When Day Is Done: chords & grille (gypsy jazz)
When Day Is Done by Robert Katscher & Buddy De Sylva, key of G (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
When Day Is Done has music by Robert Katscher (adapted from his Viennese song "Madonna, du bist schöner als der Sonnenschein") and English lyrics by Buddy DeSylva, published in the mid-1920s. Its lush changes made it a swing standard gypsy-jazz players took up.
The sound: G major coloured by a G♭7 approach, an Am–A♭°7–D7 turn, and a wandering dominant chain (E7, A7, C7, B7) before the Dm–G7–C ii–V into the IV; romantic and chromatic.
Practising it: work the arpeggios over each dominant and treat the A♭°7 as a chromatic link back to D7, then the Dm–G7–C ii–V. A slow-to-medium ballad swing lets the harmony breathe.
When Day Is Done chords: the grille
A : | G | F#7 | Am A♭° | Am | D7 | D7 | G | G | G | E7 | A7 | A7 | D7 | D7 | G A♭° | Am D7 | G | F#7 | Am A♭° | Am | D7 | D7 C7 | B7 | B7 | Dm | G7 | C | B7 | G/B B♭° | Am D7 | G | G |
Chords used
G · F#7 · Am · A♭° · D7 · E7 · A7 · C7 · B7 · Dm · G7 · C · B♭°
Play along
Open the interactive grille for When Day Is Done: 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.