Undecided: chords & grille (gypsy jazz)
Undecided by Sid Robin & Charlie Shavers, key of AS (swing), 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
Written by Charlie Shavers with lyrics by Sid Robin and published in 1938, Undecided got its name by accident: Shavers wired the untitled tune to his publisher, answered "undecided" about the name, and they printed that. John Kirby cut it first (1938); Ella Fitzgerald with Chick Webb made it a hit in 1939.
The sound: a cheerful B♭ major driven by ii–V–I motion (Cm–F7–B♭), with an E♭7 and a C7 (V/V) adding lift; light and swinging.
Practising it: drill the Cm–F7–B♭ arpeggios and the B♭ major scale, then catch the C7 pulling to F7. A medium-up swing feel keeps it bouncing.
Undecided chords: the grille
A : | B♭ | B♭ | E♭7 | E♭7 | C7 | Cm F7 | B♭ | F7 | B♭ | B♭ | E♭7 | E♭7 | C7 | Cm F7 | B♭ | F7 | B♭7 | B♭7 | E♭ | E♭ | C7 | C7 | F7 | F7 | B♭ | B♭ | E♭7 | E♭7 | C7 | Cm F7 | B♭ | F7 |
Chords used
B♭ · E♭7 · C7 · Cm · F7 · B♭7 · E♭
Play along
Open the interactive grille for Undecided: 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.