Autumn Leaves (Joe Pass)

[Melvin J.]

What's up everyone, I'm doing a guitar audition soon and I was wondering if anyone had the tab or music to Joe Pass' version of Autumn Leaves. Even if you don't have Joe Pass' version I would like to see what you have, just to give me some good ideas for what I could do. Maybe some links to some good recordings of this tune would be really cool too. Thanks

[Poparad]

I was just listening to that one this morning.

 

I don't have any transcription of it, but I play the first section similar to his. I'll play the melody in octaves, and then the chord hits right after it. Like so:

 

 

 
 
Joe does a lot of arpeggiation of the chords as he gets into the form a little more.
 
If you're doing an audition, I wouldn't worry about doing a full blown improvised chord melody solo, but working up an arrangement of the head as a chord melody is a good idea.
 
For an audition, if they want to test your improvisation skills, they might have you solo with someone playing an accompaniment for you.

[Melvin J.]

Cool, thanks I appreciate your help and advice. The audition requires me to play a swing tune, so I picked Autumn Leaves. I don't think they want to test my improv skills so yeah, making an arrangement of the head is critical. I've only been able to get the music for the first 16 measures, so should I just do the first 16 measures, and then repeat or what, I 'm not too sure.

[mikeSF]

which recording of Joe Pass' Autumn Leaves? The solo guitar (virtuoso) version or the group session?

 

FWIW, There is a nice fingerstyle version of this tune by Barney Kessel that is published and available in JJG magazine and on the web. I like barney's version much more than the joe pass solo version as it has much more tonal color.

[mikeSF]

I am studying a transcription of Bruce Forman's recording of Autumn Leaves right now and it is pretty hairy to say the least.

[Poparad]

Here's the Real Book chart:

 

http://gozips.uakron.edu/~jjp14/al.pdf

 

 

 

I'd go for a combination of the melody in octaves, chord hits when there's space in the melody (like on the whole notes) and a bit of blocked chord (a voicing of the chord with the melody note on the top)

[patd]

Hi guys ,

a few days ago I posted already a question regarding this song.

I just started playing in a band that has some jazzy tunes on the playlist.

Autumn leaves is one of them but we play it down a whole step so the progression is: Gm7 / C7 / Fmaj7 / Bbmaj7 / Em7b5 / A7 / Dm

Since I'm not really familiar with any other scales than the blues/pentatonics ( I do no some other shapes but never really applied them ) my question was what scales could be used to solo over a verse in this song.

A reply I got in the other post suggested these:

Gm7 -> G dorian

C7 -> C# melodic minor

Fmaj7 -> F lydian/ionian

Bbmaj7 -> Bb lydian/ionian

Em7b5 -> G melodic minor

A7 -> A# melodic minor

Dm7 -> D aeolian

But not yet knowing all them forms yet it seems a bit difficult for me to change scales with every chord.

I also don't understand where the c# and A# melodic minor come from.

Any ideas???

[Poparad]

 

Originally posted by patd Hi guys , a few days ago I posted already a question regarding this song. I just started playing in a band that has some jazzy tunes on the playlist. Autumn leaves is one of them but we play it down a whole step so the progression is: Gm7 / C7 / Fmaj7 / Bbmaj7 / Em7b5 / A7 / Dm Since I'm not really familiar with any other scales than the blues/pentatonics ( I do no some other shapes but never really applied them ) my question was what scales could be used to solo over a verse in this song. A reply I got in the other post suggested these: Gm7 -> G dorian C7 -> C# melodic minor Fmaj7 -> F lydian/ionian Bbmaj7 -> Bb lydian/ionian Em7b5 -> G melodic minor A7 -> A# melodic minor Dm7 -> D aeolian But not yet knowing all them forms yet it seems a bit difficult for me to change scales with every chord. I also don't understand where the c# and A# melodic minor come from. Any ideas???

 

 

C# and A# (I would call them Db and Bb) make the dominant 7th chord altered. Playing the melodic minor a half step above the root of the chord does that.

 

However, on this song, I personally don't get that extreme with scales.

 

The first 4 chords are all diatonic to Bb major, and the last two are in Dm. So, I play Bb major over the first four chord, and durning the Em7b5 A7 part, I play D harmonic minor. You can continue to play D harmonic minor over Dm, but I just go back to D natural minor (which is identical to Bb major). So, this way you just deal with 2 scales, and the only difference between Bb/Dm and D harmonic minor is 1 note (C# in D harm min vs. C in Bb/Dm).

[Melvin J.]

Once again thank you all!

MikeSF, I am studying Joe's solo version off of Unforgettable, I don't recall there being a version on Virtuoso. If you could post the transcription by Bruce Forman you're working on that would be awesome.

Paparad, thanks for the Real Book transcription it will be quite helpful in learing this piece as I am working it by ear presently.

