What a Difference a Day Made: chords & grille (gypsy jazz)
What a Difference a Day Made by María Méndez Grever & Stanley Adams, key of G (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
Mexican composer María Grever wrote this in 1934 as Cuando vuelva a tu lado; Stanley Adams added the English lyric, and Dinah Washington's 1959 recording won a Grammy and sealed its place as a swing standard.
The sound: a warm G major ballad-swing built on tumbling ii–V motion, with a chromatic diminished chord and a B7♭9 adding a bittersweet turn under the melody.
Practising it: follow the ii–V chains and let each resolution sing. Work the G major scale and arpeggiate the dominants (D7, A7, B7♭9), targeting the diminished passing chord's chromatic voice-leading. A gentle, medium swing suits it best.
What a Difference a Day Made chords: the grille
A : | Am | D7 | G Am | Bm B♭° | Am | D7 | G | G | F#m | B7♭9 | Em | Em | A7 | A7 | Am | D7 | Am | D7 | G Am | Bm B♭° | Am | D7 | G7 | G7 | C | F7 | Bm | B♭° | Am | D7 | G | G |
Chords used
Am · D7 · G · Bm · B♭° · F#m · B7♭9 · Em · A7 · G7 · C · F7
Play along
Open the interactive grille for What a Difference a Day Made: 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.