Giant Steps (composition)

Last updated

"Giant Steps"
Composition by John Coltrane
from the album Giant Steps
Released1960 (1960)
RecordedMay 1959
Studio Atlantic Studios, New York [1]
Genre Jazz, hard bop
Length4:43
Label Atlantic
Composer(s) John Coltrane
Producer(s) Nesuhi Ertegün

"Giant Steps" is a jazz composition by American saxophonist John Coltrane. [1] It was first recorded in 1959 and released on the 1960 album Giant Steps . [2] The composition features a cyclic chord pattern that has come to be known as Coltrane changes. The composition has become a jazz standard, covered by many artists. [3] [4] Due to its speed and rapid transition through the three keys of B major, G major and E♭ major, [5] Vox described the piece as "the most feared song in jazz" and "one of the most challenging chord progressions to improvise over" in the jazz repertoire. [6]

Contents

Background

"Giant Steps" was composed and recorded during Coltrane's 1959 sessions for Atlantic Records, his first for the label. The original recording features Coltrane on tenor saxophone, Paul Chambers on double bass, Tommy Flanagan on piano, and Art Taylor on drums. As with other compositions, Coltrane brought "Giant Steps" to the studio without rehearsal. [7] On the original recording, Flanagan played a choppy start-stop solo in which he appears to struggle to improvise over Coltrane changes without preparation. [7] Flanagan revisited "Giant Steps" on several recordings, including an album named after the song, which he dedicated to Coltrane. [8]

In some of the alternate takes, Cedar Walton is at the piano, declining to take a solo and playing at a slower tempo than the takes with Flanagan. Coltrane had shown Walton "Giant Steps" a few weeks beforehand, planning to record it with him and allowing Walton to rehearse it. After a rehearsal at Coltrane's apartment, and another at the studio, Walton was not invited to the recording session. Coltrane said this was because Walton was out of town on the final recording date, but Walton speculated that it was because he declined to solo. [9]

Coltrane named "Giant Steps" after its bass line: "The bass line is kind of a loping one. It goes from minor thirds to fourths, kind of a lop-sided pattern in contrast to moving strictly in fourths or in half-steps." [1] It took two recording sessions two months apart before Coltrane was willing to release his original rendition of "Giant Steps". [2] An analysis of Coltrane's solo reveals that he worked out melodic patterns over the changes in advance, which he deployed during his recorded improvisation. [10]

Musical characteristics

Gnome-mime-sound-openclipart.svg
Giant Steps
From Giant Steps (1960)
Problems playing this file? See media help.

From beginning to end, "Giant Steps" follows alternating modulations of major third and minor sixth intervals (with diminished fourth and augmented fifth intervals between B and E♭). Its structure primarily contains ii-V-I harmonic progressions (often with chord substitutions) circulating in thirds. [2] The chords and patterns in "Giant Steps" reflect those found in Coltrane's compositions "Central Park West" and "Countdown", and his version of the Gershwins' song, "But Not For Me." [10]

In a 2018 interview, Quincy Jones said that the work was based on an example in Nicolas Slonimsky's Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns. Jones stated, "Everyone thinks Coltrane wrote that, he didn’t. It’s Slonimsky. That book started all the jazz guys improvising in 12-tone. Coltrane carried that book around till the pages fell off". [11]

"Giant Steps" is usually played in a 'fast swing' style. [12]

Reception

"Giant Steps" has been praised by critics and has become a jazz standard along with "Naima" from the same album. According to Lindsay Planer, "Giant Steps" was a "crucial touchstone in the progression of Coltrane’s music". [13] She also highlighted the "tasteful synchronicity and thoroughly flexible pacing" of Paul Chambers and Art Taylor in the original recording, along with the "frenetic leads" by Flanagan and Coltrane. [13]

Recordings

There are four released versions of "Giant Steps" from Coltrane's original 1959 sessions. All are collected on the Atlantic Masters CD Edition of Giant Steps released in 1998. [1] Two versions, catalogued as alternative versions 1 and 2, feature Cedar Walton on piano and Lex Humphries on drums and were recorded on March 26, 1959. On May 5, 1959, two additional versions were recorded with Tommy Flanagan on piano and Art Taylor on drums. [1] The take numbers are unknown for May 5, but one of the two versions became the master track for the original album. All recordings were made at Atlantic Studios, New York. [1] The master studio recording was released on the 1960 album Giant Steps , which was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001. [14]

