Flambée Montalbanaise — chords & grille (gypsy jazz)
Flambée Montalbanaise by Gus Viseur — key of C (manouche), form A A B A TRIO A'. 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
A valse musette by accordionist Gus Viseur, composed around 1940 and long since adopted as a gypsy-jazz staple — a bridge between the Paris musette tradition and the manouche repertoire.
The sound — a waltz in C minor built on the i-iv-V (Cm, Fm, G7), sweeping through related keys in its trio. That three-beat lilt and the harmonic-minor tension are its signature.
Practising it — feel the 3/4 first, then drill the C harmonic minor scale and the Cm, Fm and G7 arpeggios. Lean on the G7 leading back to Cm. Keep the waltz swaying, not rushing.
Flambée Montalbanaise chords — the grille
A : | Cm | Cm | Cm | Cm | Cm | Cm | Fm | G7 | G7 | G7 | G7 | G7 | G7 | G7 | Cm | Cm | Cm | Cm | Cm | Cm | C7 | C7 | Fm | Fm | Fm | Fm | Cm | Cm | D7 | G7 | Cm | Cm |
B : | B♭7 | B♭7 | E♭ | E♭ | G7 | G7 | Cm | Cm | Fm | C° | E♭ | C7 | Fm | B♭7 | E♭ | G7 |
TRIO : | C | A7 | Dm | Dm | G7 | G7 | C | C | C | A7 | Dm | Dm | G7 | G7 | C | C | C | G° | Dm | Dm | G7 | G7 | C | C | C | G° | Dm | A♭7 | G7 | G7 | C | C |
A' : | Cm | Cm | Cm | Cm | Cm | Cm | Fm | G7 | G7 | G7 | G7 | G7 | G7 | G7 | Cm | Cm | Cm | Cm | Cm | Cm | C7 | C7 | Fm | Fm | D° | D° | Cm | Cm | D7 | G7 | Cm | Cm |
Chords used
Cm · Fm · G7 · C7 · D7 · B♭7 · E♭ · C° · C · A7 · Dm · G° · A♭7 · D°
Play along
Open the interactive grille for Flambée Montalbanaise: 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.