Lulu Swing — chords & grille (gypsy jazz)
Lulu Swing by Lulu Reinhardt — 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
Lulu Swing was written by Lulu Reinhardt (1951-2014), a leading figure of the 1970s German gypsy-jazz school. Built on the chord changes of Billy Strayhorn's Take the A Train, it has become a favourite of contemporary manouche players.
The sound - a bright D major romp whose signature is the E7 (a II7 with a raised fourth, G♯) sliding into A7. The borrowed Gm later casts a wistful shadow.
Practising it - drill your D major and Lydian shapes, then lean on the E7 arpeggio to bring out that G♯ before resolving to A7. Build the tempo slowly.
Lulu Swing chords — the grille
A : | D | D | E7 | E7 | Em | A7 | D | A7 | D | D | E7 | E7 | Em | A7 | D | D7 | G | Gm | D | Bm | E7 | E7 | A7 | A7 | D | D | E7 | E7 | Em | A7 | D | D |
Chords used
D · E7 · Em · A7 · D7 · G · Gm · Bm
Play along
Open the interactive grille for Lulu Swing: 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.