Want to know more about the Autumn Leaves chords?
The jazz standard Autumn Leaves composed in 1945 by Joseph Kosma with the original lyric in French by Jacques Prévert remains one of the most popular pieces for musicians to play.
But why?
The lyric for the piece started out as a poem Les Feuilles Mortes by Jacques Prévert that was set to music by Kosma.
The English lyrics were written later by American lyricist, songwriter, and singer Johnny Mercer.
One of the reasons this song is so popular particularly amongst newbie Jazz players is that it contains some basic chord progressions and harmonic concepts found in jazz.
Autumn Leaves along with songs such as Satin Doll composed by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn in 1953 lyric again by Johnny Mercer.
Suffer the same fate.
Unfortunately because of their relatively simple melody and not too complex chord progressions, these tunes are more often than not performed badly.
So before we go any further and do some musical detective work on the beautiful Autumn Leaves chords let’s listen to the song performed by two masters of their craft.
Here is Autumn Leaves performed by Jim Hall (Guitar) and Ron Carter (Bass).
O.K that should get your ears pinned on straight!
Autumn Leaves Chords: Vanilla Changes
You might already play Autumn Leaves and are looking for creative ways to expand the harmonic possibilities of this song.
If you do play this song you most likely can across it in a Jazz fake book.
In fact, you may have come across several different versions of the song and have become confused as to which is the correct version.
The thing to keep in mind is that Fake books by and large offer printed representation of a particular performance of that tune by certain jazz musicians.
Since Jazz music is always in a state of flux with creative musicians constantly pushing the boundaries it’s very difficult for the fledgling Jazz player to find a definitive set of chords.
The two most popular keys that Autumn Leaves is performed are the keys of Gm (Bb Major) and Em (G Major).
To set the ball rolling here is a basic set of chords for Autumn Leaves in the key of Gm (Bb Major).
Here is the same basic set of chords in Em (G Major).
The tune Autumn Leaves actually became a jazz tune around 1958 when Miles Davis recorded it with Cannonball Adderley.
To set the ball straight let’s start by hearing the song sung in French by Yves Montand.
Here’s another rendition of Autumn Leaves sung in French this time by Mel Tormé.
This version features an all-star line-up of:
Trumpet: Don Fagerquist
Vibraphone: Larry Bunker
Piano: Marty Paich
Double Bass: Max Bennett
Drums: Mel Lewis
Miles Davis and Autumn Leaves
In March 1958 Miles Davies recorded it with Cannonball Adderley, strangely enough, this is the only record Miles has made since he became a world figure under somebody else’s name.
The record session was lead by Cannonball and they recorded a version of Autumn Leaves it’s in the key of Bb or G minor and has a very extended introduction.
It starts out as a vague uncertain melody in G minor.
The whole introduction is in G minor and then Miles plays it in a way that seemed to capture the imagination of all the younger Jazz people and from that point on Autumn Leaves became no longer a French love song but a Jazz Standard.
Of course, people still sing it as a french love song but most of us know it best as a Jazz standard.
Here is that recording.
Guitar Chords Shapes
In the event that you may not be familiar with the standard jazz style chord voicings here are the basic chord shapes in the key of G minor.
While it could be said that Miles basically put the tune on the map jazz wise in 1958.
It has to go on record that several great players had recorded it before then in the jazz manner.
Namely Tal Farlow around 1955 and George Shearing.
The recordings are quite beautiful but obviously these people did not have the charisma that Miles Davis had with the wide audience.
Let’s have a listen to both recordings.
Tal Farlow first (1955)
And now George shearing in 1956.
Autumn Leaves Chord Progression
We have now reached a stage where Autumn Leaves has become a Jazz Standard.
It has become a standard student practice piece.
Perhaps the reason for this is its simple structure of 2 -5 -1’s in the major and the minor keys.
Think of Autumn Leaves as eight four-bar phrases.
Image eight lines of manuscript paper with bars on each line.
The first line would be a 2 – 5 – 1 in the key of B flat
Like this:
I’m talking about the key of B flat or G minor for this example.
The second line would be a 2 – 5 – 1 in G minor.
For example:
The third line would be a 2 – 5 – 1 in B flat.
and the fourth line a 2 – 5- 1 in G minor.
In the fifth line, the first four bars of the B section would be a 2 – 5 – 1 in G minor.
Followed by a 2 – 5 – 1 in B flat major.
the last eight bars would be two 2 – 5 – 1’s in G minor.
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