Rewind, album: Giant Steps

John Coltrane
Atlantic

When John Coltrane went into the studio in May 1959 for the first of the two sessions that produced Giant Steps, he was making musical history for the second time in a month. Just two weeks before, as a member of the Miles Davis Quintet, he had finished laying down the tracks for arguably the most influential jazz album of them all, Kind of Blue.

With four albums as a leader already under his belt, Coltrane had matured rapidly as a composer and improvising musician while working with Davis and Thelonious Monk. He had a new contract with Atlantic Records, and was ready to take a giant step of his own.

Musically, he did that literally. The major innovation of the title track and Countdown is their use of fast, complicated chord changes with the root notes of consecutive chords separated by the relatively wide interval or "step" of a major third - hence "giant steps". Variously known as the "Coltrane matrix", "Coltrane changes" or "Coltrane cycle", the harmonic progression became one of the building blocks of jazz.

The album was a giant step for Coltrane in other ways as well. It was the first consisting entirely of his own compositions, and the one with which he stepped out from Davis' shadow - although the latter's influence can certainly be heard, not least on Countdown, which is based on Davis' Tune Up.

On six of the seven tracks here Coltrane works with Paul Chambers on bass, Tommy Flanagan on piano, and Art Taylor on drums. On Naima, perhaps his most memorable ballad, he plays with Chambers, Wynton Kelly on piano, and Jimmy Cobb on drums - all bandmates from the Davis quintet of the period. The fast minor blues Mr P.C. - which along with Giant Steps and Naima became a jazz standard - was named for Chambers.