Autumn Leaves: Substitutions and Improv reed kotler The original sheet music was in G and was written in cut time. I have it in my Johnny Mercer collection "Too Marvelous for Words". A must for all Johnny Mercer fans. He wrote the english lyrics for this tune, originally it was in french. It commonly played in Bb and C and written in 4/4. The NRB volume 1 has a chart. I'm not going to discuss all their changes as a few I don't care for and don't play. The sheet music chord changes in Bb are: Cm7 | F7 | Bbmaj7 | | Am7b5 | D7 | Gmi | | Cm7 | F7 | Bbmaj7 | | Am7b5 | D7 | Gmi | | D7 | | Gmi | | F7 | | Bbmaj7 | | D7 | | Gmi | | C/E Cmi7/Eb |D7 | Gmi | | By just adding ii7 chords and getting rid of the strange chords C/E to Cmi7/Eb, we get: (remember that for a minor key, iimi7b5 is often used for the ii idea) (we also add Ebmaj7 after the Bbmaj7. This is a common device. It's line a ii/v with maj7 chords). Cmi7 | F7 | Bbmaj7 | Ebmaj7 | Ami7b5 | D7 | Gmi | | Cmi7 | F7 | Bbmaj7 | Ebmaj7 | Ami7b5 | D7 | Gmi | | Ami7b | D7 | Gmi | | Cmi7 | F7 | Bbmaj7 | | Ami7b5 | D7 | Gmi | | Ami7b5 | D7 | Gmi | | This tune is simplicity at it's finest. For improv purposes it just goes back an forth between Bb major and G harmonic minor (the relative minor). So going a line at time as far as keys it goes: Bb, Gmi, Bb, Gmi, Gmi, Bb, Gmi, Gmi. It's easiest to just think Bb and remember that the note F# will be present in the minor sections. You "ear" will tell you to F or F#. Remember that Bb major and G harmonic minor only differ by the note F/F#. As far as sub's go: Let's look at bar's 1-4 bar 1 can be F#7sus, followed by F7sus F7 . F#7sus | F7sus F7 | Bbmaj7 | Ebmaj7 | Another possibility for bars 1,2 is: Cmi7 F#7sus | F7sus F7 | Bbmaj7 | Ebmaj7 | I like to go from Bbmaj7 to Bb7 because it provides a nice V7/I motion into the Ebmaj7. Similarly I like to go from Ebmaj7 to Abmaj7. THis provides a nice ii/V like bass motion and I like to approach mi7 ( or mi7b5 or even dominant) chords with a maj seventh a half step below. See my earlier discussion on "I remember you" and the previous mail to that for a description of that technique and why it works. F#7sus | F7sus F7 | Bbmaj7 Bb7 | Ebmaj7 Abmaj7| The next line typically begins with Ami7b5 but because that progression gets overdone in this tune, I like A7. Change of chord quality is always worth a try. A7 | D7 | Gmi | | Another try is: Ami7b5 Eb7 | D7sus D7 | Gmi | | The last bar sounds nice with G7 because it leads more strongly to the Cmi7 following. A7 | D7 | Gmi | G7 | The next eight bars are essentially the same so you can pick and choose from earlier improvements. I tend to just leave the bridge alone. The last 8 usually is played nowadays with the Gmi in the first four bards replaced with Gmi7 C7 | Fmi7 Eb7 | going to Ebmaj7 (in place of the Ami7b5) and then squeezing the ii/V into one measure. Ami7b | D7 | Gmi7 C7 |Fmi7 Bb7 | Ebmaj7 | Ami7b5 D7 | Gmi | G7 | On the Cannonball Adderly "something else" record they just leave the last eight the way it was originally (except the wierd C Cmi is turned into Ami7b5) and I think this may be preferrable for soloing because the Gmi7 C7| Fmi7 Bb7 feels very awkward for me at that point while improvising. So I like (for the head) in total: F#7sus | F7sus F7 | Bbmaj7 Bb7 | Ebmaj7 Abmaj7| A7 | D7 | Gmi | G7 | Cmi7 F#7sus | F7sus F7 | Bbmaj7 Bb7 | Ebmaj7 Abmaj7| A7 | D7 | Gmi | | Ami7b5 | D7 | Gmi | | Cmi7 | F7 | Bbmaj7 Bb7 |Ebmaj7 | Ami7b | D7 | Gmi7 C7 |Fmi7 Bb7 | Ebmaj7 | Ami7b5 D7 | Gmi | (G7) | [end]