The most feared song in jazz, explained
Credit: Krisamorn (Depositphotos.com)
John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps” stands as a significant milestone in the history of jazz.
Released in 1960, this album solidified Coltrane’s reputation as a transformative jazz saxophonist and composer.
The title track introduced the formidable “Coltrane Changes,” a sequence of chord progressions that are both admired and dreaded by jazz musicians.
The album showcases Coltrane’s unique approach to harmony, which would influence countless artists in the years to come.
The complexity of “Giant Steps” is evident from the first moments of its recording.
The intricate chord changes demand a high level of skill, as seen when pianist Tommy Flanagan struggled to keep pace with the rapid tempo set by Coltrane.
This moment underscores the technical challenges posed by the Coltrane Changes, which shift through multiple key centers.
To truly grasp the significance of Coltrane’s work, it’s essential to understand the underlying music theory and the profound impact these harmonic structures have had on jazz.
John Coltrane’s Contribution to Jazz Music
“Giant Steps” Album
The album “Giant Steps” stands as one of the most influential pieces in jazz history.
John Coltrane not only showcased his skills as a saxophonist but also as an innovative composer.
With its complex chord changes, the title track solidified Coltrane’s place among the titans of jazz.
These chord progressions, known as Coltrane Changes, became a benchmark for jazz musicians to master, symbolizing a significant milestone in their musical journey.
The album features a notable moment when the pianist Tommy Flanagan attempts to navigate the rapid and demanding progression of the chords.
This struggle highlights the difficulty and brilliance of Coltrane’s composition.
When Coltrane takes over, his technical prowess and speed further illuminate the challenging nature of the piece, making “Giant Steps” an iconic recording in the realm of jazz.
Coltrane as a Jazz Legend
John Coltrane’s impact on jazz extends far beyond a single album.
His exploration of complex harmonic structures and his ability to push the boundaries of jazz harmony signify his innovative spirit.
Particularly in the late 1950s and ’60s, Coltrane’s fascination with the possibilities of the circle of fifths and the intricate patterns it formed drove his music to new heights.
Coltrane’s legacy is characterized by his relentless pursuit of musical excellence and his commitment to evolving jazz as an art form.
His works, while challenging, provided new frameworks for understanding and performing jazz, thus cementing his position as a legendary figure in the world of music.
The Complexity of ‘Giant Steps’
Coltrane’s Chord Changes
John Coltrane invented a set of chord progressions known as the “Coltrane Changes” which he used in Giant Steps.
These chord changes differ from traditional jazz standards by shifting through three different keys, creating an advanced and unique sound.
The frequent key changes happen every two beats, making it extremely challenging for musicians to improvise over the progression.
Impact of Chord Progressions
The Coltrane Changes divide an octave into three parts using major thirds. This results in keys that are as distant from each other as possible in the circle of fifths.
Jazz musicians must navigate this by constantly shifting between different key centers, which is like switching between very different languages.
The rapid tempo of nearly 300 bpm further adds to the complexity.
Tommy Flanagan’s Solo
When Tommy Flanagan, the pianist, tried to solo over the Coltrane Changes in the Giant Steps recording, he struggled.
His improvisation was halted and stilted due to the demanding chord progressions and fast tempo.
This illustrates just how difficult the composition is, even for a highly trained and skilled musician like Flanagan.
Basic Music Theory
The Circle of Fifths
The Circle of Fifths acts like a musical color wheel. It maps all twelve notes of the Western musical scale, but not in the usual straightforward order.
Instead, they are arranged by a special interval called a fifth.
Starting from C, moving up a fifth takes you to G, then another fifth takes you to D, and so on. This sequence continues around the circle until you return to C.
| Note | C | G | D | A | E | B | F# | C# | Ab | Eb | Bb | F |
|---|
Each movement around the Circle of Fifths sounds more harmonious than playing notes in a linear sequence. The key to this harmony lies in the interval of a fifth.
The Interval of a Fifth
An interval of a fifth means a distance of five notes. For example, in the C major scale, C to G is a fifth. Another example is from G to D.
This relationship is not just a simple counting exercise; it plays a major role in how our ears perceive and enjoy music.
When a note is played, overtones or additional notes resonate alongside the main note.
The interval of the fifth surfaces as one of these overtones, contributing to the sense of harmony.
| Note | Overtones |
|---|---|
| C | C (octave higher), G (fifth above C) |
| G | G (octave higher), D (fifth above G) |
Why Overtones Matter
Overtones essentially act as hidden tones that accompany the main note whenever sound is produced.
Various instruments and voices generate these overtones, enriching the soundscape.
One significant overtone to highlight is the fifth.
For example, if C is played, the prominent overtones include C an octave higher and G a fifth above C.
Leonard Bernstein demonstrated how these overtones can be identified by playing a single note on a piano. The overtone of a fifth is distinctly heard.
