{"id":27412,"date":"2023-04-21T19:59:58","date_gmt":"2023-04-21T23:59:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ethanhein.com\/wp\/?p=27412"},"modified":"2023-07-18T11:50:55","modified_gmt":"2023-07-18T15:50:55","slug":"playing-giant-steps-as-an-instrument","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ethanhein.com\/wp\/2023\/playing-giant-steps-as-an-instrument\/","title":{"rendered":"Playing “Giant Steps” as an instrument"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last weekend I went to a hip-hop jam session. There was a drummer, bassist, guitarist, pianist, and a couple of emcees, and I played samples from my laptop via Ableton. I was going through my jazz folder, dropping different things into Simplers and Drum Racks, and at one point I tried using the first few seconds of “Giant Steps<\/a>“. That made me remember that I had remixed it a few years ago, and that I should try doing it again.<\/p>\n

\""Giant<\/a><\/p>\n

If you are not deep into online jazz culture, you may not know the current significance of “Giant Steps.” Let me fill in some back story. John Coltrane released the tune in 1960 on his classic album of the same name<\/a>. It was noteworthy at the time for being extraordinarily difficult to improvise over, due to a combination of its fast tempo and constant key changes. The tune helped transform jazz from a popular music with folkloric origins into the technically demanding, professionalized and academicized art form we know it as today. College-level jazz theory classes are oriented around “Giant Steps” the way that traditional tonal theory classes are oriented around Bach chorales. Being able to shred on the tune is a necessity if you want the jazz bros to take you seriously.<\/p>\n

“Giant Steps” turned out to be vastly more important for institutional jazz than for Coltrane’s own musical life. He seems to have only played it live a few times in 1960 before dropping it. The idea of key centers a major third apart stayed with him, but after writing a string of tunes based on the idea, he shifted to more open-ended, trance-like drones and pedals. He continued to use “Giant Steps” changes during his solos, but they were no longer present in the underlying structure of the music. It didn’t matter; the tune took on a life of its own.<\/p>\n

As “Giant Steps” became a fixture of jazz institutions, students in those institutions turned it into a meme<\/a>.<\/p>\n