence

In The Still Of The Night, 29/5/37, Fremeaux FA 305," - BBC Jazz Show Programme - Stephane Grappelli (v), Django & Joseph Reinhardt (g), Pierre Ferret (g), Louis Vola (b)."

Check the practice arrangement ↗

The inherited chart is in G major. Confirm the backing track’s sounding key, pickup and complete form before playing; an instrument label may describe a transposed score.

Chart & Form

G alternates with C6 over G, followed by Cm6. The middle material contrasts Bm with G7 before F♯7, E7–Am7 and D7 prepare the return.

The source has 25 cells and inconsistent slash counts; it does not establish a conventional full bar-by-bar chorus. Match phrase lengths to a selected Cole Porter recording.

Inherited chord reference · source cells
1G
2C6(/G)
3G
4C6(/G)
5G
6C(6/G)
7Cm6
8G/ D7
9Bm
10G7
11Bm
12G7
13Bm
14F#7
15F#7/ Bm
16E7/ Am7
17D7
18G
19C6(/G)
20G
21C6(/G)
22G
23C(6/G)
24Cm6
25G/ D7
Original chart text & notation
| G/// | C6(/G)/// | G/// | C6(/G)/// |

| G/// | C(6/G)/// | Cm6/// | G/ D7/ |

| Bm/// | G7/// | Bm/// | G7/// | 

| Bm/// | F#7/// | F#7/  Bm/ | E7/ Am7/ | D7 //// |

| G/// | C6(/G)/// | G/// | C6(/G)/// |

| G/// | C(6/G)/// | Cm6/// | G/ D7/ :||
Original source ↗

Play along

Preferred: Jazz Backing Track - In The Still Of The Night ↗

Eagleheart Jazz Channel · The inherited chart is in G major. Confirm the backing track’s sounding key, pickup and complete form before playing; an instrument label may describe a transposed score. · 4:28

Checked 2026-10-01

How this resource was selected

Most-viewed suitable match selected from the captured search results after title/composition review; not a complete YouTube ranking. Source counts were captured on 1 October 2026. Coaching, unrelated songs and non-backing performances are excluded.

Study Django's Solo

Performed studies, transcriptions, TAB, notation and lessons for studying Django’s solo. Resources are described by their creator; inclusion does not certify note-for-note accuracy.

No Django solo study aid yet.

Know a useful resource — or want to be the first to record Django’s solo for In The Still Of The Night?

Similar tunes

Follow a shared key, a harmonic idea or a familiar form. Keys refer to this site’s chart editions; other recordings may use a different key.

Related chord movement

No sufficiently supported harmonic comparison has been added yet.

Same form

No match is established in the current chart metadata.

Behind the illustration

A still imagined courtyard at night with a single calm horizontal pool reflection while upper window shapes drift from light to dark. A tonic pedal remains steady beneath moving harmony; no nightclub, documented building or human portrait.

An original editorial interpretation of the tune. This is an illustration, not an archival photograph or a documented reconstruction of a recording session.

Original Djangopedia illustration · AI-assisted, 2026

Illustration credits & provenance →

Notable Gypsy Jazz Performances

Selected performances by notable Gypsy Jazz players and ensembles. Inclusion is editorial and does not imply an objective popularity ranking.

Improvisation

Target notes & voice leading

  • Lower E to E♭ as C6 becomes Cm6.
  • Use A♯ to define F♯7 and resolve it into B.

Pitch choices

  • Start with the chord tones of each written harmony. Lower E to E♭ as C6 becomes Cm6.
  • 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.

Play the opening with a sustained G bass and moving upper thirds. Rehearse the Bm–G7 contrast separately before reconnecting the sections.

Comping & voicings

Keep the opening G bass steady and voice the upper chord changes quietly. Avoid treating every change over the pedal as a new accented downbeat.

Voicing note sets

  • G: G–B–D; C6/G: G–A–C–E; Cm6: C–E♭–A.

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 a backing track for the unrelated Five Satins song.
  • Crowding the melody with dense extensions or doubling another accompanist’s register.

Practice room

Start around 60–90 bpm and preserve the full phrase

Your assignment

Play the opening with a sustained G bass and moving upper thirds. Rehearse the Bm–G7 contrast separately before reconnecting the sections.

