Autumn Leaves (1945 song)

Kosma was a native of Hungary who was introduced to Prévert in Paris. They collaborated on the song Les Feuilles mortes ("The Dead Leaves") for the 1946 film Les Portes de la nuit (Gates of the Night) where it was sung by Irène Joachim.[1] The poem was published, after the death of Jacques Prévert, in the book "Soleil de Nuit" in 1980. Kosma was influenced by a piece of ballet music, "Rendez-vous" written for Roland Petit, performed in Paris at the end of the Second World War, which was itself borrowed partially from "Poème d'octobre" by Jules Massenet.[2] The first commercial recordings of "Les Feuilles mortes" were released in 1950, by Cora Vaucaire[3] and by Yves Montand.[4] Johnny Mercer wrote the English lyric and gave it the title "Autumn Leaves". Mercer was a partner in Capitol Records at the time, and Capitol recording artist Jo Stafford made the first English-language recording in July, 1950.[1] The song was recorded steadily throughout the 1950s by leading pop vocalists including Bing Crosby (1950), Nat King Cole (1955), Doris Day (1956), and Frank Sinatra (1957). It was also quickly adopted by instrumental jazz artists including Artie Shaw (1950), Stan Getz (1952), Erroll Garner and Ahmad Jamal (separately in 1955), Duke Ellington (1957), and Cannonball Adderley and Miles Davis (together in 1958). In 2012, jazz historian Philippe Baudoin called the song "the most important non-American standard" and noted that "it has been recorded about 1400 times by mainstream and modern jazz musicians alone and is the eighth most-recorded tune by jazzmen."[5] The Les Feuilles Mortes performance by Yves Montand video was officially uploaded to YouTube in 2010; it has over 10 million views as of December 2020.

The song is in AABC form.[6] "Autumn Leaves" offers a popular way for beginning jazz musicians to become acquainted with jazz harmony as the chord progression consists almost solely of ii–V–I and ii–V sequences which are typical of jazz. It is originally in G minor.

The song's iv⁷–VII⁷–III^maj7–VI^maj7–ii^ø7–V⁷–i chord progression is an example of the circle-of-fifths progression.[7]

As a jazz standard, "Autumn Leaves" has accumulated more than a thousand commercial recordings.[8] Among those by notable performers:

• Cannonball Adderley with Miles Davis – Somethin' Else (1958)[1]
• Chet Baker with Paul Desmond – She Was Too Good to Me (1974)[1]
• Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps has "Autumn Leaves" as the corps song[1] and it is listed on their 1987 program.[9]
• Eva Cassidy – Live at Blues Alley (1996)[1]
• Eric Clapton – Clapton (2010)[10]
• The Coasters – One by One (1960)[11]
• Anat Cohen
• Coldcut - Philosophy (1994)[12]
• Nat King Cole – Nat King Cole Sings for Two in Love (1955)
• Bing Crosby – recorded September 7, 1950 for Decca Records.[13]
• Miles Davis – Miles Davis in Europe (1963).[1] He performed the song as part of his live repertoire from 1960 until 1966. Except for the session with Cannonball Adderley in 1958, Davis never recorded the tune in a studio. Several concerts were recorded and released.[14]
• Doris Day – Day by Day (1956)
• Bob Dylan – Shadows in the Night (2015)
• Bill Evans – Portrait in Jazz (1959)[1]
• The Everly Brothers – Instant Party! (1962)
• Fairuz – بيذكر بالخريف ("Biyzakkir Bil Khareef", in Lebanese Arabic), on her Wala Keef album (2002)
• Santo & Johnny Farina – Mona Lisa (1966)
• Sergio Franchi – I'm a Fool to Want You (1968)[15]
• Ryo Fukui – Scenery (1976)
• Serge Gainsbourg – La chanson de Prévert (1961)[16]
• Erroll Garner – Concert by the Sea (1955)[1]
• Robert Goulet – Without You (1964)
• Vince Guaraldi – A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing (1958),[17] Jazz Impressions (1964),[18] North Beach (2006),[19] Essential Standards (2009)[20] The Definitive Vince Guaraldi (2009)[21]
• Jim Hall and Ron Carter – Alone Together (1972)[1]
• Dami Im – I Hear a Song (2018)[22]
• Ahmad Jamal – The Ahmad Jamal Trio (1955)[1]
• Keith Jarrett – Still Live (1986)[1]
• Keith Jarrett – Tokyo '96
• Jack Jones – Jack Jones Sings (1966)
• Wynton Kelly – Wynton Kelly! (1961)[1]
• Mark Lanegan – Imitations (2013)
• Jerry Lee Lewis recorded this song at the Caribou Ranch (Colorado) during the unreleased Caribou Ranch Sessions in 1980.
• Manfred Mann – As Is (1966)[23]
• Johnny Mathis – The Sweetheart Tree (1965)
• Matt Monro – The Late, Late Show (1968)
• Willie Nelson – Without a Song (1983)
• Joe Pass – Virtuoso No. 4 (1983, recorded in 1973)[24]
• Art Pepper – The Way It Was (1972), previously unreleased from his Intensity (1960) sessions
• Edith Piaf – sang both French and English versions on December 24, 1950, on the radio program The Big Show[25]
• Louis Prima – The Call of the Wildest (1957)
• Frank Sinatra – Where Are You? (1957)
• Jo Stafford – first English version written by Johnny Mercer, recorded for Capitol Records in July 1950
• Tara Tiba – Omid (2019)[26]
• Mel Tormé – Live at Marty's (1963)
• McCoy Tyner – Today and Tomorrow (1963)[1]
• Sarah Vaughan – Crazy and Mixed Up (1982)
• Ben Webster and the Georges Arvanitas Trio – Autumn Leaves (1972)[27][28]
• Andy Williams – Lonely Street (1959)
• Kathryn Williams – Resonator (2016) with Anthony Kerr, vibes.
• Roger Williams – made the song a number-one hit in the U.S. in 1955,[1] the first piano instrumental to reach number one.[29]

• "Autumn Leaves" at jazzstandards.com
• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
• Autumn Leaves sheet music