Autumn Leaves
Kosma · Evans voicings — figured out, slowly.
Autumn Leaves is the standard that taught me I didn’t actually hear functional harmony. I could play ii–V–I in any key, but the first time I tried to voice it the way Bill Evans voiced it I realized I was hearing the roots, not the colors.
The ninth and the third share a room here, and until you hear that room you’re playing the changes, not the tune. I left the voicings open — root and seventh at the bottom, third and ninth stacked above — and that’s when it finally sounded like the recording I had in my head.
The progression, in prose
It's a ii⁷–V⁷–I♭maj⁷–IV♭maj⁷–vii°⁷–III⁷–vi circle in G major that resolves by reinterpreting the vi as the i of E minor — the relative minor turn is what gives the tune its autumnal pivot. Every chorus sits on that hinge.