Clouds — chords & grille (gypsy jazz)
Clouds by Walter Donaldson & Gus Kahn — key of E♭ (manouche), form A Pont. Below is the full chord grid; on Haute Gitanerie you can play along with a scrolling chord ribbon, transpose to any key, set the tempo, and switch on a rhythm backing (la pompe) to practise your solos over the changes.
About
Written in 1935 by composer Walter Donaldson and lyricist Gus Kahn, Clouds was a hit that year for the orchestras of Ray Noble and Benny Goodman. It's a Tin Pan Alley standard the gypsy players adopted — not to be confused with Django's Nuages.
The sound — E♭ major, coloured by diminished passing chords (Edim7, G♭dim7) and a chain of dominants that swings the bridge through fresh keys.
Practising it — anchor on the E♭ major scale, then work the diminished shapes as chromatic links between chords. Target the guide-tones of each dominant and take the bridge modulations slowly.
Clouds chords — the grille
A : | E♭ E° | Fm F#° | E♭/G D♭7 | C7 C7/G | F7 | B♭7 | E♭ G♭° | Fm B♭7 | E♭ E° | Fm F#° | E♭/G D♭7 | C7 C7/G | F7 | B♭7 | E♭ A♭ | E♭ D7 | G D7 | G D7 | G D7 | G F7 | B♭ F7 | B♭ F7 | Fm | B♭7 | E♭ E° | Fm F#° | E♭/G D♭7 | C7 C7/G | F7 | B♭7 | E♭ A♭ | E♭ |
Pont : | G | D7 | G | G F7 | B♭ | F7 | B♭ | B♭7 |
Chords used
E♭ · E° · Fm · F#° · D♭7 · C7 · F7 · B♭7 · A♭ · D7 · G · B♭
Play along
Open the interactive grille for Clouds: loop any section, transpose to any key, set the tempo, and play over a rhythm accompaniment — with a real recorded pompe on featured tunes. In the browser, free.