Editor’s Note: Autumn Tease

Central Park’s trees are still mostly green, but the smell of crunchy leaves is in the air

Walking through Central Park yesterday afternoon, I noticed two things: The trees were still about 80% green but the smell of autumn was in the air. Typically, New York’s trees aren’t in full color until the very end of October, sometimes lingering into the first week of November. If there’s a heavy wind accompanying a storm, we’re out of luck. [Photo above in Central Park on Friday and images below by Marc Myers]

The other event that stood out was the musty smell of fallen leaves. The scent triggered a craving for Brach’s classic candy corn—those triangular three-color kernels of pure sugar and flavoring. For some reason, candy corn takes me back to childhood faster than any other treat.

Soon, the smell of leaves will be joined on the Upper West Side by crisp air, low-50s temperatures, the lingering scent of onion bagels baking at bagel shops and, as the air cools off further, the smell of fireplaces ablaze in historic landmarked brownstones.

For now, it’s early autumn in New York, with lemony sunlight, cool shade, early sunsets and the anticipation of explosive color in Central Park. Next week, I’ll have photos of the city’s best-kept Halloween secret, and it’s not the parade in Greenwich Village, now a tourist trap.

Here’s guitarist Al Caiola in 1955, with Ronnie Ball (p), Clyde Lombardi (b) and Kenny Clarke (d) playing Early Autumn…

Here’s the Double Six of Paris in 1962…

And here’s Woody Herman live on TV’s Jazz Casual in 1963 (move the time bar to 12:44). The saxophone section: Woody Herman (as); Sal Nistico, Bobby Jones and Jack Stevens (ts); and Frank Hittner (bar). The tenor solo is by Jackie Stevens, with Nat Pierce on piano and Jake Hanna on drums…

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Movies streamed this week and loved: The Ninth Gate (1999/free at Tubi); Modi: Three Days on the Wings of Madness (2025/Amazon Prime); and Frank Sinatra: All or Nothing at All (2015/Netflix).

A beautiful new ballad from Portugal. Last week, I heard from songwriter Gonçalo Serras in Portugal. He alerted me to Maria, a new song about his mother recorded by Fritz Kahn and The Miracles. It’s now available on streaming platforms and is the first single from an upcoming EP called 50th, due Dec. 30, on Gonçalo’s 50th birthday (ah, youth).

As Gonçalo told me, “I began wondering about the young woman my mother had been before I arrived—about her ambitions, the dreams she might have pursued and the different life she might have lived if she had made other choices.”

Here’s Maria…

Snaps: Towers (in Manhattan’s Tribeca and Midtown neighborhoods)…