"Autumn Leaves" is a much-recorded popular song. Originally
it was a 1945 French song "Les feuilles mortes" (literally "The
Dead Leaves") with music by Joseph Kosma and lyrics by poet
Jacques Prévert. Yves Montand (with Irène Joachim) introduced
"Les feuilles mortes" in 1946 in the film
Les Portes de la Nuit. The American songwriter Johnny
Mercer wrote English lyrics in 1947 and Jo Stafford was among
the first to perform this version. Autumn Leaves became a pop
standard and a jazz standard in both languages, both as an
instrumental and with a singer.
On December 24, 1950, French singer Edith Piaf rendered both
French and English versions of this song on the radio program
The Big Show, hosted by Tallulah Bankhead.
The film
Autumn Leaves(1956) starring Joan Crawford featured the
song, as sung by Nat King Cole over the title sequence. The
French songwriter Serge Gainsbourg paid tribute to this song in
his own song "La chanson de Prévert".
One of the most referred-to instrumental versions of this
song is the one on the Cannonball Adderley album called
"Somethin' Else" released in 1958, whose personnel included
Miles Davis on trumpet, Hank Jones on piano and Art Blakey on
drums.
The song also crossed over in the club scene when dance act
Coldcut recorded a version in 1994, the resulting remix by
Irresistable Force became widely regarded a classic of the
chillout genre.
It is the corps song of the Bluecoats Drum and Bugle
Corps.
In 2009 Cecile Bredie made a wonderful version, the song can
be found in the compilation "Cafè del Mar volume 16".
In 1955 Roger Williams made the song a number one hit in the
United States, the only piano instrumental to reach number one
and remaining in that position for four weeks.
The song is in AABC form. "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. For
example, in the key of G minor it opens with
The bridge contains the same sequence as well as
Each chord sustains for 4 beats (X- ) unless otherwise noted
(X-X-)
(Verse)
(Chorus)
The song also contains all seven scale chords in the key,
giving the opportunity to utilize all seven scale modes (see
modal jazz).