Loop these changes

  • Lower E to E♭ as C6 becomes Cm6.
  • Use A♯ to define F♯7 and resolve it into B.

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 G major and play the melodic phrase from memory.

At the session

In The Still Of The Night — G major; Contrasting song sections; 25 source cells require duration review. 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.

Contrasting song sections; 25 source cells require duration review. The source has 25 cells and inconsistent slash counts; it does not establish a conventional full bar-by-bar chorus. Match phrase lengths to a selected Cole Porter recording.

  • Using a backing track for the unrelated Five Satins song.

Arranging the tune

Solo guitar

Start with melody and bass only. Add the following colour without interrupting the melody: Lower E to E♭ as C6 becomes Cm6.

Trio or larger group

Keep the opening G bass steady and voice the upper chord changes quietly. Avoid treating every change over the pedal as a new accented downbeat. 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 a pedal-bass accompaniment with root-position changes and decide which best supports the melody's sustained notes.
  • The source has 25 cells and inconsistent slash counts; it does not establish a conventional full bar-by-bar chorus. Match phrase lengths to a selected Cole Porter recording.
  • Compare the linked archive entries before attributing one arrangement to all Django performances. Keep composition history separate from the dates of Django’s recordings.

Explore related tunes

Inherited media links

Sources & credits

This player guide combines inherited recording evidence and editorial study notes. Musical study notes are editorial suggestions; compare them with the recording.

Djangopedia — inherited chart and recording rows ↗

  • Inherited notation and discographical claims; not independent verification

Composition credits and background ↗

  • Writer credits and source date where supplied

Eagleheart Jazz Channel — practice backing ↗

  • Video identity, view-count snapshot and embed metadata

Feature photograph — source collection ↗

  • Photo identification and provenance; reuse rights remain unverified
Illustration credit & provenance

Original Djangopedia illustration · AI-assisted, 2026

An original editorial interpretation of the tune. This is an illustration, not an archival photograph or a documented reconstruction of a recording session.

Generated with the native image-generation tool on 2026-10-08; original editorial artwork, not a historical photograph.

Prompt: Use case: illustration-story. One original editorial feature illustration for Djangopedia's guide “In The Still Of The Night”. Landscape 1536 × 1024, opaque background. Scene: A still imagined courtyard at night with a single calm horizontal pool reflection while upper window shapes drift from light to dark. A tonic pedal remains steady beneath moving harmony; no nightclub, documented building or human portrait. Musical basis from the guide: Cole Porter's song combines a quiet tonic pedal with a contrasting minor-coloured middle passage. The inherited chart is a harmonic sketch, so phrasing must be established from the chosen arrangement. The supplied chart is G major; form: Contrasting song sections; 25 source cells require duration review; feel: Ballad / gentle swing. These describe musical inspiration, not visible writing. Historical context: In The Still Of The Night is credited here to Cole Porter. The source date is 1937; publication, composition and later lyric adaptations may have separate dates. Do not illustrate disputed historical claims or suggest this imagined scene is an archival session. Medium: ink wash. Dominant palette: violet charcoal and silver. Composition: quiet low skyline and sustained horizon. Human presence: none. Strong intentional design, clearly drawn/painted, distinctive material marks; keep essential subject safely within the central 70 percent width and middle 80 percent height for card crops. Maintain enough visual substance at thumbnail size. Broad inspiration observed in old photo, ONLY scale/rhythm and never a reference image: close social group; face-led horizontal arrangement. Independently invent every pose, perspective, clothing, setting and lighting. Avoid: No group photo, stars, nightlife crowd, yellowed paper. No photorealism, archival simulation, generated text, letters, numbers, labels, fake musical notation, logo, signature, watermark, fake dates, yellowed-paper patina, recognizable artwork or copied photograph. No imitation of any named artist. Render the art edge to edge without borders, mockup or typography. Batch A diversity compensation: avoid blue sky, drifting clouds, cypress trees, moon discs, generic Paris landmarks and curving terrace backdrops unless explicitly essential to the stated scene. Keep this composition tied to its precise stated subject; do not add an unrequested landscape or city. For figure scenes keep the specified standing/walking pose; no seated centered guitar portrait. For abstracts keep purely graphic materials and forms.

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.