Solid Old Man belongs to the April 1939 Rex Stewart/Barney Bigard session with Django and Billy Taylor. Listen for the bass as an independent line and compare the space it leaves beneath the cornet and guitar.
If you study one thing
Sing one bass arrival and the guitar phrase above it.
William P. Gottlieb / Library of Congress Aquarium, New York, N.Y. · circa November 1946 · Photo credits
Chart keyNot established
FormNot established
FeelSwing study; follow the chosen recording
MeterConfirm against the chosen arrangement; no historical metre inferred from the title
MusicRex Stewart
Guide coverage8 / 12 sections present
Owner content reviewed — 2026-10-19T23:29:19Z 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
✓ Photograph
✓ 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.
1 historical recording entries · source text preserved
Entry
Year
Recording / session / release evidence
Listen
01
1939
Solid Old Man,OSW 67-1 ,"Fremeaux FA 309, Affinity AFS 1003, Classics 793, EMI 780671-2","5/4/39 - Paris - Rex Stewart (c), Barney Bigard (cl,d), Django Reinhardt (g),Billy Taylor (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
Solid Old Man belongs to the April 1939 Rex Stewart/Barney Bigard session with Django and Billy Taylor. The instrumentation offers a small-group contrast to this batch’s larger swing orchestras.
Tune details
Music: Rex Stewart
Documented in archive: 1939
Original key: Not established
Study level: Intermediate listening study; arrangement and source awareness
Melody & head
Listen for the bass as an independent line and compare the space it leaves beneath the cornet and guitar.
Do not import the roadmap or attribution of a differently arranged work solely because the title matches.
Listen for the bass as an independent line and compare the space it leaves beneath the cornet and guitar. Source-attributed credits: Rex Stewart, attributed by the reissue publisher.
Chart & Form
A complete harmonic route is not established here. First sing the melody and mark phrase endings; verify the underlying chords from a reliable edition before adding substitutions.
No verified complete chart is supplied. The listening and practice notes do not stand in for a chord chart.
No readable chord chart has been added for this title.
Play along
No backing track has been added.
Study Django's Solo
Performed studies, transcriptions, TAB, notation and lessons for studying Django’s solo. Inclusion does not certify note-for-note accuracy.
No Django solo study aid yet. Know a useful resource — or want to record a study of this solo?
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 chart key
No match is established in the current chart metadata.
Same form
No match is established in the current chart metadata.
Behind the photograph
Editorial portrait from the documented Gottlieb public-domain collection. It does not depict this tune or its recording session.
Part of William P. Gottlieb’s documented Aquarium photographs in New York, circa November 1946. The catalogue supplies the location and approximate date; this is not evidence of a particular tune being played.
Selected performances by notable Gypsy Jazz players and ensembles. Inclusion is editorial and does not imply an objective popularity ranking.
Notable Gypsy Jazz performances are being curated.
Improvisation
Target notes & voice leading
Listen for the bass as an independent line and compare the space it leaves beneath the cornet and guitar.
Once a harmony is independently established, sing its destination note before adding an approach. Do not infer a progression from the tune title.
Pitch choices
Establish the actual harmony before choosing a scale. Begin with the melody and the destination note; no tune-wide scale formula is asserted.
Sing one bass arrival and the guitar phrase above it. Practice the guitar phrase without adding a bass note at every beat.
Comping & voicings
Keep chords away from the bass register and allow the horn’s sustained notes to carry the texture.
Voicing note sets
Keep chords away from the bass register and allow the horn’s sustained notes to carry the texture.
Keep the accompaniment clear
First rehearse the specific phrase entry and release described above; add a chord pulse only when it supports that phrase.
Do not import the roadmap or attribution of a differently arranged work solely because the title matches.
Practice room
60–90 quarter-note BPM for short study fragments; slow the source as needed
Your assignment
Sing one bass arrival and the guitar phrase above it. Practice the guitar phrase without adding a bass note at every beat.
Loop these changes
Sing one bass arrival and the guitar phrase above it. Practice the guitar phrase without adding a bass note at every beat.
Return to the selected recording after each short loop. Confirm the entry, release and next phrase cue before extending the passage.
Metronome
Use a quiet quarter-note click for short loops. Keep the preceding rest and the next entry in the loop; remove the click briefly to test internal time.
Transposition
After learning the chosen fragment and its actual harmony, move that fragment to one nearby key by naming the target notes. Do not transpose an unverified progression.
At the session
Confirm the composition identity, concert key and complete arrangement before calling the tune. Agree pickup and ending together.
Start together
Use the chosen recording’s entry cue only after checking its phrase length.
Finish together
Agree a plain final arrival and a visible cutoff; do not assume a live video’s tag is universal.
Do not import the roadmap or attribution of a differently arranged work solely because the title matches.
Do not import the roadmap or attribution of a differently arranged work solely because the title matches.
Arranging the tune
Solo guitar
Begin with the melody alone, then add only independently established bass arrivals. Keep chords away from the bass register and allow the horn’s sustained notes to carry the texture.
Trio or larger group
Keep chords away from the bass register and allow the horn’s sustained notes to carry the texture.
Vocal considerations
Follow the song’s breathing where a vocal version exists. Establish the singer’s key independently; lyrics are not reproduced here.
Sources & credits
This player guide combines inherited recording evidence and editorial study notes. Musical study notes are editorial suggestions; compare them with the recording.
