Isn't She Lovely — chords & grille (gypsy jazz)
Isn't She Lovely by Stevie Wonder — key of D (manouche), form 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
Stevie Wonder wrote this for his newborn daughter Aisha, releasing it on his 1976 album Songs in the Key of Life. Its buoyant changes have made it a favourite crossover tune at gypsy-jazz jams.
The sound — joyful D major, spun from a circling ii–V motion (Em–A7 back to D) with an E7 secondary dominant giving it lift and momentum.
Practising it — a great tune for smooth ii–V–I lines: work the Em, A7 and D arpeggios and the E7 that tonicises A. Keep the groove bouncing and let the melody sing over the changes.
Isn't She Lovely chords — the grille
A : | Bm | E7 | Em A7 | D | Bm | E7 | Em A7 | D | G | F#7 | Bm | E7 | Em | A7 | D | D |
Chords used
Bm · E7 · Em · A7 · D · G · F#7
Play along
Open the interactive grille for Isn't She Lovely: 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.