“Afternoon in Paris” was composed by pianist John Lewis, founder of the Modern Jazz Quartet, and first recorded around 1949. Its elegant melody and smooth ii-V changes reflect Lewis’s love of classical structure blended with swing, and it’s a common choice for students learning to navigate key changes.
The form is a 32-bar AABA, usually in C major. The A sections move through a series of ii-V progressions that briefly visit nearby keys, such as Bb and Ab, before returning to C. The bridge moves through more ii-Vs and resolves back home. The changes flow logically, which makes it a great tune for practicing guide-tone lines.
For improvisation, map out the key centers: C, then the ii-V to Bb, then to Ab, and back to C. Play a simple ii-V-I phrase in each key and connect them smoothly. The Modern Jazz Quartet’s approach is clean and graceful, with careful phrasing and space; Sonny Rollins’s versions add more rhythmic punch.
Practice by playing roots and guide tones through the form at a medium tempo. Learn the melody, then improvise one chorus of arpeggios and one of eighth-note lines.
Ear training with the Afternoon in Paris Lead Sheet PDF: before reading along, listen to two different recordings and try to hear where each section starts. Then follow the lead sheet while listening. Connecting what you see to what you hear is how lead sheets turn into tunes you truly know.
How to use this Afternoon in Paris Lead Sheet PDF: print it or keep it on a tablet, mark the form sections and key centers in pencil, and write the guide tones you want to target above the tricky bars. Revisit those notes after each practice session so the tune gets easier every week.
Is it hard to play? It’s intermediate and a good bridge between beginner standards and more complex bebop tunes. Recordings to study: the Modern Jazz Quartet’s versions and Sonny Rollins’s recording. Learn more about the composer on John Lewis’s Wikipedia page, and find more standards on Minedit.