Being a quirky person with broad musical taste, I create themed playlists that could give many people whiplash. While I’ve never shared any of my odd, multi-genre playlists on the blog before, I thought I’d give it a try with this selection of autumn-focused music. It’s dominated by jazz — not merely because I love jazz, but because there are a number of wonderful jazz numbers about autumn. Sample these songs and pick your favorites for your own playlist. You may decide that you, unlike me, want to focus on only one genre of music.
Many of the jazz pieces in this list have been performed by a number of different artists; I have listed my favorite artist with each of those pieces. Likewise, there are many recordings you can choose from for the classical pieces, but although there are differences between recordings, I have no strong feelings about any particular version, so I leave that up to you.
If you have any favorite songs I’ve missed, please share them in the comments!
The Accursed Huntsman — César Franck
We start with something classical. This piece tells the story of a hunter who decides to ignore the Sabbath and hunt on Sunday. He ends up becoming the Devil’s quarry. What could be more autumnal than a spooky hunting story?
Autumn — Ed Calle
Once upon a time I had a coworker who was in charge of the music for our office, and she loved smooth jazz. Hours of forced listening to a smooth jazz station made me somewhat allergic to the subgenre, but there are still individual pieces I like. This is one of them. “Autumn” is a song for early to mid-fall, when you can still feel some summer in the air and the leaves are turning; it doesn’t really fit gray November days.
Autumn in New York — Ella Fitzgerald
You absolutely cannot have a list of autumn songs without including this one, and Ella Fitzgerald sings it beautifully.
Autumn Leaves — Nat King Cole
This is another “can’t omit it” classic. I love Nat King Cole’s silky smooth voice, so I had to pick this version.
Autumn Nocturne – Lou Donaldson
This is a lesser-known jazz piece, covered beautifully and in-depth in this blog post by Steve Wallace. The first version I heard was Claude Thornhill’s — apparently the earliest recorded version — but it sounds “dated” to me (I can just see couples dancing on a ballroom floor to the sounds of Thornhill’s orchestra). I prefer Lou Donaldson’s take.
Autumn Serenade — John Coletrane and Johnny Hartman
While I meant everything I said about loving to listen to Nat King Cole, I can’t imagine preferring his voice to Johnny Hartman’s on this one. Somehow, Johnny makes it sound as if he is singing about something he really experienced. And you can’t go wrong with John Coltrane on the sax.
Autumn Song — Van Morrison
It may not be pure jazz, but Van Morrison’s “Autumn Song” certainly has a jazzy feel. Google “Autumn Song Van Morrison,” and you’ll find more than one person proclaiming how perfectly the song captures autumn.
Don’t Wait Too Long — Blossom Dearie
Here autumn is merely a metaphor, but this song about a romance between two people of different ages is beautiful.
Folk Songs of the Four Seasons: Autumn — Ralph Vaughan Williams
I’m a sucker for Ralph Vaughan Williams, including his arrangement of seasonal folk songs for a women’s choir. There are actually three folk songs in the autumn section; “John Barleycorn” is the first one. You can find the other two, “The Unquiet Grave” and “An Acre of Land,” on YouTube.
The Four Seasons: Autumn — Antonio Vivaldi
This choice isn’t much of a surprise. Ask someone to name some classical music related to autumn, and they will almost certainly mention “Autumn” from Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons.
Graceful Ghost Rag — William Bolcom
This has even less to do with autumn than “Don’t Wait to Long,” but since I first heard it on Halloween, I always think of autumn when I hear it. This is the best-known of three “ghost rags” that Bolcom wrote.
Harvest Moon — John Pizzarelli
What a beautiful autumn love song! With apologies to Neil Young, I prefer this cover to the original version. It’s also one of my favorite songs on this list.
Harvest Home: Autumn (Thanksgiving Hymn) — Jay Ungar and Molly Mason
Jay Ungar is the famous composer of “Ashokan Farewell” (the song Ken Burns used on his series, The Civil War). Molly Mason is his partner in music and marriage. This piece comes from Harvest Home, their five-part suite about the seasons in rural America.
If I Could Make September Stay — Michael Franks
I love summer and hate winter, so while I enjoy autumn, it also makes me a little sad. This song about hanging onto those last summery days resonates perfectly with me.
October — U2
Although this short song ends on a note of hope (“…kingdoms rise/and kingdoms fall/but you go on and on”), it sounds as sad as a cloudy autumn day after most of the trees have shed their leaves.
The Seasons: Autumn — Alexander Glazunov
This energetic piece makes me think of the riot of fall colors and fall festivals during peak autumn.
The Seasons: October — Pyotr Illyich Tchaikovsky
This is one of twelve piano solos Tchaikovsky wrote for each month of the year. To me, it is the most autumnal of the bunch. Actually, the mood is somewhat similar to U2’s “October.”
September — Earth, Wind & Fire
The only thing autumnal about this song is the fact that the singer is hearkening back to a particular September night, but it’s a great song, and I could not possibly leave it off the list. My kid and I consider it a must-listen on September 21.
September Song — Dave Brubeck
This is Brubeck’s straightforward take on a Kurt Weill tune. In the words of lyricist Maxwell Anderson: “Oh the days dwindle down to a precious few/September, November/And these few precious days I’ll spend with you…”
Summer Is Gone — Carmen McRae
Summer may be gone, but Carmen McRae looks on the bright side. “Winter is near/the fire soon will glow. … The crocus buds are bedded down with snow – just a disguise ’til spring.”
Thanksgiving Theme — Vince Guaraldi
You’ll recognize this from A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. Anyone up for a feast of toast, pretzels, popcorn, jelly beans, and ice cream? I’ll let you have all my jelly beans.
‘Tis Autumn — Jackie Paris
My favorite version of this song is by Jackie Paris (in fact, there is a documentary about him titled ‘Tis Autumn). Unfortunately, I can’t find a legally uploaded version to link to right now, so here’s a lovely version by Lily Bee.