This is what John Coltrane’s landmark tune and solo look like when they come to life on paper.
If you try to play along, you may notice that the transcription for the head is transposed for C and the solo’s in Bb. Weird, I know, but the transcription book that I based this animation on was in concert.
You can buy the sheet music here:
http://www.amazon.com/John-Coltrane-Plays-Giant-Steps/dp/0793563453
Duration : 0:4:51
July 11th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
Following the …
Following the written notes is exhilarating! I don’t know why!
July 11th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
Awesome!
Awesome!
July 11th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
well he was famous …
well he was famous for walking into the studio with whatever he wanted to play completely unrehearsed with no foreknowledge presented to the musicians he was using as well. However, with Giant Steps he practiced it himself for over a year. So he probably exhausted most possible routes for soloing to the changes.
July 11th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
This is jazz improv …
This is jazz improv., so he essentially created the solo as he played, but he has played over similar changes (called Coltrane Changes) previously in other songs. Check out Moment’s Notice and Lazy Bird on Blue Train, recorded 2 years before this, for some examples–you can hear him play similar phrases in those songs and on other takes of Giant Steps, so obviously a bit of it is “recycled”, but then again, when you’re playing at this speed, it’s just amazing he pulls it off so smoothly.
July 11th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
You need to learn …
You need to learn the diminished scales, the ‘true’ major, and a bunch of the flat-5/flat-9 and other chords. To play at that speed, I suppose one would have to have given what he gave to the music - 8 hours a day or more (or so I heard.) - everything.
July 11th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
As I recall this …
As I recall this was improv. How much he predetermined and how much he just let fly, I don’t know.
Either way, guys like him did not write out solos and memorize. Like Mozart, they played so much that they internalize the scales and rhythms and then combine them on the fly.
Liszt, Bach, Gershwin, Joplin - and many more did the same.
July 11th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
Very cool having …
Very cool having the notes appear as they are played, although it’s a little disconcerting to have the melody at concert pitch, then the solo transposed to Bb pitch.
July 11th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
Did he write it in …
Did he write it in advance, make it up as he went along, or learn it by haert?
July 11th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
not only does he …
not only does he hit the changes, but it’s so interestingly phrased. all i can do is noodle around in the tonic major scales…
July 11th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
just so you know, …
just so you know, it’s written in the information on the side.
July 11th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
I do have to agree …
I do have to agree that this is really cool!!! But I have to point out that the music isn’t written in the Tenor Sax key. I play Trumpet, and when I played it with these notes, it wasn’t right, so i played it a whole step up, and it worked. Sorry to point that out. Great job though, and I LOVE this piece!!!
July 11th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
Freaking cool!
Freaking cool!
July 11th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
Incredible to see …
Incredible to see how the classical notation is defied (as a guide for music), on a constant basis in this piece, as if classical notation were necessarily unnecessary — not quite the venue for perhaps a lot of kinds of music that we’ve only scratched the surface in imagining thus far. And yet the vast majority of music follows classical key patterns and structures with all their simplicity, elegance and effect. Jazz is this paradox… so tough to enjoy, even when played with virtuosity!
July 11th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
awesome. good music …
awesome. good music is probably the best thing in the world.
July 11th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
woah, just looking …
woah, just looking at how he uses the different chords theoretically and still making it so unpredictable. he’s a genius !
July 11th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
Ohmy
My mind is …
Ohmy
My mind is blown
July 11th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
Awesome stuff. …
Awesome stuff. Great to watch; thanks to those responsible. Have to see’f there’s a presto Charlie Parker piece that’s received the same treatment!!
July 11th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
This song is in the …
This song is in the game GTA IV. Its a good song.
July 11th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
This is great …
This is great thanks for posting it, jazz didnt exist until coltrane came along. thats a lie but god he’s good
July 11th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
Thank for posting …
Thank for posting this! This is Excellent!!
At 4:45 I was kind of looking for the notation of the cadenza [should we call it that?]
This was the first time pianist Tommy Flanagan saw the chart for Giant Steps- in the studio right before they recorded this. You should have heard how he sounded AFTER he understood how to approach this piece!
Damn- we really do have only one shot to prove ourselves in front of the critics.
RIP Tommy
July 11th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
There is. I have no …
There is. I have no idea what it’s called, but I’ve used it in a recording studio once to compose a solo; it’s pretty sweet
July 11th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
HAHA piano man …
HAHA piano man can’t keep up!
July 11th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
OH!
OH!
July 11th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
How did you make …
How did you make this video?
July 11th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
Does this remind …
Does this remind anyone of Sesame Street? I wish there was a program that actually does this.