"Giant Steps" has been covered by numerous artists, including Archie Shepp and Max Roach on The Long March (1979) [15] and Henry Butler on his debut album Fivin' Around (1986), [16] among others. According to AllMusic, Buddy Rich and McCoy Tyner are the artists who have made the highest number of recordings of this composition. [17] A cover version by Joey Alexander was nominated for Best Improvised Jazz Solo at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards. [18]

The tune is popular among Latin jazz musicians, having been covered by Jorge Dalto, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, [19] Justo Almario & Alex Acuña, and Paquito D'Rivera, [20] among others. D'Rivera's version was released on Funk Tango, which won the Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz Album in 2008. [21]

Related Research Articles

Free jazz, or free form in the early to mid-1970s, is a style of avant-garde jazz or an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians during this period believed that the bebop and modal jazz that had been played before them was too limiting, and became preoccupied with creating something new. The term "free jazz" was drawn from the 1960 Ornette Coleman recording Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation. Europeans tend to favor the term "free improvisation". Others have used "modern jazz", "creative music", and "art music".

<i>Kind of Blue</i> 1959 studio album by Miles Davis

Kind of Blue is a studio album by the American jazz trumpeter and composer Miles Davis. It was released on August 17, 1959 through Columbia Records. For the recording, Davis led a sextet featuring saxophonists John Coltrane and Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, pianist Bill Evans, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Jimmy Cobb, with new band pianist Wynton Kelly appearing on one track—"Freddie Freeloader"—instead of Evans. The album was recorded in two sessions on March 2 and April 22, 1959, at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wes Montgomery</span> American jazz guitarist (1923–1968)

John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery was an American jazz guitarist. Montgomery was known for his unusual technique of plucking the strings with the side of his thumb and for his extensive use of octaves, which gave him a distinctive sound.

<i>Giant Steps</i> 1960 studio album by John Coltrane

Giant Steps is a studio album by the jazz musician John Coltrane. It was released in February 1960 through Atlantic Records. This was Coltrane's first album as leader for the label, with which he had signed a new contract the previous year. The record is regarded as one of the most influential jazz albums of all time. Many of its tracks have become practice templates for jazz saxophonists. In 2004, it was one of fifty recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry. It attained gold record status in 2018, having sold 500,000 copies.

Coltrane changes are a harmonic progression variation using substitute chords over common jazz chord progressions. These substitution patterns were first demonstrated by jazz musician John Coltrane on the albums Bags & Trane and Cannonball Adderley Quintet in Chicago. Coltrane continued his explorations on the 1960 album Giant Steps and expanded on the substitution cycle in his compositions "Giant Steps" and "Countdown", the latter of which is a reharmonized version of Eddie Vinson's "Tune Up". The Coltrane changes are a standard advanced harmonic substitution used in jazz improvisation.

<i>My Favorite Things</i> (John Coltrane album) 1961 studio album by John Coltrane

My Favorite Things is a studio album by the jazz musician John Coltrane. It was released in March 1961 on Atlantic Records. It was the first album to feature Coltrane playing soprano saxophone. An edited version of the title track became a hit single that gained popularity in 1961 on radio. The record became a major commercial success.

"In a Sentimental Mood" is a jazz composition by Duke Ellington. He composed the piece in 1935 and recorded it with his orchestra during the same year. Lyrics were written by Manny Kurtz; Ellington's manager Irving Mills gave himself a percentage of the publishing, so the song was credited to all three. Other popular versions in 1935/36 were by Benny Goodman and by Mills Blue Rhythm Band. The opening notes of the song's melody resemble Gershwin's 1926 "Someone To Watch Over Me".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tommy Flanagan</span> American jazz pianist

Thomas Lee Flanagan was an American jazz pianist and composer. He grew up in Detroit, initially influenced by such pianists as Art Tatum, Teddy Wilson, and Nat King Cole, and then by bebop musicians. Within months of moving to New York in 1956, he had recorded with Miles Davis and on Sonny Rollins' album Saxophone Colossus. Recordings under various leaders, including Giant Steps of John Coltrane, continued well into 1962, when he became vocalist Ella Fitzgerald's full-time accompanist. He worked with Fitzgerald for three years until 1965, and then in 1968 returned to be her pianist and musical director, this time for a decade.

