Early Autumn is a jazz standard written by Ralph Burns and Woody Herman, with lyrics by Johnny Mercer added in 1952. It began as part of Burns's Summer Sequence and grew from an instrumental piece into a vocal tune. The first recording by Woody Herman and His Orchestra (the Second Herd) was made on December 27, 1947 and released around 1949, featuring an eight-bar solo by Stan Getz. Mercer wrote the lyrics in 1952 and Herman re-recorded the tune as a vocal; that year both Herman with Jo Stafford and the instrumental version charted in the US. The song remains a staple of the jazz repertoire and has been covered by many artists including Ella Fitzgerald, Stan Getz, Johnny Mathis, Anita O’Day and Patti LuPone, among others, appearing on various albums such as Stan Getz & Strings (1960) and Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Johnny Mercer Songbook (1964).
