Jay's Thoughts on Coltrane's "Giant Steps"

I like to play pretty melodies like “Without a Song,” but I really am not sentimental about them. I like standards as a point of departure. I use them as a means to express myself and that's all. I could care less what the composer wanted as far as a chord change here or there. When players have played a long time and are adept at playing inside the changes then the next challenge is how to get outside of them and still make coherent and melodic statements. 

When I recorded “But Not for Me,” I used Trane’s changes based on “Giant Steps.” I'm fond of the changes to “Giant Steps” from an improviser’s perspective. I altered the melody to fit the changes, and it worked nicely. The difference is I played it on flugelhorn rather than tenor sax. My take is that life always likes to do it differently. What I find exciting about using lines built on “Giant Steps” is that it allows one to leave a key center and pivot back and re-enter simultaneously. It reminds me of the symbol of the dragon with its tail in its mouth. 

Sometimes, as in my recording of “What Is this Thing Called Love,” I will insert the changes from “Giant Steps” in certain parts of the song rather than use the old hackneyed sets of changes that we are so used to hearing. I  IV II VI songs just bore me to tears these days. Ever since Charlie Parker we have been collectively changing the harmonic structures of these songs.

I don't get hung up on the lyric. I play lyrically but I don't need to check the lyrics to figure how to play the song. I know the old shtick about how you need to know the lyrics to play a ballad like “Secret Love.” I think that's a crock really. Don't get me wrong: some beautiful songs have great and moving lyrics and some great songs really have bad lyrics. I think they’re separate. 

“Giant Steps” is a great standard jazz composition. Coltrane, it is said, got the idea for the chord progression from some turnarounds that Kenny Dorham used to use. It is also rumored that the bridge to “Have You Met Miss Jones” was also an inspiration because of the movement thru keys by major thirds. There is a very pure mathematical symmetry to the changes of “Giant Steps.” In fact it is all about the changes. The song is a fairly sketchy melody but the changes are ingenious. It is more of a progression than a song and is interesting in that sense. 

We can use those same changes to play different stuff over static kinds of songs, as Trane did on “Summertime” and “My Favorite Things.” Trane is playing all these amazing things and the rhythm section is just playing vamps and essentially the regular changes. Trane is busy using the devices he learned with “Giant Steps” to constantly leave the harmony and re-enter. The ear goes “Whoa, what’s that again?” And then before you know it the ear says, “Happy feets is goin’ home!” 

Later on when Trane recorded “Chasin’ the Trane” and “A Love Supreme” he is still playing “Giant Steps.” He was using those kinds of chord movements that exist as an independent strong harmonic unit outside/inside of the changes. I can hear it in peoples’ playing if they have mastered the tune. Remember, to master a song is not to play the melody but to be able to move those key centers around!