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Perspectives of New Music
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THE "GIANT STEPS" FRAGMENT
MAr1THEW GOODHEART
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64 Perspectives of New Music
* * *
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The "Giant Steps" Fragment 65
[Esu:] ... this aspect of the evaluation, the appearance of which suggests
some trepidation on your part.
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66 Perspectives of New Music
A: Ooh, nasty, nasty. If we're going to get into the name game, I'll
plant it and quack. Eschew, Esu. No, the Mathieu shit works
much better. Y'know, tone lattice, or "Shrudi chart" as he calls it.
It's less arbitrary and provides an intuitive and concrete model to
express the way we hear harmonic movement. Molto expressivo.
Numero uno. And by the way, 496? What's up with this perfect
number thing?
A: More like a 12. The dozens. In this case, the mover's and shaker's
dozen. To boldly trope where no man has troped before.
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The "Giant Steps" Fragment 67
Esu: So you're saying you know what the real Odu is.
A: Um, well perhaps. Well, no, but I think that I can get closer to it
by using Mathieu's methods than by using what the chart spells
out. The Odu of the piece gets translated through the logos in two
ways; into the utilitarian chord chart, and also into the making of
the music, the enfleshment.
A: A "negro"?
Esu: Perhaps that's essentially what you are arguing. Essentially essen-
tialist. The black-geist, black music. Black humor. Blacula. Booty
Call, baby.
A: But I'm not an Essene. You're the dualist. You're a duelistic dude.
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68 Perspectives of New Music
Esu: Asleep?
A: What is she, my Anna Livia? River of life? Well, only two of us are
awake. Or maybe only one of us.
A: I think your Yang is much more impressive than mine. Your Yin,
too, for that matter. Isn't that the essence of what you are, too? A
two-that-are-one? But there are two here, too. So what are we;
your Dionysus to my Apollo? Or my Eusebius to your Florestan?
Esu: That's closer. You-See-BS! It's canon fodder. Trope the institu-
tion, or at least the institutionalized.
A: Hats off gentlemen, a critic!! And what a funky hat it is, too. Like
an Oreo missing one of its cookies. Oh, maybe that's it.
Esu: Yes! Maybe that's the secret, to lose only one of your cookies!!
Then the inside is also the outside.
A: So if I see BS, what are you? Floor-I-Stand? Are you the rooted
one? It's pretty lame, doesn't really work. Or maybe Florist-And;
you do work with flowers of knowledge, and you're so damn
pretty, too.
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The "Giant Steps" Fragment 69
tial," if you will, to the logos of the piece. Look, let me go get my
notes.
I^^^e-^^<JUIIV I- 1 I
B|7 E6IMaj7 Gb7 CbMaj7 Fmin7 Bb7 EbMaj7 A
V I V I ii V I ii V I
^ I I I I L I I I II I I I
Pb i:_7 rbs n a_ :s _ i! _ . j _ j S _ ' _ _ _* _ _ _X~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXAMPLE 1
[A:] This pretty clearly shows the chord relations, and the common
tones. The dotted lines represent Didymic commas, which are so
common in tonal music that I'm not considering them significant
in terms of analysis. They occur in the difference between the
root of a ii chord and the fifth of a V chord. In this example
above, the first such comma occurs between the root of the A
minor chord, generated from a minor third below the
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70 Perspectives of New Music
A: I'm saying that he heard this way. He knew that a major third
down from E-flat is really C-flat and not B. And that's the rela-
tionship he's interested in. If he did write it down as a B, it was,
like I said, for utilitarian purposes. It created the most happiness
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The "Giant Steps" Fragment 71
for the most people. But the logos of the music was really demand-
ing a C-flat, and that's how he played it. Look, right in the first
chorus of his solo, he plays this.
txter - _t !?^ r_ _
BI'7 E6Maj7 Gv,7 Ct6Maj7 Fmin7 Bl7 E|?Maj7
EXAMPLE 2
[A:] He's emphasizing the common tones, and our ear recognizes
them, in this case the B-flat. They are linked in our ear. We're not
going to hear that B-flat suddenly shift a Great Diesis away to A-
sharp for one bar and then back again in the next. It is contextual-
ized quite clearly as a B-flat. I think, even if the whole band did
make the microtonal adjustment, the, whatever it is-
A: Right. Well, I mean, I think that even if the whole band shifted
forty-one cents, we would still hear it as a C-flat major chord (or
tonality) because of the context. And that's what equal tempera-
ment is for, to allow you to present whatever relationship you
want as long as you contextualize it.
[The bottom of the paper he which he got from me shows the following
(Example 3):]
A: It's a little trickier, but "essentially" the same. Here he's working
with both the A-sharp, which is unambiguous, and the D-sharp,
which navigates a Didymic comma. Although, if you notice, he
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72 Perspectives of New Music
EXAMPLE 3
A: Exactly, the unmissing link. Come to think of it, I'm hungry for
links.
Esu: Well, some have made me in that image. You think I did this
myself? Maybe so, maybe not. Maybe both.
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The "Giant Steps" Fragment 73
A: Right. Look. Have I convinced you here or not? With the respell-
ing of the chords, or actually the true spelling, if you will. That's
what I really mean. That these are the true chords. And if we
accept that, then we can proceed to the next step.
A: That looks about right. These are all the pitches and ch
in the piece. At least I think so. You can reduce the whole
chords, or actually tonal centers, which lay solely al
spine.