This underlying relationship helps explain why the fifth feels so interconnected with its home chord in Western music.
The power of the fifth is fundamental in many chord progressions, like the common 2-5-1 progression in jazz, where chords resolve to create a sense of home and finality.
This principle becomes especially vital in understanding complex compositions, such as those involving the Coltrane Changes.
Harmonic Structures in Jazz
The 2-5-1 Progression
The 2-5-1 progression is a foundation of many jazz songs. This sequence is built on three chords and gives a piece its jazzy feel.
Even in its simplest form, this progression sounds totally recognizable as jazz.
The Coltrane Changes in “Giant Steps” are packed with these sequences.
This reveals a significant part of the challenge Tommy Flanagan faced when improvising over them.
Despite being a common jazz element, the rapid shifts in key centers that Coltrane employs make them difficult to navigate quickly.
Multiple Key Centers
Coltrane’s “Giant Steps” is not confined to one key; it traverses three distinct key centers.
These changes occur very fast, making improvisation hard.
On the circle of fifths, these key centers are shown as major thirds, dividing the octave into three equal parts, which are very far apart from each other on the circle.
This creates a unique yet demanding structure, much like rapidly switching between unrelated languages.
The complexity is further emphasized by the speed at which these key shifts happen, nearly every two beats in a very fast tempo song.
This intricate structure showcases Coltrane’s mastery in seamlessly connecting these distant key centers.
Comparative Analysis
Keys as Music Languages
In music theory, keys can be thought of as different languages that musicians need to learn.
Each key has a unique set of notes, much like how each language has its own vocabulary.
For example, the key of C major is like the Spanish language, while G major is similar to Portuguese.
These two keys share many common notes, just as Spanish and Portuguese share many similar words, making the transition between them relatively smooth.
However, some keys are as different from each other as Spanish and Japanese.
For instance, C major and B major have very little in common, which makes transitions between them more challenging and less harmonious.
This analogy helps describe why improvising over certain chord progressions, such as the Coltrane Changes in Giant Steps, can be so difficult.
These changes move through keys that are far apart on the circle of fifths, akin to jumping between vastly different languages rapidly.
Modulation in Popular Music
Modulation refers to changing from one key to another within a piece of music.
In popular music, most songs remain in a single key, creating a strong sense of home.
For example, Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Cut to the Feeling” stays in A major throughout.
Some songs, however, use modulation to create dramatic effects.
Beyoncé’s “Love on Top” is a prime example.
The song modulates to higher keys every time the chorus repeats towards the end.
This shift to new, distant keys on the circle of fifths generates excitement and keeps the listeners engaged.
John Coltrane explored these ideas extensively in his compositions.
His fascination with pushing the boundaries of jazz harmony led him to create intricate patterns of key changes.
The circle of fifths chart shown in his studies reveals the complexity and uniqueness of his work, demonstrating how he connected seemingly unrelated keys harmoniously.
This melding of diverse key centers crafted a new sense of home in each segment, akin to constructing coherent sentences in rapidly changing languages.
Coltrane’s Impact on Jazz Harmony
Exploration of the Circle of Fifths
John Coltrane’s work with the circle of fifths marked a significant turning point in jazz harmony.
Musicians describe the circle of fifths as a musical “color wheel,” displaying all twelve notes of the western scale.
Each note on this circle is five steps apart from its neighbors, creating a sequence that spans the entire musical spectrum.
This pattern is not just visually harmonious but also pleasing to the ear due to how the fifth fits naturally within the overtone series.
Listening to a C note, the next prominent pitch our ears detect is a G, which is a fifth above the C.
This relationship reinforces the sense of completeness and rest when moving from the dominant (G) to the tonic (C).
Importance of Key Shifts in ‘Giant Steps’
The piece “Giant Steps” showcases Coltrane’s innovative use of key changes, pushing the boundaries of traditional jazz harmony.
The song shifts through three different keys, divided by major thirds, which are far apart on the circle of fifths.
By rapidly moving between these distant keys, “Giant Steps” introduces a level of complexity that makes the improvisation incredibly challenging.
The tune switches key centers approximately every two beats at a tempo close to 300 bpm.
These drastic shifts demand not just technical prowess but also a deep understanding of how to navigate multiple key centers swiftly.
Musicians must transition fluently between vastly different chords, making it a formidable piece to master.
Coltrane’s Innovative Approach
John Coltrane’s genius lies in his creation of the unique chord changes in “Giant Steps,” which later became known as the Coltrane Changes.
These changes are noted for their complexity and their deviation from traditional key centers.
Rather than staying in one key, the changes move through three separate keys, akin to switching between distinct languages.
This approach to chord progression pushed the boundaries of jazz harmony, requiring musicians to constantly adapt and think on their feet.
The Coltrane Changes are underpinned by the relationship between the five chord and the one chord, providing a sense of resolution amidst the rapid key changes.