<i>Interstellar Space</i> 1974 studio album by John Coltrane

Interstellar Space is a studio album by American jazz saxophonist John Coltrane, featuring drummer Rashied Ali. It was recorded in 1967, the year of his death, and released by Impulse! Records in September 1974.

<i>Coltrane Jazz</i> 1961 studio album by John Coltrane

Coltrane Jazz is a studio album by the jazz musician John Coltrane. It was released in early 1961 on Atlantic Records. Most of the album features Coltrane playing with his former Miles Davis bandmates, pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Jimmy Cobb during two sessions in November and December, 1959. The exception is the track "Village Blues", which was recorded October 21, 1960. "Village Blues" comes from the first recording session featuring Coltrane playing with pianist McCoy Tyner and drummer Elvin Jones, who toured and recorded with Coltrane as part of his celebrated "classic quartet" from 1960 to 1965.

<i>Bye Bye Blackbird</i> (John Coltrane album) 1981 live album by John Coltrane

Bye Bye Blackbird is a live album by jazz musician John Coltrane recorded on November 19, 1962 at the Konserthuset in Stockholm and released in 1981 by Pablo Records.

In music, harmonization is the chordal accompaniment to a line or melody: "Using chords and melodies together, making harmony by stacking scale tones as triads".

<i>1958 Miles</i> 1974 compilation album by Miles Davis

1958 Miles is a compilation album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released in 1974 on CBS/Sony. Recording sessions for tracks that appear on the album took place on May 26, 1958, at Columbia's 30th Street Studio and September 9, 1958, at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. 1958 Miles consists of three songs featured on side two of the LP album Jazz Track, which was released in November 1959, one song from the same session not appearing in the album, and three recordings from Davis' live performance at the Plaza Hotel with his ensemble sextet. The recording date at 30th Street Studio served as the first documented session to feature pianist Bill Evans performing in Davis' group.

<i>The Best of John Coltrane</i> 1970 greatest hits album by John Coltrane

The Best of John Coltrane is a 1970 compilation album released by Atlantic Records collecting recordings made by jazz saxophonist John Coltrane. The album was released shortly after his death as a part of the "Atlantic Jazz Anthology"—a series of greatest hits compilations for Atlantic jazz artists—and features performances from his brief period recording for Atlantic with new liner notes by jazz journalist Nat Hentoff.

In music, four note group patterns, alternately called "four-note digital patterns" or simply "four note patterns", are one of many ways to formulate improvised solos in jazz. "Four-Note Grouping is an improvisation technique that uses major and minor triads along with specific passing notes as a means of generating lines. The concept of Four-Note Groupings lets the lines be more 'out' and stretch the possibility of available notes over a chord due to the structural integrity of the triad-based line."

<i>Solo</i> (Gonzalo Rubalcaba album) 2006 studio album by Gonzalo Rubalcaba

Solo is a studio album by Cuban jazz performer Gonzalo Rubalcaba. It was released by Blue Note Records on March 7, 2006, and peaked at number 22 in the Billboard Top Jazz Albums chart. The album is titled Solo since no additional performers were included on the recording as in Rubalcaba's previous albums.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hasaan Ibn Ali</span> American jazz pianist and composer (1931–1980)

Hasaan Ibn Ali was an American jazz pianist and composer.

"26-2" is a musical composition written by American jazz musician John Coltrane. The song was recorded by Coltrane in 1960, but it released ten years later by Atlantic Records on an album entitled The Coltrane Legacy with a rhythm section composed of McCoy Tyner on piano, Steve Davis on bass, and Elvin Jones on drums. The composition itself is a contrafact of Charlie Parker's tune "Confirmation", with harmonic alterations to the original chord changes used by Coltrane in a number of his compositions. This harmonic modification is commonly known as Coltrane Changes, which have been most notably used in Coltrane's "Giant Steps". "26-2" is one of several contrafacts by Coltrane, others including "Countdown", a contrafact of Miles Davis's "Tune Up"; and "Satellite" from the album Coltrane's Sound, which is based upon the chord progression of "How High the Moon". Coltrane plays the first statement of the melody on tenor saxophone and switches to soprano saxophone for the last statement of the melody on the recorded version.

