John Coltrane, Giant Steps | Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶

In the 40^th edition of Throwback Vibez (2024), we recollect and reflect on “Giant Steps” by legendary jazz saxophonist, John Coltrane.

The vibes, the vibes, those Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶! Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 is a column that celebrates awesome songs from the past.  The records that grace this column are older, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re ancient – no fossils 🦴! All genres of music are welcome. In the 40^th edition of Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 (2024), we recollect and reflect on “Giant Steps”, performed by John Coltrane. 

Bmaj7 D7 | Gmaj7 Bb7 | Ebmaj7 | amin7 D7 |… Those are some gnarly chord changes that hail from a once in a lifetime jazz classic from a once in a lifetime jazz musician. John Coltrane (1926 – 1967) was one of the most influential and talented musicians of all time, regardless of genre.  Whenever Coltrane played the saxophone, it sounds like a spiritual, transcendent experience – it ‘hit different’ as they say.  One of his most beloved songs is “Giant Steps”, the opener from his 1960 landmark album, Giant Steps.  Trane penned this complex jazz standard, which is remarkably difficult to improvise over. Why? It’s non-standard chord changes (excerpted above) coupled with a quick tempo. “Giant Steps” isn’t a blues record built on the standard I, IV, and V progression; it’s far more advanced! The circle of fifths is still in play, mind you, as well as the common ii – V- I progression, but in an adventurous, higher level, innovative sort of way. After all, there’s a reason why a gifted jazz pianist Tommy Flanagan fails to deliver a solo that’s as rousing as Trane’s. No shade, of course!

Is Flanagan’s piano solo on “Giant Steps” an epic fail? No, of course, not – he’s Tommy Flanagan! BUT Flanagan’s solo is more memorable for the fact that it pales in comparison to the epic solo it follows, courtesy of Trane. Honestly, anybody who followed Coltrane on tenor saxophone had an uphill battle. Hence, the big takeaway isn’t Flanagan – he was a legend regardless of this ‘average’ solo – it’s about TRANE.  Backed by the sizzling hot drum groove (Art Taylor) and an active bass line (Paul Chambers), John is on autopilot.  Even sixty-plus years after “Giant Steps” arrived, listening back to Trane’s solo, it’s other-worldly – utterly genius.  The riffs are prodigious, fitting perfectly atop those complex chord changes. So much can be said and analyzed in depth regarding “Giant Steps” – it is giant, giant song.  That said, for the music lover who isn’t a music theory buff, acknowledging and appreciating the genius of Coltrane on this song that was far ahead of its time is sufficient.

John Coltrane // Giant Steps // Rhino // 1960

John Coltrane, Giant Steps: Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 No. 40 (2024) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Rhino; OpenClipart-Vectors, Speedy McVroom via  Pixabay]