Standards

Lullaby Of The Leaves chords & key

Key: C minor
Form: AABA
Bars: 32
Groove: Medium swing
Time signature: 4/4

“Lullaby Of The Leaves” is a jazz standard by Bernice Petkere. It is usually played in C minor as a medium swing, and the 32-bar AABA form has 4 sections. Harmonically it contains no major ii–V–I cadences and 7 minor ii–V–i, uses 14 different chords and moves between the key centres C minor and F minor. In this atlas it appears on 24 album tracks.

Chord changes

to key

Showing in: Concert (C) — C minor

C^mA^m7♭5

D⁷G^7♭13

G^m7C⁷

F^m7F^m7_/E♭

D^m7♭5

G^7♭13

C^m

A♭⁷G^7♭9

C^m

A♭⁷

C^maj7

A♭⁷

C⁶A⁷

D^m7♭5G^7♭13

C^mA^m7♭5

D⁷G^7♭13

G^m7C⁷

F^m7F^m7_/E♭

D^m7♭5

G^7♭13

C^m

D^m7♭5G^7♭9

Changes as commonly played (concert pitch). Your band's version may differ.

Harmonic analysis

0Major ii–V–I

7Minor ii–V–i

11ii–V moves

0Tritone substitutions

3Dominant chains

14Different chords

Most used chords

C^m×7
G^7♭13×7
D^m7♭5×5
A♭⁷×5
A^m7♭5×3
D⁷×3

Key centres reached by ii–V

C minor and F minor

Characteristics

AABA song form

Recorded on these albums

1940	Decca Presents Art Tatum in an Album of Piano Solos Art Tatum · “Lullaby of the Leaves”
1950	Dizzy Gillespie Plays & Johnny Richards Conducts Dizzy Gillespie & Johnny Richards · “Lullaby of the Leaves”
1951	Piano Solos Erroll Garner · “Lullaby of the Leaves”
1953	Anita O’Day Collates Anita O’Day · “Lullaby of the Leaves”
1955	Swing Guitars Oscar Moore, Barney Kessel, Tal Farlow · “A Lullaby of the Leaves”
1956	Jazz for Relaxation Marty Paich / Larry Bunker / Joe Mondragon · “Lullaby of the Leaves”
1956	Plectrist Billy Bauer · “Lullaby of the Leaves”
1957	The Dizzy Gillespie Story Dizzy Gillespie · “Lullaby of the Leaves”
1957	Hi-Fi in Focus Chet Atkins · “Lullaby of the Leaves”
1957	The Lady Is a Tramp Anita O’Day · “Lullaby of the Leaves”
1957	Kenton With Voices Stan Kenton Introducing The Modern Men And Featuring Ann Richards
1957	Send Me Softly Milt Buckner · “Lullaby of the Leaves”
1957	Swing's the Thing Illinois Jacquet
1958	Imagination Billy Eckstine · “Lullaby of the Leaves”
1958	Politely! Keely Smith · “Lullaby of the Leaves”
1958	Introducing Freddie Gambrell Chico Hamilton · “Lullaby of the Leaves”
1958	The Modern Art Of Jazz Tony Scott
1959	The Wildest Guitar Mickey Baker · “Lullaby of the Leaves”
1960	Like Wow! Jazz 1960 Marty Paich, Art Pepper · “Lullaby of the Leaves”
1961	Grant’s First Stand Grant Green · “Lullaby of the Leaves”
1964	Hello, Dolly! Ella Fitzgerald · “Lullaby of the Leaves”
1964	Late Hour Special Gene Ammons
1965	Together! Mr. Acker Bilk & Bent Fabric
1966	Cocktails for Two Acker Bilk & Bent Fabric & The Leon Young String Chorale

Historic 78 rpm recordings

LULLABY OF THE LEAVES ERROLL GARNER · Petkere · Young · 1950 archive.org ↗

Standards with similar changes

Similarity of the chord progression, independent of key.

Title	Composer	Key	Form	Groove
Nature Boy 23%	Eden Ahbez	D minor	ABAC · 32	Ballad
You And The Night And The Music 23%	Arthur Schwartz	C minor	BBAA · 32	Medium-up swing
Yesterdays 22%	Jerome Kern	D minor	A · 16	Medium-up swing
We Will Meet Again 21%	Bill Evans	C minor	A · 16	Jazz waltz
Decision 20%	Sonny Rollins	F minor	A · 13	Medium swing
Sway 20%	Ruiz-Gimbel	G minor	AABA · 32	Latin

Frequently asked questions

What key is Lullaby Of The Leaves in?

Lullaby Of The Leaves is usually played in C minor. For B♭ instruments that is D minor, for E♭ instruments A minor.

Who wrote Lullaby Of The Leaves?

Lullaby Of The Leaves was written by Bernice Petkere.

What is the form of Lullaby Of The Leaves?

Lullaby Of The Leaves has 4 sections (AABA) with 32 bars in total.

How fast is Lullaby Of The Leaves played?

The usual groove is Medium swing.

What are the chord changes to Lullaby Of The Leaves?

The opening bars are Cm Am7b5 | D7 G7b13 | Gm7 C7 | Fm7 Fm7/Eb. The full chart above can be transposed to any key.