- Giant Steps
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For other uses, see Giant Steps (disambiguation).
Giant Steps 
Studio album by John Coltrane Released January 1960 Recorded May 4-5, 1959
December 2, 1959Genre Hard bop, jazz Length 37:03 Language Instrumental Label Atlantic Producer Nesuhi Ertegün John Coltrane chronology Soultrane
(1958)Giant Steps
(1960)Coltrane Jazz
(1960)Giant Steps is the fifth studio album by jazz musician John Coltrane, released in 1960 on Atlantic Records, catalogue SD 1311. His first album for his new label Atlantic, it is the breakthrough album for Coltrane as a leader, and many of its tracks have become practice templates for jazz saxophonists.[1][2] In 2004, it was one of fifty recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry.
Contents
Background
In 1959, Miles Davis' business manager Harold Lovett negotiated a record contract for Coltrane with Atlantic, the terms including a $7000 annual guarantee.[3] Initial sessions for this album, the second recording date for Coltrane under his new contract after a January 15 date led by Milt Jackson, took place on March 26, 1959.[4] The results of this session with Cedar Walton and Lex Humphries were not used, but appeared on subsequent compilations and reissues. Principal recording for the album took place on May 4 and 5, two weeks after Coltrane had participated in the final session for Kind of Blue.[5] The track "Naima" was recorded on December 2 with Coltrane's bandmates, the rhythm section from the Miles Davis Quintet, who would provide the backing for most of his next album, Coltrane Jazz.[6]
The recording exemplifies Coltrane's melodic phrasing that came to be known as sheets of sound, and features his explorations into third-related chord movements that came to be known as Coltrane changes.[7] Jazz musicians continue to use the Giant Steps chord progression, which consists of a peculiar set of chords that often move in thirds, as a practice piece and as a gateway into modern jazz improvisation. The ability to play over the "Giant Steps" cycle remains to this day one of the benchmark standards by which a jazz musician's improvising skill is measured.[citation needed] Several pieces on this album went on to become jazz standards, most prominently "Naima" and "Giant Steps."[8]
Reception
Professional ratings Review scores Source Rating Allmusic 
[9]Down Beat [10]Jazz Times (favorable)[11] Penguin Guide to Jazz [12]Rhapsody (favorable)[13] Rolling Stone (favorable)[14] Rolling Stone 
[15]Virgin Encyclopedia [16]The Vortex (favorable)[17] The Penguin Guide to Jazz selected this album as part of its suggested "Core Collection" calling it "Trane's first genuinely iconic record."[18] In 2003, the album was ranked number 102 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
On March 3, 1998, Rhino Records reissued Giant Steps as part of its Atlantic 50th Anniversary Jazz Gallery series. Included were eight bonus tracks, five of which had appeared in 1975 on the Atlantic compilation Alternate Takes, the remaining three earlier issued on The Heavyweight Champion: The Complete Atlantic Recordings in 1995.
Track listing
Side one
No. Title Writer(s) Length 1. "Giant Steps" John Coltrane 4:43 2. "Cousin Mary" John Coltrane 5:45 3. "Countdown" John Coltrane 2:21 4. "Spiral" John Coltrane 5:56 Side two
No. Title Writer(s) Length 1. "Syeeda's Song Flute" John Coltrane 7:00 2. "Naima" John Coltrane 4:21 3. "Mr. P.C." John Coltrane 6:57 1998 reissue bonus tracks
No. Title Writer(s) Length 8. "Giant Steps" (alternate version 1) John Coltrane 3:41 9. "Naima" (alternate version 1) John Coltrane 4:27 10. "Cousin Mary" (alternate take) John Coltrane 5:54 11. "Countdown" (alternate take) John Coltrane 4:33 12. "Syeeda's Song Flute" (alternate take) John Coltrane 7:02 13. "Giant Steps" (alternate version 2) John Coltrane 3:32 14. "Naima" (alternate version 2) John Coltrane 3:37 15. "Giant Steps" (alternate take) John Coltrane 5:00 Personnel
- John Coltrane — tenor saxophone
- Tommy Flanagan — piano
- Wynton Kelly — piano on "Naima"
- Paul Chambers — bass
- Art Taylor — drums
- Jimmy Cobb — drums on "Naima"
- Cedar Walton — piano on "Giant Steps' and Naima" alternate versions
- Lex Humphries — drums on "Giant Steps' and Naima" alternate versions
Production personnel
- Nesuhi Ertegün — production
- Tom Dowd, Phil Iehle — engineering
- Lee Friedlander — photography
- Marvin Israel — cover design
- Nat Hentoff — liner notes
- Bob Carlton, Patrick Milligan — reissue supervision
- Bill Inglot, Dan Hersch — digital remastering
- Rachel Gutek — reissue design
- Hugh Brown — reissue art direction
- Vanessa Atkins, Steven Chean, Julee Stover — reissue editorial supervision
- Ted Meyers, Elizabeth Pavone — reissue editorial coordination
Release history
- 1960 — Atlantic Records SD 1311, vinyl record
- 1990 — Atlantic Records, first generation compact disc
- 1994 — Mobile Fidelity Gold CD
- 1998 — Rhino Records R2 75203, Deluxe Edition compact disc and 180-gram vinyl record
See also
References
- ^ Ben Ratliff. Coltrane: The Story of A Sound. New York: Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux; 2007. ISBN-13 978-0-374-12606-3. pp. 53-54.
- ^ Lewis Porter. John Coltrane: His Life and Music. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1999. ISBN 0-472-10161-7, p. 145.
- ^ Lewis Porter. John Coltrane: His Life and Music. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1999. ISBN 0-472-10161-7, pp. 117-8.
- ^ Porter, p. 145, pp. 359-60.
- ^ Porter, p. 360.
- ^ Giant Steps. Atlantic R2 75203, liner notes, p. 18.
- ^ Porter, pp. 145-148
- ^ Jazz Standards website retrieved 7 August 2011
- ^ Allmusic review
- ^ Down Beat review
- ^ Jazz Times review
- ^ Penguin Guide to Jazz review
- ^ Rhapsody review
- ^ Rolling Stone review
- ^ Rolling Stone review
- ^ Virgin Encyclopedia review
- ^ The Vortex review
- ^ Cook, Richard; Brian Morton (2006) [1992]. "John Coltrane". The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings. The Penguin Guide to Jazz (8th. ed.). New York: Penguin. pp. 269. ISBN 0-14-102327-9.
External links
- Liner notes and track notes, Rhino Deluxe Edition
Categories:- 1960 albums
- Albums produced by Nesuhi Ertegun
- Atlantic Records albums
- Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients
- Hard bop albums
- Instrumental albums
- John Coltrane albums
- United States National Recording Registry recordings
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