Analyzing the famous chord progression in John Coltrane's "Giant Steps"

Link to track: "Giant Steps" with solo transcription

                                     

The origins of what today is known as “Coltrane changes” starts amid the middle of Coltrane’s career in the mid-1950s.  Coltrane studied Nicolas Slonimsky’s book, the Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns, which provided a foundation for the development of the “Coltrane changes”. 

In short, the concept of Coltrane changes can be described as a musical cycle.  This cycle is created by taking any key and creating a chord progression by splitting the key into specific interval patterns.  (Adler). There are seven musical cycles that can be created with the twelve-tone system of western music, ranging from cycles of unisons or octaves to major sevenths or minor seconds.  The most common form of cyclical progression is the circle fifths/fourths progression, in which the progression goes through the circle of fifths to create progressions that are most familiar in jazz, such as the II-V-I cadence or progression.

In Coltrane’s composition “Giant Steps”, the tune is composed entirely of the major thirds cycle.  The melody of the piece is fairly straightforward, using tones from each chord with occasional passing tones.  These passing tones are kept in order to keep the thirds pattern equal throughout the melody.  It is important to note that both the melody and harmony are in rhythmic unison, with the chordal accompaniment moving and changing at the same time as the melody. Although an original composition, the chord progression is based off of the examples of ditone progressions in Slominsky’s Melodic Patterns.

Although the composition can technically be considered in E-flat major, the average listener may not be able to tell that there is a tonal center at all.  This is because of the way the cyclical progression functions, in that each tonal center is cycled through and repeated, with pre-dominant and dominant chords used to tonicize each tonal center.  Similar to an augmented chord (in which each note of the chord is harmonically equidistant), because each tonal center is equidistant from one another, it is difficult to determine the actual root, other than determine the lowest interval.  That is why even though Coltrane cadences to the E-flat major chord the most in the piece (with 3 phrases ending on E-flat, including the first and last accented whole-note cadence), every time an accented cadence occurs on a whole note, the cadence still sounds unresolved.  It is because of the cycle that creates a constant harmonic dissonance, giving the entire structure of the composition a feeling of never-ending energy and movement.

The use of the cyclical thirds progression pioneered by John Coltrane in the jazz idiom has become one of the most unique and important innovations in jazz theory and history.  By creating this system of cyclical patterns, Coltrane changed the language of jazz and broke the mold of ordinary jazz harmonic progressions in jazz history.  (Wernick 23).  The use of “Coltrane changes” is still used by jazz composers today, and has become one of the most influential jazz compositional techniques of the last half-century.

Lead Sheet to “Giant Steps”

Bibliography

Adler, Dan. "The 'Giant Steps' Progression and Cycle Diagrams." Jazz Improv Magazine.  Vol. 3, No. 3. 

Arau, Javier. "Augmented Scale Theory." Javier Arau. Accessed November 11, 2015. http://www.javierarau.com/augmented-scale-theory/.

Bair, Jeff. "CYCLIC PATTERNS IN JOHN COLTRANE’S MELODIC VOCABULARY AS INFLUENCED BY NICOLAS SLONIMSKY’S THESAURUS OF SCALES AND MELODIC PATTERNS: AN ANALYSIS OF SELECTED IMPROVISATIONS." Dissertation Prepared For the Degree of DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS, 2003. Accessed October 14, 2015. http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc4348/m2/1/high_res_d/dissertation.pdf

Cole, Bill. "9." In John Coltrane. New York, NY: Schirmer Books, 1976.

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Ratliff, Ben. "Theory-mad." In Coltrane: The Story of a Sound, 42-68. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007.

Scott, Rich. "Circle Progressions." Money Chords. 2004. Accessed November 11, 2015. http://www.angelfire.com/fl4/moneychords/circleprogressions.html.

Simpkins, C.O. "Giant Steps." In Coltrane: A Biography. Baltimore, MD: Black Classic Press, 1975.

Slonimsky, Nicolas. "Ditone Progression." In Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns, 27. New York, NY: Scribner's, 1947.

The Real Book. Sixth ed. Vol. One. Milwaukee, WI: Hal Leonard, 2004. 157 & 418.

Wernick, Forrest. 2009. "John Coltrane's Gateway to Musical Freedom: Harmonic Superimposition Techniques in Selected Modal Improvisations between 1960--1965." Order No. 1465748, The William Paterson University of New Jersey. http://search.proquest.com/docview/305071890?accountid=6444.

Yamaguchi, Masaya. 2002. "A Creative Approach to Mutli-Tonic Changes: Beyond Coltrane's Harmonic Formula." Annual Review of Jazz Studies: 147-167. http://search.proquest.com/docview/1371274?accountid=6444.