Giant Steps (jazz standard)

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Giant Steps is a composition by John Coltrane in song form , which was published in 1960 and first appeared as the title track of Coltrane 's album of the same name . The song played in up tempo developed into a jazz standard .

Characteristics of the composition

The theme of 32 bars is written in song form AA. It begins in B major , but changes in the second bar via a D seventh chord to G and in the third bar via B7 to E flat major . The melody is “not much more than a replica of the chord changes in giant steps” and consequently passes through “three tonal centers in the first three bars that are in the third-octave relationship”. The rest of the harmony of the piece also moves for the next five Bars “in such third progressions.” This is followed by eight bars with II-VI progressions.

According to McCoy Tyner , Coltrane had already worked on the sequence of the harmonic changes during his stay in Philadelphia in 1957. In 1958 he was already rehearsing the piece; According to Wayne Shorter , he kept practicing his changes.

First recordings by Coltrane

Cedar Walton was involved in the first recording of Giant Steps on March 26, 1959 ; Coltrane had practiced the piece with him, but the rhythm section ( Paul Chambers and Lex Humphries ), which had not rehearsed the piece beforehand, made the recording more difficult in the end; Sometimes the piece was played a little slower (260 beats / minute). According to Coltrane biographer Lewis Porter, Walton had to concentrate very hard to properly accompany Coltrane here.

On May 5, 1959, with the pianist Tommy Flanagan , who did not know that Walton had already been used for previous recording attempts, as well as Paul Chambers and Art Taylor, the recording that was chosen as the title track for the resulting album. Flanagan also found it difficult to play a good solo; on one of the discarded recordings he interrupted his solo, on another he only played the chords.

Further recordings

Due to its rapid progress, Giant Steps is considered to be “one of the most difficult pieces to play in all of jazz literature.” This makes it “a virtuoso, absurd etude in changes playing, which is precisely why it is part of the standard repertoire of almost all young saxophonists. “Recognized saxophone virtuosos such as Bob Mintzer , Bobby Watson , Paquito D'Rivera and Jerry Bergonzi have therefore recorded the piece. Archie Shepp and Max Roach also played the Giant Steps on their live album The Long March . Interpretations by musicians as diverse as Rahsaan Roland Kirk , Pat Metheny , Buddy Rich , Jaco Pastorius , Mike Stern , Lionel Hampton , McCoy Tyner, Kirk Nurock , Kenny Werner , Kenny Garrett , Woody Herman , Joe Pass , Gary Bartz , Taylor Eigsti or dem Trio Globo ( Howard Levy , Eugene Friesen , Glen Velez ) make it clear that the piece is extremely attractive. Arrangers were also tempted to translate the composition into ensemble structures - here Maria Schneider , Tito Puente , the Lee Konitz Nonet as well as the Cologne Saxophone Mafia should be mentioned .

The song has been texted several times; Marie Volpee, Carmen McRae , Chaka Khan , Vanessa Rubin , Meredith D'Ambrosio and the New York Voices have sung it. Camille Bertault delivered a vocalese performance of Coltrane's solo in 2015 . Freddie Hubbard used the chord progression as a harmonic basis for his song Dear John , which he dedicated to the composer of Giant Steps .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Hans-Jürgen Schaal Jazz Standards , p. 165.
  2. ↑ Carl Woideck The John Coltrane Companion: Five Decades of Commentary Schirmer 2000, cit. n. jazzstandards.com
  3. ^ Lewis Porter John Coltrane: His Life and Music University of Michigan Press 1999, pp. 150f.
  4. ↑ Discographers like Tom Lord give April 1st as the date.
  5. ↑ The first recording with Walton appeared in 1975 on the Coltrane album Alternate Takes and in 1995 in the Atlantic edition The Heavyweight Champion: The Complete Atlantic Recordings .
  6. ^ L. Porter John Coltrane: His Life and Music , p. 153
  7. ^ L. Porter John Coltrane: His Life and Music , pp. 154f.
  8. ↑ as part of Art Farmers New York Sextet (1964)
  9. ↑ The singer Camille Bertault: Coltrane sung, hissed, screamed (Deutschlandfunk)
  10. ↑ In addition to a musical analysis, it also contains transcriptions of all the solos in the piece that were recorded with Coltrane.