GIANT STEPS AND BEYOND

The title track on the Giant Steps album is the one that leads off the album, and it certainly got people's attention right away. Its basis was a chord progression that generally moved up a minor third and then down a fifth, though this is not always consistent. It is a pleasant enough tune that has some of the angularity of Monk's compositions, but is not nearly as jarring. But the chords change with clocklike regularity every two beats, creating a harmonic maze for any musician seeking to improvise on the changes. The tempo is fast, and the overall effect is one of bop taken to its logical extreme. A hard bop track all the way, in which Coltrane plays with the easy, open tone of Sonny Rollins as he pile drives his way through the unusual harmonic structure of the song seemingly without a moment's hesitation.

Coltrane didn't forget about his exploration of modal jazz from Kind of Blue, though. Many of the tracks on Giant Steps are modal in nature, either completely or partially-"Cousin Mary", "Syeeda's Song Flute", and "Naima", which (along with the title song) has become the most widely-played Coltrane composition. On "Countdown" Coltrane applies his three chords for every one substitution to Eddie Vinson's song "Tune Up". According to Nesuhi Ertegun, who produced the original sessions, the group recorded no more than two takes of each tune with no rehearsal time. It was clear to Ertegun that Coltrane must have rehearsed the ensemble elsewhere on his own time, as Jelly Morton is reputed to have done during his Red Hot Peppers sessions in Chicago.

In 1960, Trane released My Favorite Things. The title track, a Rodgers and Hammerstein tune from The Sound of Music, was in waltz time and used the same chords for an extended stretch. The song was a bit unusual in structure for a popular song anyway, because it had a circular structure and didn't rely on a "hook" per say. In many ways, it is a melody more reminiscent of certain European folk melodies. After stating the tune's melody, Coltrane opted to turn the piece into a total modal statement, two modal chords repeated over which he solos at length, but stays fairly closely within the modes. He also used the soprano sax on this number, a result of his listening to Sidney Bechet and discovering Steve Lacy, a saxophonist who played soprano with Monk and became a leading interpreter of Monk's music.

Coltrane moved from the Atlantic label to the new Impulse! label where his first recordings were Africa/Brass, a unique recording utilizing large band brass & reed sections arranged by Eric Dolphy, and Impressions, which wasn't released until 1963. Both Impressions and the live recordings made by the Coltrane group at the Village Vanguard in November 1961 demonstrate that Coltrane was well aware of the Free Jazz movement and its leader, Ornette Coleman. Coleman had brought his revolutionary sound and group to the Five Spot in 1959 and released two albums on Coltrane's old label, Atlantic. In 1960 Coleman released Free Jazz, a double-quartet recording of pure kinetic energy with no real tempo, time signature, key, or real melodic development. The music clearly interested and appealed to Trane, and from the time he recorded the track "India" for the Impressions album, his music continually developed in the direction of free jazz.

On the Vanguard 1961 dates, Trane's musical conception was already opening up considerably from that demonstrated on Giant Steps. Some of the more frenetic tendencies in his playing, muted in the recording studio environment, came to the fore in live performance. His quartet was already developing the searching, moody, introspective yet physically punchy and demanding music that would earn it a mystique nearly unrivaled in the jazz canon. And the group had a secret weapon at these performances-Eric Dolphy.

Dolphy first worked with Coltrane in 1954 in Los Angeles and the two kept in contact from then on. Dolphy played a variety of woodwinds-alto sax, flute, and bass clarinet-and his style incorporated many sounds that were suggestive of vocal sounds or cries, a characteristic shared by many free jazz musicians. In fact, Dolphy played on Free Jazz as well as contributing to the Africa/Brass sessions and the Ole album that was Coltrane's last for Atlantic Records. Dolphy returned from Europe to join the Coltrane group, which played engagements in Los Angeles and Chicago before arriving at the Vanguard in the last week of October.

Many were not prepared for the direction Coltrane's music was taking. John Tynan's famous critique from the November 23, 1961 issue of down beat magazine proclaimed "I have to object to the musical nonsense currently being peddled in the name of jazz by John Coltrane and his acolyte, Eric Dolphy." Tynan was not the only one with reservations, and this clearly took its toll on the group-Dolphy left by spring of 1962, and Coltrane's next recordings seem to back off a bit, becoming less free and edgy. Indeed, Coltrane's most popular recording, which was about to come, was far from free jazz, being closer in spirit to the work he had done with Mile Davis on Kind of Blue.

A LOVE SUPREME

A Love Supreme has always been John Coltrane's most popular album, occupying a special place in listener's hearts since the day it was released. Thus it should come as no surprise that this legendary album achieved Gold status in 2001, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. This is the first Coltrane recording to receive this honor, and it speaks well of the lasting influence of Coltrane and his music on a whole new generation of listeners.

A Love Supreme was the culmination of a period of restlessness and searching for Coltrane, both in his personal and professional lives. Following his release from the Miles Davis Quintet in 1956, Coltrane experienced a period of depression, followed by what he called "a spiritual awakening". Following intense meditation and prayer, Coltrane gave up drinking, smoking, and his destructive drug habit. During the seven-year period from 1957 to 1964, Coltrane began to become interested in nonwestern music and philosophy. He explored West African music as well as the music of India. Though he had considered himself a Christian all his life, he began to read books about Hinduism, Islam, science, astrology, yoga, and African history.

He began to have dreams in which he believed that God revealed various musical works and concepts to him. In the winter of 1964, A Love Supreme was revealed to Coltrane, in its entirety, through such a dream. He and his quartet recorded the work in December of 1964 in the same order that the tracks are programmed on the recording.

The suite begins with "Acknowledgment"--after a brief invocation Garrison's bass begins the "Love Supreme" figure, followed by Coltrane's declamatory statements, which seem to offer a sermon. His playing is incredibly confident and robust, offering the kind of bold and powerful statement not heard since Louis Armstrong's early recordings. He develops the material rhythmically and moves a series of notes through a modular cycle or repetition, punctuating it with excursions into the altissimo range, finally bursting into a climax of ecstatic celebration. This is followed with the intonation of the mantra, "A Love Supreme", first on tenor sax, then finally in voice.

"Resolution" begins with Coltrane's introduction of the theme, followed by a series of variations that develop in a manner that has more in common with the Indian raga than with the traditional jazz solo development. McCoy Tyner plays an extended and explosive solo that demonstrates his sheer energy and harmonic concentration, not to mention the way he clearly influenced many jazz pianists at the time and afterward. Jones is in high gear also, kicking both Tyner and Coltrane along with constant explosions and commentary. Coltrane returns for another solo before restating the theme and bringing the section to its conclusion.

The final sections, "Pursuance" and "Psalm" are presented without interruption. "Pursuance" begins with a drum solo from Jones that constantly shifts pulse and rhythm. All of the quartet members solo, each one testifying fiercely personal statements of faith and spiritual searching. Garrison finishes the section out with his solo before the majestic "Psalm" begins with Coltrane playing the words to his poem "A Love Supreme" (which are found on the album sleeve) on his saxophone. The piece is a moving statement, as is Coltrane's instrumental representation of the words he had written.