<i>Giant Steps</i> (Tommy Flanagan album) 1982 studio album by Tommy Flanagan

Giant Steps is an album by pianist Tommy Flanagan recorded in 1982 featuring compositions by John Coltrane.

<i>Solo</i> (Leroy Jenkins album) 1998 live album by Leroy Jenkins

Solo is a live album by violinist / composer Leroy Jenkins. It was recorded in October 1992 at the Contemporary Arts Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and was released by Lovely Music in 1998. The album documents a solo concert that featured nine original compositions, some of which had appeared in his solo performances for years but were never previously recorded, plus pieces by Dizzy Gillespie and John Coltrane. This is Jenkins's second solo record, the first being Solo Concert.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Hentoff, Nat. "Giant Steps Liner Notes". Album Liner Notes. Atlantic Studios. Retrieved April 9, 2019.
  2. 1 2 3 Whaley, Preston (2004). Blows Like A Horn: Beat Writing, Jazz, Style, And Markets In The Transformation Of U.S. Culture (Online-Ausg. ed.). Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. pp.  171-174. ISBN   9780674013117 . Retrieved April 9, 2019.
  3. ↑ Bungey, John (August 4, 2017). "Jazz review: John Coltrane: Giant Steps in Mono". The Times. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
  4. ↑ Tyle, Chris. "Giant Steps". Jazz Standards. Retrieved April 9, 2019.
  5. ↑ "How John Coltrane made Giant Steps". Jazzwise. Retrieved October 18, 2021.
  6. ↑ "The most feared song in jazz, explained". Vox. December 4, 2018. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
  7. 1 2 Ake, David Andrew (2010). Jazz Matters: Sound, Place, and Time Since Bebop. University of California Press. p. 24. ISBN   9780520266889.
  8. ↑ Rusch, Bob. "Review of Giant Steps". AllMusic . All Media Network . Retrieved November 5, 2019.
  9. ↑ "Cedar Walton on "Giant Steps" - JazzWax". www.jazzwax.com. Retrieved January 13, 2021.
  10. 1 2 Kofsky, Frank (1998). John Coltrane And The Jazz Revolution Of The 1960s (The expanded and rev. 2 ed.). New York: Pathfinder. pp.  262-264, 286–287. ISBN   9780873488570 . Retrieved April 9, 2019.
  11. ↑ Marchese, David (February 7, 2018). "In Conversation: Quincy Jones". Vulture. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
  12. ↑ Taylor, Mark; Coltrane, John (2002). 10 John Coltrane Classics . Milwaukee, WI: Hal Leonard. p.  8. ISBN   0634053590 . Retrieved April 9, 2019.
  13. 1 2 Planer, Lindsay. "Song Review of "Giant Steps"". AllMusic . All Media Network . Retrieved November 5, 2019.
  14. ↑ Hawtin, Steve. "Albums from the Year 1959". tsort - The World's Music Charts. Retrieved April 9, 2019.
  15. ↑ Jurek, Thom. "Review of The Long March". AllMusic . All Media Network . Retrieved May 27, 2011.
  16. ↑ Yanow, Scott. "Review of Fivin' Around". AllMusic . All Media Network . Retrieved November 5, 2019.
  17. ↑ "Giant Steps" - Also Performed By. AllMusic . Retrieved November 5, 2019.
  18. ↑ "Grammy Nominations 2016: See the Full List of Nominees". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. December 7, 2015. Retrieved December 7, 2015.
  19. ↑ Yanow, Scott. "Review of The Blessing". AllMusic . All Media Network . Retrieved November 5, 2019.
  20. ↑ Yanow, Scott. "Review of Funk Tango". AllMusic . All Media Network . Retrieved November 5, 2019.
  21. ↑ "2008 Grammy Winners". CBS News. December 6, 2007. Archived from the original on November 11, 2010. Retrieved November 3, 2010.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.