The Mellow Scene of 'Early Autumn'

Though the calendar says summer, our souls tell us it's early autumn. So in the spirit of the shifting sunlight, darker mornings and cooler air, here's the story behind the jazz standard Early Autumn followed by 10 sterling instrumental versions [photo above of Ralph Burns by William P. Gottlieb in April 1947]:

The story...

In 1946, the classically inclined arranger Ralph Burns brought a three-part neo-Impressionist suite to bandleader Woody Herman called Summer Sequence. As Gary Giddins notes in his superb book, Visions of Jazz (Oxford), Herman recorded the three parts in September 1946, when saxophonist Flip Phillips was the band's chief saxophone soloist. But in the 78 era, three parts of anything was ill-fated. You needed four parts to fill four sides of two records. So Columbia, Herman's label at the time, tabled the masters.

A year later, in the fall of '47, Herman overhauled his band, commissioning arrangements that emphasized his saxophones. Herman's newly revamped reed section initially featured Sam Marowitz (as), Stan Getz, Zoot Sims and Herbie Steward (ts) and baritone saxophonist Serge Chaloff. When Marowitz left shortly after, Herman stepped in to play the alto part.

Burns was then commissioned to write Part IV of Summer Sequence, which the band recorded on December 27, 1947, just days before the start of the second American Federation of Musicians' recording ban. My guess is that with a paralyzing recording ban bearing down on the music industry, Columbia exhumed everything it had in the vaults and prepared it for market. This included Summer Sequence, for which Burns had now added a fourth part.

The big surprise in Part IV came two minutes into the recording, when Getz (above) took a beautiful, yearning eight-bar solo that was considered revelatory at the time. And the melodic reed writing by Burns that followed Getz's solo hinted at a new song waiting to be born.

By the time the recording ban ended in the fall of 1948, Herman had left Columbia for Capitol. Struck by the second portion of Summer Sequence Part IV, Herman had Burns re-arrange it as a new reed-centric song called Early Autumn. Getz was the featured soloist. The result was the enduring jazz standard, Early Autumn.

The tracks...

Ten versions that will get you in the mood for sweater weather:

Here's Woody Herman's first rendition in 1948...

Here's the George Shearing Quintet...

Here's trombonist Urbie Green...

Here's Stan Kenton...

Here's guitarist Al Caiola...

Here's Toots Thielemans on guitar...

Here's Les Brown...

Here's the Cedar Walton Trio...

Here's French saxophonist Nicholas Montier and Saxomania...

And here's the Kenny Drew Jr. Trio...

Bonus: Here's Woody Herman's Summer Sequence Part IV, composed and arranged by Ralph Burns, with Stan Getz's solo fragment and Burns's sax section writing that spawned Early Autumn...