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“Yves Montand introduced the song
‘Les Feuilles Mortes’ in the 1946
film Les Portes De La Nuit,
a gloomy urban drama set in post
World War II Paris.” |
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- JW
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Composer
Joseph Kosma and Jacques Prévert
created one of the songs for
Les Portes De La Nuit by setting
a Prévert poem to music, “Les Feuilles
Mortes.” In 1949
Johnny Mercer wrote English
lyrics for the tune changing the
original French title to “Autumn
Leaves.” Not surprisingly,
Jo Stafford (1917-) was the
first to record “Autumn Leaves.”
From 1943 until 1950 she was under
contract with Capitol Records, a
company founded and co-owned by
Mercer. Following Stafford’s recording
were a number of covers including
renditions by
Bing Crosby, Edith Piaf, Artie
Shaw, and
Jo Stafford’s husband,
Paul Weston.
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The Italian born,
French singing idol
Yves Montand introduced the
song “Les Feuilles Mortes” in the
1946 film Les Portes De La Nuit,
a gloomy urban drama set in post
World War II Paris. Scriptwriter
and poet Jacques Prévert and director
Marcel Carné (1909-1996) had been
responsible for a string of films
spawning the French “poetic realism,”
a genre upon which the American
film noir movement was based.
Although Les Portes De La
Nuit was a commercial failure
it fared much better when released
in the United States several years
later under the title Gates of
the Night.
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Initially the public
showed little interest in “Autumn
Leaves.” In 1955 that changed, however,
as pianist Roger Williams (1925-)
(renowned for the instrumental hits
“Near You” (1958), and “Born Free”
(1966)) recorded a million-seller,
number-one hit rendition of the
song that stayed on the charts for
6 months. Williams’ success opened
the door for a second spate of covers
by Steve Allen, Mitch Miller, the
Ray Charles Singers, Jackie Gleason,
and
Victor Young. These would be
followed by hundreds of renditions
in subsequent decades.As the
1940’s waned so too did the public’s
appetite for the Tin Pan Alley style
ballad. With decreasing demand for
his sophisticated talents, lyricist
Johnny Mercer found
himself penning words for instrumentals.
In the case of “Les Feuilles Mortes,”
Mercer would not have thought twice
about renaming what was literally
“The Dead Leaves” to “Autumn Leaves.”
“The Dead Leaves” may have been
an appropriate song title for the
somber Les Portes De La Nuit,
but it would not do for an American
popular song.
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In 1956 Columbia Pictures produced
a film entitled
Autumn Leaves starring Joan
Crawford and Cliff Robertson. It
is a generally well-reviewed tale
of a spinster marrying a young man
who has mental problems as a result
of his ex-wife’s (Vera Miles) affair
with his father (Lorne Green). Nat
King Cole sang his hit version of
“Autumn Leaves” during the credits.
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Musical analysis of
“Autumn Leaves (Les Feuilles Mortes)”
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| Original
Key |
G major/E
Minor |
| Form |
A-A-B-C |
| Tonality |
Initially
major; goes back and forth between major
and minor tonalities before finally resolving
to E minor at the end. |
| Movement |
Balanced
mixture of step-wise and skips. “A” sections
consists of a three-note ascending scale
followed by a skip of a fourth. “B” and
“C” contain more movement, with leaps of
a fifth and octave, giving the melodic contour
a “soaring” impression (the descent and
blowing of leaves in the storm?) |
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Comments
(assumed
background)
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Among the best known “standards,” this is
one of the first tunes novice jazz players
learn. Chord progression makes use of the
circle of fifths, but in a way quite different
than most tunes. The initial progression
is ii7- V7- I, followed by a IV chord
(similar to “All
the Things You Are”), but then it uses
a viiř7 in order to modulate to the relative
minor (the viiř7 begins a iiř7-V7 in E minor).
In general, however, the voice leading is
quite orthodox and poses few surprises to
the ear. The only place that may pose difficulty
comes six measures before the end, where
the composer uses chords descending chromatically
from the tonic minor key down to the VI
chord. In the original key, this is Emin7
- Eb7 – Dm7 – Db7 – Cmaj7. This is really
the same “circle of fifths,” disguised using
tri-tone substitutions. In the foregoing
example, Eb7 and Db7 are substituted for
the functional voice-leading chords of A7
and G7 (which would work just as well, but
sound far less interesting). |
K. J. McElrath - Musicologist for JazzStandards.com
Check out K. J. McElrath's book of Jazz Standards Guide Tone Lines at his web site (www.bardicle.com). |
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“Autumn Leaves (Les Feuilles
Mortes)” was included in these films:
-
Les Portes De La
Nuit (1946, Yves Montand)
- Autumn Leaves (1956, Nat King
Cole)
- Hey Boy! Hey Girl! (1959,
Keely Smith)
- Addicted to Love (1997, Stephane
Grappelli)
- Midnight In The Garden Of Good And
Evil (1997, Paula Cole)
- Sidewalks of New York (2001,
Stan Getz)
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Click on a CD for more details
at Amazon.com
Cannonball Adderley
Somethin’ Else
1999, Blue Note Records #95329
Original recording, 1958
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| All the stops are pulled out in
this 11-minute version with Miles Davis
and drummer Art Blakey. This cut can also
be found on Davis’
Blues and Ballads. |
Erroll Garner
Concert by the Sea
1990, Sony #40589
Original recording, 1955, Columbia
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| This is a “desert island” CD. Every
cut is a gem. “Autumn Leaves” is transformed
with Garner’s off-kilter rhythms. |
Karrin Allyson
Collage
1996, Concord Records #4709
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| Karrin introduces the song in French
and then swings into English and a Django/Grappelli
mode with guitar and violin. |
Patricia Barber
Night Club
2004, Koch Records
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| Singer/pianist Barber mesmerizes
with this version of “Autumn Leaves.” The
song is refurbished with a torch singer’s
touch. |
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This 1947 tune took almost ten years to catch
on as a jazz number, and 1957 saw three excellent
recordings. There were versions by Coleman Hawkins,
Dizzy Gillespie and
Duke Ellington.
Ellington’s version, taken at a very slow tempo,
features
Ray Nance on violin. Nance’s violin playing
represented almost the total opposite of his trumpet
playing, and he’s at his soulful best on “Autumn
Leaves,” where he plays an exquisite, emotional
solo; he then fills along with vocalist Ozzie Bailey.
The album, Ellington Indigos, offered a different,
more sentimental side of the Ellington ensemble
and has rarely been out-of-print since it was released.
Chris Tyle - Jazz Musician and Historian
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| This section shows the jazz standards
written by the same writing team. Click on a name
to see all of a writer's jazz standards.
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Additional information on “Autumn Leaves (Les Feuilles Mortes)” may be found in:
1 paragraph including the following types of information: history and performers.
1 paragraph including the following types of information: film productions, history and performers.
2 pages including the following types of information: lyric analysis.
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