Choti transcription, tab, music...

JazzDawg · January 2010

I've listened to the Djangologists album over and over, what a great treat to celebrate the centennial! Anyone have a transcription of 'Choti' to share?

Mark_P · January 2010

Sorry, maybe Dennis can help with that.

The most awesome youtube video ever can be found here though : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNbYHkpGxhE

Maybe that can help. When I had finally downloaded the album I was elated to open the folder and find Choti. After first seeing it on youtube a while back I've been watching the video constantly. It's presence on Djangologists couldn't be more satisfying!

Jack · January 2010

It's in this book, which also includes some other hard to find waltzes:

best,
Jack.

JazzDawg · January 2010

Ah, great news. Another item for my birthday gift list.

Thanks Jack!

peterja · January 2010

You can find it here:

http://jazz.chansons.free.fr/guitarejazz2.htm

Only, here it´s called valse manouche, and not choti.
Good luck 8)

JazzDawg · January 2010

Couldn't get the .tef file opened on my laptop, TuxGuitar doesn't recognize TabEdit files. However, I was directed to the powertab file on emicad's site, http://emicad.altervista.org/, which has the chord grille, as well. Thanks elias_t and the rest of you. I've got enough to get me started on it.

I really enjoy the version on the Djangologists album. After listening to it, I had to go listen to other similar ones in my collection. It's interesting, that Eddie Lang's 'April Kisses' is so close to this one. I guess, it's just the basic dance form. In fact, I have a couple of tunes recorded on the 'Music of New Mexico: Hispanic Traditions' CD that are very reminiscent of it too ( 'Chotiz Chavez', and 'Chotiz - El Paseadito'.) Both of those tunes are traditional Hispanic social dance tunes I remember hearing played at parties, and weddings.

Googling around I found it interesting that these tunes actually were drawn from European influences, a form called 'schottische', which is taken from German, translated as 'Scottish', I believe. So, it really is an example of how music brings us together.

Cheers!

scot · January 2010

The original guitar version (from 1960) of Choti and it's sister tune Gagoug can be found on the Matelot Ferret CD "Tziganskaia" which also includes later recordings c1978 of the same tunes. The tunes were named after a couple of Lousson Reinhardt's children (Django's grandchildren) by Django's wife Naguine, though she wasn't Lousson's mother. Matelot played them very rubato and I don't believe that there was any connection to the schottische. Years ago I played schottisches at country dances and if I remember correctly it was a kind of skipping and hopping dance where the partners dance side by side, sort of like a polka.

Choti, Chez Jacquet and Montagne Sainte Genevieve were all copyrighted in 1960 by Warners/Chappell and I managed to find the old sheet music for these. I never could find the chart for Gagoug and don't know if it is copyrighted. One of Matelot's accompanists from the 60s also told me that the Vogue record company got the titles for Chez Jacquet and Motangne Sainte-Genevieve switched during the original recording session in 1960...

Maurice Ferre played a very unique version of one of these tunes for me, and I wish I had recorded it. And Francis Moerman arranged and recorded Gagoug as a musette waltz with an accordeon. The mystery "Valse Manouche" has been discussed on this forum several times.

JazzDawg · January 2010

Years ago I played schottisches at country dances and if I remember correctly it was a kind of skipping and hopping dance where the partners dance side by side, sort of like a polka.

Yes, that's what I saw displayed in several examples on YouTube. The thing that struck me about the examples tunes mentioned is the similarity between them, they actually sound pretty close. As I recall, the Hispanic dance was more like a polka than a waltz exactly, much side by side stepping, don't remember any hopping or skipping like in the schottisches. Seems more like a derivative of the style than a copy exactly. Never really thought about it much before getting into GJ, so it's all interesting to me to hear.

Thanks for noting the Matelot Ferret versions. Another one goes in the queue. ;-)

Jack · January 2010

scot wrote:

One of Matelot's accompanists from the 60s also told me that the Vogue record company got the titles for Chez Jacquet and Motangne Sainte-Genevieve switched during the original recording session in 1960...

Hi Scot,

Just wondering if you have your own opinion about this...and from where does the "Jacquet" of CJ come? Any connection to Jacquet Mailhes, or am I mixing up my dates?

best,
Jack

scot · January 2010

I find Choti and Gagoug to be very fascinating compositions, utterly unlike any other tunes I ever heard regardless of style or origin. Certainly "schottische" and "chotiz" are cognates, but the word similarity to Choti is bound to be coincidence. French folk music doesn't (to my knowledge) have a dance or musical form like the schottische. I always found it hard to believe that Django composed these two tunes because to me they just don't have his mark. But Matelot Ferret's son Elios stated emphatically in a recent interview that Django did compose them when he was quite young, before the fire; that Matelot recorded and thus preserved them; and that it actually is Django playing the guitar on the "valse manouche" acetate - which he described as a "fox-trot". This has to be accepted as truth. So maybe Django composed and played them as fox-musettes himself - and Matelot's rubato approach was just him playing his own way? After all, he did something similar with Bechet's "Petite Fleur" - and he never copied another musician. Certainly Choti and Gagoug were composed pieces - the only real difference in Matelot's 1960 recording and the 1978 session is the later versions are more polished and are played on a better guitar. In any case, the true history of these two tunes is likely to remain a mystery as there is no one left alive knows the whole story. Even Francis Moerman, who knew Matelot quite well and played with him for years, was never able to get a straight answer from him regarding the origins of these two tunes. Francis told me that Matelot always dodged the question. We can speculate, but I like it that these mysterious sounding tunes really ARE mysterious.

As for the titles of "Chez Jacquet - a la Petite Chaumiere" and "Montagne Sainte Genevieve", more "nuages". On the original 1939 recording, Chez Jacquet was called "Gin-Gin" and not "Chez Jacquet". The Warners/Chappell charts from 1960 have them named as they were on the record, but who knows who transcribed these tunes and filed for copyright? It's another of those things we're just never going to be sure about. Other Reinhardt compositions like Djalamichto and En Verdine were transcribed and copyrighted in 1960 at Caramel/Carroussel publishers...

For anyone here who hasn't heard "Tziganskaia", it's a spectacular album and IMO absolutely essential for anyone interested in the history of this music. Both recordings of Choti and Gagoug are on the disc. Matelot Ferret was a master musician and was the last of the guitarists with a true connection to the old Parisien style of guitar. He could play every kind of music.

Tele295 · January 2010

scot wrote:

On the original 1939 recording, Chez Jacquet was called "Gin-Gin" and not "Chez Jacquet". The Warners/Chappell charts from 1960 have them named as they were on the record, but who knows who transcribed these tunes and filed for copyright? It's another of those things we're just never going to be sure about. Other Reinhardt compositions like Djalamichto and En Verdine were transcribed and copyrighted in 1960 at Caramel/Carroussel publishers...

There is a recording of "Gin, Gin" by Le Trio Ferret on iTunes, on a compilation album called Jazz Guitar Legends