"Early Autumn" is a song composed by Ralph Burns and Woody Herman with lyrics by Johnny Mercer.
The song grew out of the fourth segment of Burns's "Summer Sequence" concert piece.
[1] The original recording was made by Herman's second herd on December 27, 1947, which had a notable eight-bar solo by saxophonist Stan Getz.
[2] Herman asked Johnny Mercer to write lyrics in 1952 and he re-recorded the song taking the vocal duties himself.
[3] Woody Herman and Jo Stafford recorded versions of the song that both charted in the US in 1952.