Montagne Sainte-Geneviève: chords & grille (gypsy jazz)
Montagne Sainte-Geneviève, key of E (valse), form A A B B' 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
Montagne Sainte-Geneviève, also called "Django's Waltz," is a waltz Django Reinhardt wrote in his dance-hall days but never recorded; guitarist Jean "Matelo" Ferret found the sheet music and recorded it, making it a manouche standard. The title names a hill in Paris.
The sound: a flowing 3/4 in E minor that moves between minor, dominant and major-6 colours, with the graceful sweep of the French gypsy waltz.
Practising it: settle the waltz lilt first. Work E harmonic minor and the B7 arpeggio, target the leading tone back to Em, and let the melodic line breathe across the three before chasing tempo.
Montagne Sainte-Geneviève chords: the grille
A : | Em | Em | Em | Em | Em | Em | Am | Am | B7 | B7 | B7 | B7 | B7 | B7 | Em7 | B7 | Em | EmΔ | Em7 | Em6 | E7 | E7 | Am | Am | Am | D7 | G6 | C6 | F#7 | B7 | Em7 B7 | Em7 |
B : | Am | D7 | G6 | F° | Am | D7 | G6 | E♭9 | Am | D7 | G6 | F° | Am | D7 | G | G |
B' : | Am | D7 | G6 | F° | Am | D7 | G6 | E♭9 | Am | D7 | G6 | F° | Am | D7 | G A B♭ | B7 |
Chords used
Em · Am · B7 · Em7 · EmΔ · Em6 · E7 · D7 · G6 · C6 · F#7 · F° · E♭9 · G · A · B♭
Videos, Montagne Sainte-Geneviève
Learn the solo
- Django's waltz — a lesson, Yorgui Loeffler
Watch it played
- Montagne Sainte-Geneviève | Jazz Violin in Barcelona, Marta Sierra
Play along
Open the interactive grille for Montagne Sainte-Geneviève: 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.