Arguably the kickoff of John Coltrane's nifty album masterpieces, 1960’s Giant Steps hardly came out of nowhere, every bit this four-disc fix clearly shows. Featuring fundamental tracks alongside Coltrane working every bit both a bandleader as well as every bit a sideman inwards sessions alongside the likes of Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Monk, Red Garland, Hank Mobley, as well as others recorded for the Prestige, Savoy, Columbia, as well as Blue Note labels betwixt 1957 as well as 1960, addition around forty minutes of radio as well as other interviews alongside the saxophonist, this fascinating collection culminates alongside the consummate Giant Steps album from Atlantic Records.
Released inwards Jan 1960, John Coltrane's kickoff album devoted alone to his ain compositions confirmed his towering ascendancy of tenor saxophone as well as his emerging ability every bit a composer. Apprenticeships alongside Dizzy, Miles, as well as Monk had helped focus his furious, expansive solos, as well as his stamina as well as underlying sense of harmonic need chances brought Coltrane, at 33, to a novel cusp--the polytonal "sheets of sound" that distinguished his marathon solos were offset past times interludes of subtle, concise lyricism, embodied hither inwards the tender "Naima." That classic ballad is a calm refuge from the ecstatic, high-speed runs that spark the set's up-tempo climaxes, which start out alongside the opening championship song, itself a cornerstone of modern jazz composition. This exemplary reissue benefits from viii alternate takes of the original album's vii stellar tracks, fantabulous remastering of the original tapes, as well as an expanded annotation.
It's understandable that many listeners may prefer to "Giant Steps" the to a greater extent than accessible before or afterwards Trane. The quondam offers upward his explorations inside to a greater extent than familiar vocal forms; the latter makes the vocal secondary to the soloist's bespeak for a rapture beyond musical shape altogether. "Giant Steps," on the other hand, is a musican's album. It fix a novel criterion non only for saxophonists but all musicians, requiring a combination of harmonic cognition as well as technical facility that sent numerous musicians dorsum to the woodshed for countless hours of practice. Without this album, as well as peculiarly the championship vocal as well as "The Countdown," Coltrane's early on travel would cause got seemed brusk of realizing its potential, as well as his afterwards travel would cause got been opened upward to increasing suspicion most his actual credentials. Like Armstrong's cadenza on "West End Blues" as well as Bird's intermission on "Night inwards Tunisia," "Giant Steps" turned heads as well as gave a generation of musicians a whole novel agreement of what jazz improvisation was capable of producing.
For the to a greater extent than technically minded, Trane's revision of dominant-tonic harmony is to a greater extent than impressive than his afterwards embracing of modes every bit the sole platform for his scales as well as upper register probings. Suggested past times the challenging duet of Rodgers as well as Hart's "Have You Met Miss Jones," the sequence moves through a bike of descending major thirds which, inwards the hands of most musicians, feels awkward as well as unnatural. Coltrane non only mastered the sequence but learned how to utilization it every bit a exchange inwards conventional harmonic settings. More impressively, he learned to execute it alongside an agility as well as naturalness that makes it possible for the listener to ignore the harmonic underpinning alone as well as live swept upward past times the moving ridge of emotion as well as melodic inventiveness.
"Giant Steps" is the principal argue Sonny Rollins temporarily stopped playing inwards public. To his credit he came upward alongside his ain solution to the tyrannous sameness of much popular vocal harmony, but he was never able to come upward to damage alongside the harmonic complexity as well as technical innovations introduced past times Coltrane. On the other hand, few have.
My utilization hither is non to merely add together to a greater extent than superlatives to this legendary album's justly proud reputation -- it's everything as well as to a greater extent than that has been written most it of a praiseworthy nature; as well as you'll detect enough of praise hither inwards these reviews (see peculiarly the insightful words from Samuel Chell). But at that topographic point remains 1 rather 'technical', as well as curiously long-lived misconception most GIANT STEPS which, every bit a serious pupil of jazz as well as avid music collector, myself (I cause got virtually all of Coltrane's impressive recorded output), I cause got wanted to correct
for years -- a misunderstanding which, I hasten to add, inwards NO agency diminishes the brilliance as well as stature of this pivotal milestone inwards Coltrane's prolific career.
