Autumn Leaves — chords & grille (gypsy jazz)
Autumn Leaves by Joseph Kosma & Jacques Prévert — key of E (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
Autumn Leaves is the English adaptation of Joseph Kosma's 1945 Les Feuilles mortes, on a poem by Jacques Prévert, first heard in the ballet Le Rendez-vous; Johnny Mercer added English words in 1950. It became one of the most recorded jazz standards ever.
The sound — the textbook of the ii–V–I: a major cadence (Am, D7, G, C) answered by a minor one (F♯m7♭5, B7, Em). Melancholy and endlessly instructive.
Practising it — this is the tune to learn ii–V–I. Drill the G major and E harmonic minor scales, the F♯m7♭5 arpeggio, and target the 3rds resolving through each cadence.
Autumn Leaves chords — the grille
A : | Am | D7 | G | C | F#ø | B7 | Em | E7 | Am | D7 | G | C | F#ø | B7 | Em | Em | F#ø | B7 | Em | E7 | Am | D7 | G | C | F#ø | B7 | Em | Em | C7 | B7 | Em | Em |
Chords used
Am · D7 · G · C · F#ø · B7 · Em · E7 · C7
Also known as : Les Feuilles mortes.
Videos — Autumn Leaves
Watch it played
- Autumn Leaves | Jazz Violin in Paris — Marta Sierra
Play along
Open the interactive grille for Autumn Leaves: 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.