“Autumn Leaves” is a popular song and jazz standard composed by Joseph Kosma in 1945 with original lyrics by Jacques Prévert in French (original French title: “Les Feuilles mortes“), and later by Johnny Mercer in English.

It’s a tale of two torch songs. The original poem was a dark lament of lost love and regret. The translated version, “Autumn Leaves,” touched on the same theme, but in a gentler, more wistful way.

This song is a AABC and its harmonic progression is based on a major and a minor II V I in the cycle of fifths. This progression is found in many other standards (All the things you are, Bluesette, Blues For Alice, Afternoon in Paris, There will never be another you etc).

In this lesson, we listen to the original version and the famous recording by Cannonball Adderley and Miles Davis on the album Somethin’ Else.

In the PDF is my transcription of Sam Jones bass line. You will also find exercises to practice voice leading with the triads and the tetrads.