The scales should be of good use, thank you Patd, although I probably wont get too involved with them it's still cool to know them just in case. Thanks again everyone.

[D8rkn3ss]

i dont want to hijack this thread, but im interested in how some people use scales over chords to create altered harmony, like what poparad mentioned with the melodic minir scale. Ive also heard of jazz guys playing the tritone scale above the root of the key over the V chord and things like. So, any other little tricks like this, that you like to use, anyone?

[Poparad]

 

Originally posted by D8rkn3ss i dont want to hijack this thread, but im interested in how some people use scales over chords to create altered harmony, like what poparad mentioned with the melodic minir scale. Ive also heard of jazz guys playing the tritone scale above the root of the key over the V chord and things like. So, any other little tricks like this, that you like to use, anyone?

 

 

Well, there's two ways of thinking about it that yeilds the same results.

 

Take G7 for example. If you play Ab melodic minor you get the basic notes (Root, 3rd, 7th) plus some altered notes.

 

Ab melodic minor, slightly respelled to show how it relates to G7alt:

 

 

 
Now, if you compare the G altered scale and Db lydian dominant scale, you'll notice they're exactly the same scale (Ab melodic minor).
 
Another interesting note about tritone subs, is if you compare the notes of G7b5 (G B Db F) and Db7b5 (Db F Abb Cb .... respelled Db F G B).... they're exactly the same.  That's why the tritone sub is so effective and why the chords are compatable.  The rest of the notes are just color notes added.  The main essential notes are the same between chords.
 
 
So, which way you want to think about it is up to you.
 
Another advantage to thinking about it in terms of Db, is that usually in jazz the cords move in the cycle of fifths.  So, in C major you usually see ii V I, or Dm7 G7 Cmaj7.  By using a tritone sub, all the chords now move in half steps:  Dm7 Db7 Cmaj7.
 
If you extend the progression to something like this:
 
Em7 A7 Dm7 G7 Cmaj7
 
And then use a tritone sub on every other chord (the dominant chords) you get:
 
Em7 Eb7 Dm7 Db7 Cmaj7
 
Pretty nifty.

[mikeSF]

 

Originally posted by Melvin J. Once again thank you all! MikeSF, I am studying Joe's solo version off of Unforgettable, I don't recall there being a version on Virtuoso. If you could post the transcription by Bruce Forman you're working on that would be awesome. Paparad, thanks for the Real Book transcription it will be quite helpful in learing this piece as I am working it by ear presently. The scales should be of good use, thank you Patd, although I probably wont get too involved with them it's still cool to know them just in case. Thanks again everyone.

 

 

you are right. i knew it wasnt on one of the Virtuoso records, but in my mind it sounded like it was from that release.

 

Bruce's solo (from "Pardon Me"(concord jazz label)) is pretty hairy stuff. He has some nice melodic lines and seems to like to land on the natural 7 over a ii chord to create the minor-major 7 sound. he does this often to create a nice effect. I do not have a scanner, but could fax it to you if you want to email me with your fax#.

[Reasonable Man]

You should not play someone else's arrangement of a song in an audition context. The auditioner will probably just shut off. Anyone can learn an arrangement. You should get a chart and arrange it yourself. Otherwise you're just advertising plagerism and a lack of creativity.

As for other recordings, check out the Lorne Loffsky, Bill Evans, Chet Baker/Paul Desmond and Lenny Breau versions. The Bill Evans cut on Portrait in Jazz (Mono) is particularly notable.

[thliu]

 

Originally posted by patd Hi guys , a few days ago I posted already a question regarding this song. I just started playing in a band that has some jazzy tunes on the playlist. Autumn leaves is one of them but we play it down a whole step so the progression is: Gm7 / C7 / Fmaj7 / Bbmaj7 / Em7b5 / A7 / Dm Since I'm not really familiar with any other scales than the blues/pentatonics ( I do no some other shapes but never really applied them ) my question was what scales could be used to solo over a verse in this song. A reply I got in the other post suggested these: Gm7 -> G dorian C7 -> C# melodic minor Fmaj7 -> F lydian/ionian Bbmaj7 -> Bb lydian/ionian Em7b5 -> G melodic minor A7 -> A# melodic minor Dm7 -> D aeolian But not yet knowing all them forms yet it seems a bit difficult for me to change scales with every chord. I also don't understand where the c# and A# melodic minor come from. Any ideas???

 

 

Yeah, that was my suggestion, but I agree with Poparad that you shouldn't strictly conform to those scales over those chords. Do a combination of a more horizontal approach (being melodic in one scale over a few chords) and a more vertical approach (playing certain scales over certain chords.) If you stick with the horizontal approach, it'll get boring because you're not creating much tension and you're not outlining the chords well enough. If you stick with the vertical approach, you'll sound too academic. The combination is where style comes into play.

[no caller id]

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