Giant Steps (composition)

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"Giant Steps" is the first track on the album of the same name by John Coltrane, and is 4 minutes and 49 seconds long. It is characterized by an extremely rapid progression of chord changes (see Coltrane changes). The chords progress so quickly that Coltrane must for the most part arpeggiate up and down them, with little time for ornamentation. In fact, Coltrane tends to use a 1-2-3-5 schema, that is to say he plays the root of the chord, then the second, the third and the fifth. For example, on a C major 7th chord he would play C, D, E, G. He plays it as eighth-notes, which makes 2 beats, and the chords change every 2 beat in the first section of the tune.

The composition is considered by many to be the pinnacle of the bebop style of jazz, and is often a milestone for jazz musicians' progress, given the difficulty of improvising over such a fast series of chords (which follow a cycle of major thirds as opposed to backcycling through the traditional cycle of fifths). Indeed, Coltrane originally composed "Giant Steps" as an exercise for musicians to hone their improvisation.

The chord progression was later used by Freddie Hubbard as a basis for his composition "Dear John."

Covers have been recorded by such artists as Jaco Pastorius, Mike Stern, Greg Howe, Tommy Flanagan (who played on the original recording), McCoy Tyner, Kenny Werner, Kenny Garrett, and Taylor Eigsti.

Coltrane went on to apply Giant Steps style changes to a wide variety of different tunes, penning the arguably more challenging Countdown, based on the Miles Davis tune Tune Up, and also appearing on the Giant Steps album, 26 2, based on Charlie Parkers Confirmation and a famous reharmonisation of the standard Body and Soul. Songs such as Naima, which also features on the album Giant Steps, show some harmonic influence.

The influence of "Giant Steps" style progressions made itself felt when coltrane played more open, modal musica in his middle period. A Love Supreme features examples of his playing lines based on Giant Steps cycles over modal vamps, to create a Polytonal effect.

There are a number of different approaches to Giant Steps from a soloing point of view. While Coltrane favoured the 1 2 3 5 approach over the changes, other players have used different tricks and patterns to bring out the sound of the changes. The progression continues to stimulate harmonic thinking in contemporary jazz to this very day.

[edit] Trivia

• John Coltrane was known for coming into the studio with unrehearsed songs - "Giant Steps" was no exception. On the original recording, Tommy Flanagan (piano) is heard playing a very choppy start-stop solo, which is a stark reminder of how difficult it can be to play over the root movement by 3rd changes of "Giant Steps." In addition, the original recording of "Countdown" (considered by many prominent jazz musicians to be one of the toughest charts) begins with just Coltrane and Lex Humphries (drums) playing. The other musicians couldn't keep up with the changes to the chart, but finally caught on in the end.

• Later on in his career Tommy Flanagan recorded Giant Steps again having better prepared to play a coherent solo.

[edit] Further reading

• Demsey, David (1996). John Coltrane Plays Giant Steps. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard Publishing Co. ISBN 0-7935-6345-3.

Contains musical analysis and transcriptions of every "Giant Steps" solo recorded by John Coltrane.