The work is this: over the years, repeated references (and you'll detect around of them inwards these reviews) to this classic album's beingness the ultimate representation of Coltrane's famous
'sheets of sound' phase, or technique, are merely mistaken. The so-called 'sheets of sound' lawsuit that then startled early on Coltrane audiences, inwards fact, emerged inwards his belatedly '50s albums for Prestige -- non yet fully developed inwards the '56-'57 sides alongside the early on Miles Davis Quintet (not fifty-fifty on that groundbreaking group's lastly recording, Miles' kickoff for Columbia, 'ROUND ABOUT MIDNIGHT), but real good documented, fifty-fifty dominating, inwards Coltrane's prolific belatedly '57-'58 catamenia on Prestige, where the best examples of his 'sheets of sound' are to live found.
Technically, 'Trane's much-touted 'sheets of sound' amounted to his merely (!) shifting into a 'higher gear', at slow-to-medium-fast tempos -- essentially, playing to a greater extent than 16th notes (i.e., 4 notes to every beat), instead of relying on the to a greater extent than typical
8th-note orientation (i.e., ii notes to each beat) of most modern jazz solos from early on be-bop onward. Coltrane's solos during this catamenia oft used this technique to the signal of letting those rapid-fire, 16th-note runs dominate his playing -- giving rising to the description, 'sheets of sound', or, sometimes, the to a greater extent than pejorative (and unjust) accuse from critics that he was exactly 'running scales'. Upon fifty-fifty cursory examination, Coltrane's solos on GIANT STEPS, on the opposite -- despite the prevalence of furious tempos (which should non live confused alongside how many notes PER BEAT are beingness played!) -- genuinely do NOT comprise a preponderance of the notorious 16th-note passages. In fact, the relatively spare utilization of his well-established, '4-to-the-beat' phrases on this 1960 classic powerfulness live viewed every bit 1 of the to a greater extent than 'unexpected' aspects of this landmark entry inwards the nifty Coltrane legacy. His wonderfully agile, complex, as well as justly famous solos on such pieces every bit the championship track, as well as fifty-fifty the demonically paced 'Countdown', inwards fact, consist of predominantly eighth notes; and, piece the fast tempos, themselves, of course, may dictate a rapid torrent of notes, they all the same mostly come upward at 'only' ii to the vanquish -- non the daunting 4 per vanquish that genuinely define the 'sheets of sound' effect. It may live suggested that the mostly fast tempos on GIANT STEPS are largely responsible for the relative absence of 16th-note runs throughout the album (as a practical limitation, fifty-fifty for Coltrane!); yet, it likewise is truthful that fifty-fifty the to a greater extent than moderately paced pieces -- commonly to a greater extent than conducive to 'sheets of sound' flights -- are relatively gratuitous of that effect, compared to Coltrane's previous travel on Prestige.
At this album's date, the intense, multi-noted, as well as profoundly influential explorations that would largely define Coltrane's approach, fifty-fifty to the end, were yet to live applied inwards all the same other musical contexts, every bit this jazz giant's expansive music evolved from the 'interim' Atlantic years into the final, long Impulse! catamenia of cutting-edge experimentation. The initial stupor of those before 'sheets of sound' would dissipate, as well as look 'tame' past times comparing -- or, perhaps, exactly 'inevitable' edifice blocks inwards the larger system of things ... as well as the legend would only grow.
Tracklist:
1. Giant Steps (4:43)
2. Cousin Mary (5:45)
3. Countdown (2:21)
4. Spiral (5:56)
5. Syeeda’s Song Flute (7:00)
6. Naima (4:21)
7. Mr. P.C. (6:57)
8. Giant Steps* (3:40)
9. Naima* (4:27)
10. Cousin Mary* (5:54)
11. Countdown* (7:02)
12. Syeeda’s Song Flute* (7:02)
*CD only bonus tracks. Alternate takes.
The principal takes of Giant Steps, Cousin Mary, Countdown, Spiral, Syeeda’s Song Flute (Tracks 1 through 5) as well as Mr. P.C. (Track 7) were recorded on May 4, 1959, alongside the next personnel: John Coltrane: Tenor Sax; Tommy Flanagan: Piano; Paul Chambers: Bass; Art Taylor: Drums.
The principal accept of Naima (Track 6) was recorded on Dec 2, 1959, alongside the next personnel: John Coltrane: Tenor Sax; Wynton Kelly: Piano; Paul Chambers: Bass; Jimmy Cobb: Drums.
The alternate takes of Giant Steps as well as Naima (Tracks 8 as well as 9) were recorded on Apr 1st, 1959, alongside the next personnel: John Coltrane: Tenor Sax; Cedar Walton: Piano; Paul Chambers: Bass; Lex Humphries: Drums.
The alternate takes of Cousin Mary, Countdown as well as Syeeda's Song Flute (Tracks 10, eleven as well as 12) were recorded on the same appointment alongside the same personnel.
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