Autumn Leaves – The New York Second

As far as jazz clichés go, calling out Autumn Leaves at a session must be amongst the most monumental. So it can be tedious to hear tired jazz musicians plodding through the entire chart, as pretty as the tune may be, and the result is usually not worth preserving, let alone highlighting here. Especially if the ladies at the table closest to the bandstand shriek their way through the lovely bass solo. But still, I find there is something to the quiet restraint of Max’s brushwork, the steady beat of Pawel’s bass, and Frank’s sax lines floating gently on the breeze. Come to think of it – not unlike an autumn leaf.

(original picture by Nikodem Nijaki, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kozma_Street_Jewish_cemetery_IMGP0865.jpg, CC BY-SA 3.0)