A riff-based swing tune whose repeated melodic idea works against blues-coloured harmony. Strong rhythmic placement and clear dominant thirds matter more than a large vocabulary of scales.
If you study one thing
Make the repeated motif swing while the chord colour changes.
Owner content reviewed — 2026-10-05T18:27:09Z 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
1939
Undecided, 25/8/39, DR 3861-1 ,"Fremeaux FA 309, Classics 813, JSP 342, Music Memoria 87949"," - London - QHCF - Stephane Grappelly (v,p), Django Reinhardt, Joseph Reinhardt, Eugene Vees (g), Emmanuel Soudieux (b), Beryl Davis (vo)"
—
02
1949
Undecided, Jan-Feb 1949, CW 44 ,"Fremeaux FA 317, Jazz Time 827447-2"," - Rome - Django Reinhardt (g), Stephane Grappelly (v),Gianni Safred (p), Carlo Pecori (b), Aurelio de Carolis (d)"
—
A dash means no video has been associated with this exact historical recording. Tune-level listening resources remain available above.
History & Listening
Undecided is credited here to Charlie Shavers. The source date is 1938; publication, composition and later lyric adaptations may have separate dates. The inherited archive lists 2 recording entries, with dated entries spanning 1939–1949. 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: Charlie Shavers
Words: Sid Robin
Published / composed / adapted — see history: 1938
Original key: Not established
Study level: Intermediate; advanced where the inherited roadmap needs reconstruction
Melody & head
Preserve the repeated-note rhythm and avoid smoothing away its syncopated character.
Listening task: Preserve the repeated-note rhythm and avoid smoothing away its syncopated character. Mark the key, pickup, phrase lengths and ending before comparing another version.
Session evidence
Undecided, 25/8/39, DR 3861-1 ,"Fremeaux FA 309, Classics 813, JSP 342, Music Memoria 87949"," - London - QHCF - Stephane Grappelly (v,p), Django Reinhardt, Joseph Reinhardt, Eugene Vees (g), Emmanuel Soudieux (b), Beryl Davis (vo)"
Compare the first and last listed entries for tempo, instrumentation and arrangement. Do not infer identical takes from a shared title. Make the repeated motif swing while the chord colour changes.
Session evidence
Undecided, Jan-Feb 1949, CW 44 ,"Fremeaux FA 317, Jazz Time 827447-2"," - Rome - Django Reinhardt (g), Stephane Grappelly (v),Gianni Safred (p), Carlo Pecori (b), Aurelio de Carolis (d)"
Count the form and check this arrangement’s key before joining in. The current preferred track is shown in Play along.
Chart & Form
B♭ moves through E♭7 and C7 before Cm–F7 returns home. The bridge uses B♭7–E♭, then C7–F7.
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.
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.
One small repeated zigzag moves across two diverging paths, hesitates briefly between contrasting colour fields and then rejoins itself. A visual choice that never loses its riff expresses Undecided's blues-coloured repeated idea; no arrows with labels.
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
Jazz Jam: Undecided – Joscho Stephan feat. Paulus Schäfer
Joscho Stephan, Paulus Schäfer, Thimo Niesterok and Volker Kamp · Joscho Stephan
GypsyGuitarAcademy studio jam · Watch title, source description and available positive-duration player checked 2026-10-05; independent performance; owner accuracy not independently verified.
Credited performance with theme, improvised solos and trading; separate lesson links are promotional references.
Hear D♭ as E♭7's seventh, contrasting with D over B♭.
Use E natural on C7, then E♭ over Cm.
Pitch choices
Start with the chord tones of each written harmony. Hear D♭ as E♭7's seventh, contrasting with D over B♭.
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.
Repeat one two-note rhythmic motif across a whole A section, changing only the note needed to identify E♭7 or C7. Then leave the final two bars for a simple answer.
Comping & voicings
Keep the repeated riff in the foreground. Use light dominant shells and leave space around the melody's accents.
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 only the B♭ major scale and missing E♭7's D♭ and C7's E natural.
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
Repeat one two-note rhythmic motif across a whole A section, changing only the note needed to identify E♭7 or C7. Then leave the final two bars for a simple answer.
Loop these changes
Hear D♭ as E♭7's seventh, contrasting with D over B♭.
Use E natural on C7, then E♭ over Cm.
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 B♭ major and play the melodic phrase from memory.
At the session
Undecided — B♭ major; 32 bars, AABA in the inherited chart. 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 bars, AABA in the inherited chart. Keep the head and solo chorus lengths explicit at the count-in.
Using only the B♭ major scale and missing E♭7's D♭ and C7's E natural.
Arranging the tune
Solo guitar
Start with melody and bass only. Add the following colour without interrupting the melody: Hear D♭ as E♭7's seventh, contrasting with D over B♭.
Trio or larger group
Keep the repeated riff in the foreground. Use light dominant shells and leave space around the melody's accents. 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 riff-led chorus with a chord-tone chorus and combine them only after both make the form clear.
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 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 “Undecided”. Landscape 1536 × 1024, opaque background.
Scene: One small repeated zigzag moves across two diverging paths, hesitates briefly between contrasting colour fields and then rejoins itself. A visual choice that never loses its riff expresses Undecided's blues-coloured repeated idea; no arrows with labels.
Musical basis from the guide: A riff-based swing tune whose repeated melodic idea works against blues-coloured harmony. Strong rhythmic placement and clear dominant thirds matter more than a large vocabulary of scales. The supplied chart is B♭ major; form: 32 bars, AABA in the inherited chart; feel: Swing. These describe musical inspiration, not visible writing. Historical context: Undecided is credited here to Charlie Shavers. The source date is 1938; 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: screenprint. Dominant palette: saturated orange petrol blue and white. Composition: two diverging routes rejoined by one riff. 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 musical/social group; clarinet plus guitar; layered depth. Independently invent every pose, perspective, clothing, setting and lighting.
Avoid: No source group, airplane interior, literal road sign or letters. 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 B diversity compensation: make light and midtone areas substantial; avoid near-black dominant backdrops, violet monochrome, empty chair/stool/bench compositions, repeated sunset terraces and generic cloud panoramas. Preserve the stated tune-specific scene. Human figures remain standing or peripheral except an explicitly named ensemble; no centered seated Django portrait. For graphic images use clearly plain colour shapes, no ruled parallel staffs, circles with stems, note-like marks or typography.
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.
Jazz Jam: Undecided – Joscho Stephan feat. Paulus SchäferJoscho Stephan, Paulus Schäfer, Thimo Niesterok and Volker Kamp · Joscho StephanGypsyGuitarAcademy studio jam · Watch title, source description and available positive-duration player checked 2026-10-05; independent performance; owner accuracy not independently verified.Credited performance with theme, improvised solos and trading; separate lesson links are promotional references.✓ Featured
'Undecided' - Django Reinhardt & Ella Fitzgerald vibes - Live at Urban BeatDjangophoniqueUrban Beat, Lansing, MI · Watch title, source description and available positive-duration player checked 2026-10-05; independent performance; owner accuracy not independently verified.Katie Smith, Tyler Rindo, Andrew Brown, Nicholas Martin and Jorian Olk-Szost; vocal ensemble arrangement, not a performed study of Django’s solo.Select video
Undecided - Jonny Hepbir Quartet - UK & International Jazz Band HireJonny Hepbir Quartet · Jonny Hepbir Trio2012 · Brighton recording session, April 2012 · Watch title, source description and available positive-duration player checked 2026-10-05; independent performance; owner accuracy not independently verified.Credited independent quartet performance.Select video
