The man above is Mr John Coltrane, one of my heroes!
When I was a kid (early sixties), my parents listened a lot to jazz and one of the records I listened to through the years is “Giant Steps” by John Coltrane. Giant Steps was released 1959 and have probably influenced more people and musicians than most of us know about. All tunes are great!
Music is a big part of my life (both as a listener and an active musician – bass player).
I will share with my followers, reviews of interesting CD´s, songs and artists from all kind of good music! Did you know that there are only two kinds of music in the world – good music or bad music.
People love to categorize everything, and therefore I will try to help you faster understand what kind of music I will write about. The styles can be mentioned as; Jazz, Bebop, West Coast Jazz, East Cost Jazz, Big Band Jazz, Funk, Soul, R&B, Jazz-Funk, Jazz-Rock, Acid Jazz, Disco, Hip-Hop, Latin, Salsa, Brazilian MPB, Bossa Nova, Blues, Fusion, Pop, Rock, Hard Rock, Symphonic Rock, Westcoast and AOR, Classical, Christmas, Country, New Age, World Music, Reggie…
Today my focus is on John Coltrane with his master piece “Giant Steps”.
Musicians: John Coltrane, tenor sax; Tommy Flanagan, piano; Paul Chambers, bass; Art Taylor, drums.
| 1. Giant Steps (John Coltrane) 4:43 2. Cousin Mary (John Coltrane) 5:45 3. Countdown (John Coltrane) 2:21 4. Spiral (John Coltrane) 5:56 5. Syeeda’s Song Flute (John Coltrane) 7:00 6. Namia (John Coltrane) 4:21 7. Mr. P.C. (John Coltrane) 6:57 |
Produced by NESUHI ERTEGUN Cover Photo by LEE FRIEDLANDER Cover Design by MARVIN ISRAEL Recording by TOM DOWD Recorded on May 4, 1959 |
Along with Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane has become the most influential and controversial tenor saxophonist in modern jazz. This is the first set composed entirely of originals.
Of the tunes, Coltrane says “Giant Steps” gets its name from the fact that “the bass line is kind of a loping one. It goes from minor thirds to fourths, kind of a lop-sided pattern in contrast to moving strictly in fourths or in half-steps.” Tommy Flanagan’s relatively spare solo and the way it uses space as part of its structure is an effective contrast to Coltrane’s intensely croweded chorus.
“Cousin Mary” is named for a cousin of Coltrane. The song is an attempt to describe her. “She’s a very earthy, folksy, swinging person. The firgure is riff-like and although the changes are not conventional blues progressions, I tried to retain the flavor of the blues.”
“Countdown’s” changes are based in large part on “Tune Up,” but over Art Taylor’sdrums, Coltrane uses essentially the same sequences of minor thirds to fourths that characterizes “Giant Steps.”
“Syeeda’s Song Flute” has a particularly attractive line and is named for Coltrane’s 10-year old daughter. “When I ran across it on the piano,” he says, “It reminded me of her because it sounded like a happy, child’s song.”
The tender “Namia”–an Arabic name–is also the name of John’s wife. Here again is demonstrated Coltrane’s more than ordinary melodical imagination as a composer and the deeply emotional strength of all his work, writing and playing.
“Mr. P.C.” is Paul Chambers who provides escellent support and thoughtful solos on the record as a whole and whom Coltrane regards as “one of the greatest bass players in jazz. His playing is beyond what I could say about it. I feel very fortunate to have had him on this date and to have been able to work with him in Miles’ band so long.”
What makes Coltrane one of the most interesting jazz players is that he’s not apt to ever stop looking for ways to perfect what he’s already developed and also to go beyond what he knows he can do. He is thoroughly involved with plunging as far into himself and the expressive possibilities of his horn as he can.
–NAT HENTOFF, from the liner notes.
What are we doing to our society?
Our society, life and the planet Earth is changing constantly. I therefore believe that we humans also have to develop ourselves while we take advantage of the fine culture from history. The trick is to learn from our mistakes, the consequences could otherwise be fatal. Though we humans trained us through thousands of years, sometimes it appears as if we have not learned anything. Personally, I´m a little worried about the society we are going through. Money has too much power over people’s lives and the ongoing quest for efficiency (do more with less) leads to more people getting harder to keep up with the rapid development. If all people educate themselves more, it leads at least not for several jobs at the end. What is positive, is that we create a more developed and intellectual society. Hopefully the future will lead to a reduction of war, conflict and unrest in the world.
“I think life is about change and “Giant Steps” has helped me to change.”