October 15, 2025 EDIT: "Play "Autumn Leaves" Your Way" is now live! You can continue to discuss your preparation of the piece here. The next PIYW will be announced October 18.
PIYW #3: Play "Autumn Leaves" Your Way
Play It Your Way is a quasi-monthly event for beginners, professionals, classical, jazz, or pop pianists and everyone in between! This month, we are starting work on "Autumn Leaves" by Joseph Kosma. Use the links below to find an arrangement or lead sheet you like, and when you are ready, post your performance in the submission thread. Perfection is not expected!
Previous PIYWs:
Play "Beale Street Blues" Your Way
Play "Pachelbel's Canon" Your Way
Please suggest pieces for future "Play It Your Way" events by using the suggestion box. We need suggestions for all types of music! (Ideally, the Play It Your Way piece will be playable by many different skill levels, but it doesn't necessarily have to be.)
Guidelines
- This is not a contest! It is meant to be a casual and fun event.
- A new "Play It Your Way" piece will be announced on the 16th of the following months: Jan, Feb, Apr, May, July, Aug, Oct, Nov.
- You can use this thread to discuss your preparation of the piece, or anything else related to PIYW. To submit a recording of your performance, go to the submission thread.
- All PIYW submissions will remain hidden from public view until October 15. However, there is no deadline for when you need to submit your performance. You may submit a recording at any time, including before and after that date.
Autumn Leaves (Les Feuilles Mortes) by Joseph Kosma (1945)
Quoting the French wikipedia article because it's much more complete than the English one (I used Google Translate):
The song originates from an instrumental theme Joseph Kosma composed for Roland Petit's ballet "Le Rendezvous" (1945). The refrain is inspired by a melody for soprano voice and piano, entitled "Poème d'octobre", composed by Jules Massenet in 1876.... The song was originally intended to appear in the credits of [a] film, entitled "Les Portes de la nuit". In the film, only snatches of it are hummed....
Released in December 1946, the film was a commercial failure, but the song became an international success after a few years. In his book of memories, "La Vie à belles dents", Marcel Carné notes on this subject:
"Jacques [Prevert, the lyricist,] was especially incensed that the press had completely ignored Les Feuilles mortes [i. e., Autumn Leaves]. It was true, however. No critic...had pointed out the song which, four years later, would go around the world, and appear in the repertoire of the greatest singers in America, Sinatra and Nat King Cole at the forefront. For four years in fact, Montand who first sang it, Juliette Gréco who covered it, would not succeed in popularizing it! The former declared to anyone who would listen that he had included it in his repertoire because he liked it, but that it was a "flop" every time he sang it. To Robert Valey, his secretary at the time who was pressing him to record a record, he would reply that "the melody is too complicated and has no chance of interesting the public..."
Notes on "Autumn Leaves" from keyboardimprov.com:
For many of us jazz pianists, “Autumn Leaves” is one of the first jazz tunes we learn (it was actually my very first one!). I think there are 3 reasons for this: the melody is sequential and easy to “grasp,” there are only a few main chords in the progression, and it’s near the beginning of the Real Book.
...
We start learning jazz with “Autumn Leaves” and as we progress and grow as jazz pianists, the tune can become a kind of barometer that reflects where we are, musically. To see this for yourself, go to the piano, sit down, and play “Autumn Leaves.” Then, remember how you used to play it, when you were first starting to learn jazz. Do you see how far you’ve come? Or, if you’re just beginning to learn jazz right now, start with “Autumn Leaves,” and come back to it every once in a while. It will help you measure your musical progress.
Links to Sheet Music / Lead Sheet
- You are not limited to only the arrangements linked below. Feel free to find or create your own.
- You do not have to complete or perfect the piece to submit it, and don't be afraid to simplify or shorten the piece.
- Improvisation, backing tracks, and backing humans are all allowed.
For items with asterisks, look in the description box below the YouTube video for a link to sheet music.
Not all sheet music presented here is free.
Lead Sheet
Easy (Free PDF)
Easy *
Easy-Intermediate (Hal Leonard)
Intermediate *
Bill Evans Solo Transcription (Free) *