Giant Steps
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| Giant Steps | |||||
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| Studio album by John Coltrane | |||||
| Released | January, 1960 | ||||
| Recorded | April-May & December, 1959 | ||||
| Genre | Bebop | ||||
| Length | 37:03 | ||||
| Label | Atlantic Records | ||||
| Producer | Nesuhi Ertegün | ||||
| Professional reviews | |||||
| John Coltrane chronology | |||||
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Giant Steps is a 1960 album by jazz musician John Coltrane, released on Atlantic Records.
Giant Steps was his second album to be recorded by the Atlantic label, and marked the first time that all of the pieces on a recording had been composed by him. The recording exemplifies Coltrane's melodic phrasing that came to be known as sheets of sound, and features the use of a new harmonic concept later to be known as "Coltrane changes."
The album is also considered to be Coltrane's farewell to the style of music called "bebop". He ventured into the territory known as "modal jazz" shortly afterwards.
Several pieces on this album went on to become jazz standards, such as "Naima", "Giant Steps", "Cousin Mary", "Countdown", and "Mr. P.C."
In 2003, the album was ranked number 102 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. In 2004, it was one of fifty recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry. In 1983, basketball great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar named his autobiography (written with co-author Peter Knobler) after this seminal album.
Contents |
[edit] Track listing
Original LP release Giant Steps, December 2, 1959 (Atlantic)
- "Giant Steps" –4:43
- "Cousin Mary" –5:45
- "Countdown" –2:21
- "Spiral" –5:56
- "Syeeda's Song Flute" –7:00
- "Naima" –4:21
- "Mr. P.C." (Mr. Paul Chambers) –6:57
- Alternative takes first released on Alternate Takes, 1974 (Atlantic)
- "Giant Steps" –3:40
- "Naima" –4:27
- "Cousin Mary" –5:54
- "Countdown" –4:33
- "Syeeda's Song Flute" –7:02
- Additional alternative takes first released on John Coltrane: The Heavyweight Champion, The Complete Atlantic Recordings, August 1995 (Rhino)
- "Giant Steps" –3:32
- "Naima" –3:37
- "Giant Steps" –5:00
[edit] Personnel
Recorded May 4 and May 5, 1959: main take tracks 1–5, 7; alternative take tracks 10–12, and additional alternative track 15.
Recorded December 2, 1959: main take track 6
- Wynton Kelly — piano
- Jimmy Cobb — drums
Recorded April 1 (March 26 according to Rhino liner notes) 1959: alternative tracks 8 and 9, and additional alternative tracks 13 and 14
- Cedar Walton — piano
- Lex Humphries — drums
[edit] Releases
- 1960 (Atlantic Records, vinyl)
- 1990 (Atlantic Records, remastered CD)
- with alternative takes 8–12
- 1994 (Mobile Fidelity, Gold CD)
- with alternative takes 8–12
- 1998 (Rhino Records, Deluxe Edition CD, 180-gram vinyl)
- with alternative takes 8–12 and additional alternative takes 13–15, no alternative takes on vinyl
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Liner notes and track notes, Rhino Deluxe Edition
