After ten days of practicing and blogging about Coltrane changes, the obligatory theoretical explanation is probably overdue.
Many musicians/theorists have provided commentaries on Coltrane's "Giant Steps" matrix. For this reason I will keep mine concise, but will include links to articles and a brief bibliography for those wanting to dig deeper.
In a nutshell, 'Trane divides the octave into 3 equal parts. In the key of C this looks like:
C --- Ab --- E --- C
Think of these as tonal centers (or key areas) descending by major thirds. A progression is formed by preceding each tonal center with its dominant (V7). Theorists call this "tonicization".
The progression ends up looking like this:
John Coltrane superimposed this harmonic cycle into existing, commonly played tunes within the jazz repertoire.
Here is a regular ii - V - I progression in C, followed by Coltrane's reharmonization, as it appears in "Countdown", which is actually a reworking of "Tune Up" by Miles Davis.
He retains the first chord (Dmi7) and then goes into the cycle of descending major thirds.
The song "26-2" is Coltrane's reharmonization of "Confirmation" by Charlie Parker. Here are the chords for the first five measures of Confirmation, followed by "26-2", for the sake of comparison.
Note how he successfully superimposed his matrix progression while still arriving at the tune's primary tonal centers/harmonic targets of F (I) in measure 1 and 9, and Bb (IV) in measure 5.
Here is one more: Coltrane took the standard, "How High the Moon" and transformed it into his composition, "Satellite" using the same method. Again he successfully retains the original harmonic targets, which in this case are G, F and Eb.
For those wanting to delve deeper into the topic here are some recommended books and links:
Now... back to the piano to learn how to navigate myself through these chords!
Many musicians/theorists have provided commentaries on Coltrane's "Giant Steps" matrix. For this reason I will keep mine concise, but will include links to articles and a brief bibliography for those wanting to dig deeper.
In a nutshell, 'Trane divides the octave into 3 equal parts. In the key of C this looks like:
C --- Ab --- E --- C
Think of these as tonal centers (or key areas) descending by major thirds. A progression is formed by preceding each tonal center with its dominant (V7). Theorists call this "tonicization".
The progression ends up looking like this:
John Coltrane superimposed this harmonic cycle into existing, commonly played tunes within the jazz repertoire.
Here is a regular ii - V - I progression in C, followed by Coltrane's reharmonization, as it appears in "Countdown", which is actually a reworking of "Tune Up" by Miles Davis.
He retains the first chord (Dmi7) and then goes into the cycle of descending major thirds.
The song "26-2" is Coltrane's reharmonization of "Confirmation" by Charlie Parker. Here are the chords for the first five measures of Confirmation, followed by "26-2", for the sake of comparison.
Note how he successfully superimposed his matrix progression while still arriving at the tune's primary tonal centers/harmonic targets of F (I) in measure 1 and 9, and Bb (IV) in measure 5.
Here is one more: Coltrane took the standard, "How High the Moon" and transformed it into his composition, "Satellite" using the same method. Again he successfully retains the original harmonic targets, which in this case are G, F and Eb.
- The Jazz Piano Book, by Mark Levine. pages 243 - 246
- Jazz Keyboard Harmony by Noah Baerman
- John Coltrane Plays Giant Steps. Transcriptions and Analysis by David Dempsey
- Giant Steps - A Player's Guide, by Walt Weiskopf
Now... back to the piano to learn how to navigate myself through these chords!
Thank you for doing this work,I have been studying the Wikipedia examples but at this point too complex for me, however I totally understood your first two examples. When my brain is more rested, I will apply the logic to the remaining examples, You explained it very well, again thank you. Susan Mcgee-Wiens, Calgary Alberta.
ReplyDeleteThanks Susan. As you will soon find out, understanding it is one thing and being able to play it fluently is another. I highly recommend Walt Weiskopf's book, listed in this article.
ReplyDeleteAll the best with your music. Glad to be helpful to another Canuck. :)
By far, the best explanation on the subject I've ever met! Great job!
ReplyDeleteAww shucks! Thank you. I hope it is helpful.
DeleteHi! i also suggest "Thesaurus of scales and melodic patterns" by Nicholas Slonimsky.
DeleteUp a half-step in bar 1 gives the first dominant, then down a 4th, up a minor 3rd, down a 4th, up a minor 3rd, down a 4th.
ReplyDeleteii of the root chord V-I V-I V-I
You should know but don't need to reverse engineer the flat VImaj7 or the IIImaj7.