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74 Perspectives of New Music
0 ^ / u^B A
e B6 D
9:
9:~~~~~E
9): 6
9:~~d
EXAMPLE 4
Esu: Ga?
Esu: Ga?
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The "Giant Steps" Fragment 75
B
G
Eb
cb
EXAMPLE 5
D#
B,
G1-2
E-3
Eb J5
2
cb
EXAMPLE 6
[A:] This actually gets suggested even further, by the complete move-
ment. From then on out, we move down to E-flat, down to C-
flat. [See example 7.]
This is the lowest point we go to; we climb all the way back up,
past G major, back to B major, and then even up higher, all the
way to D-sharp major. In the last bar we circle again back to B
major to begin again. It's all symmetrical around G. [See example
8.]
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76 Perspectives of New Music
B,
Cb7 7-6
EXAMPLE 7
2-13 B16-1
G l2 1-2
EXAMPLE 8
Esu: So you're saying that Giant Steps is in G major, and no one's real-
ized it.
Esu: So everyone's been ending the piece wrong all these years? Even
'Trane?
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The "Giant Steps" Fragment 77
been playing this piece for years, and always assumed that there
would be a Great Diesis somewhere. But there isn't. That's kind
of astounding in itself, seeing as how jazz music tends to have
commas when it modulates around like this piece does. Most jaz
is asymmetric. That's what's weird about this piece.
Esu: I think you're just repeating what's been said before. 'Trane sym
metrically trisects the octave. He did it before and he did it after;
much ado about the same old doo-doo. Like he did in "Count-
down."
Esu: "Have You Met Miss Jones" does the same thing, actually. I
mean, it's a fairly traditional rhythm-changes tune in F-major, but
there's this weird bridge which starts on the subdominant and
then moves by major-thirds. It maps out like this:
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78 Perspectives of New Music
EXAMPLE 9
[At this point I remember that Esu laughed, and produced his famous
black and white hat from his pocket, whirling it around his head.]
A: Oh, I see. The point is just to wake me up. How very provocative
of you, sage master. And what are you doing here among the
sleepers?
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The "Giant Steps" Fragment 79
A: Now that's the trick. Strauss goes up the partials: Two, three,
four, and five, any higher and he'll get a nosebleed, so he flips the
ratios and goes inversional, brings in the minor. Bah-bum. That's
Europe for ya. Zarathustrian. But the Zoroastrians were a differ-
ent story. Or the Indians, the Africans, they dig out on it. Seven,
eight, nine. Still got the blues. What about eleven, do Africans get
there? I guess everybody does, really, whether they know it or
not.
Esu: Oh, now that's deep. Very Braxton. The "higher partials"
African awareness. So where does this account for ...
[Esu:] ... power and power relations in the Odu [.. .] forbi
ments of [. . .] generation.
[A:] ... clearly. I mean, look at how it's working, even in term
other elements. Clearly one of the principal elements of th
is symmetry. I mean, look at the way the whole melody
structured. He's dropping by thirds in the melody. Or r
begins by dropping by thirds, then has this little hic
drops by thirds again. The first phrase is repeated exactly
lower. Look, I've worked it out here.
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80 Perspectives of New Music
# r Ir J. r 1 + DJ I
;r 6 I J J. Io
F---0I - iJ-nTI I # r
pi rv
16
16 L 1 I
v# 1- I
EXAMPLE 10
EXAMPLE 1 1
[A:] It's symmetrical. I mean not in the finest detail, but it is basica
symmetrical. You descend, and then ascend. And the process o
that descent and ascent is in this tightly controlled, very intercon
nected language. The logos definitely generates symmetrical rel
tionships.
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The "Giant Steps" Fragment 81
EXAMPLE 12
[At this point, I remember, Esu leaned back and placed both feet up on
the dresser. It had the appearance of casualness, but really seemed
designed to afford me an unfettered view of an area which distracted me
considerably.]
A: All right, well, all right. Um, okay this shows the movement from
A up to D in bars four to five. Well, okay, maybe it's a significant
move. So . . . okay, so it's not exactly symmetrical. I mean, it
would be boring if it were exactly so. I just mean on a large scale,
the melody is symmetrical. It descends and ascends. Well ... all
right, maybe this is a large scale drawing. So what's your point?
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82 Perspectives of New Music
EXAMPLE 1 3
[I dig around and find the following among my papers (Example 14):]
EXAMPLE 14
[A:] Oh wow, and when you look at it that way, it follows the shape of
the melody, too. What a trip. Both end higher than they begin,
too.
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The "Giant Steps" Fragment 83
I I
z. oI hf JJJ I I I
,olo 0I o _ L -- "I ?? 0
EXAMPLE 15
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84 Perspectives of New Music
Esu: You're saying he's riffin' on white pop culture in "Giant Steps"?
A: Aw, shit. Well I think so. I mean, all that whole-tone shit, t
symmetrical. And 'Trane was hip to Debussy, and knew a l
other composers, too. Look, there's been a lot of talk of s
metry in European music, even prior to the twentieth cent
mean, equal temperament itself is a symmetrical constructi
addition, Schoenberg talks about "mirror forms" and inver
all of which produce symmetrical construction. Who was it
Lewin guy, who talks about Schoenberg using symmetry
organizing element in both his tonal and non-tonal music.
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The "Giant Steps" Fragment 85
thing itself. If I'm going to look, I might as well leer at the "thing
itself."
Esu: Ahh, the male gaze fantasy. To see or not to see. Spread the work
open to gaze at the nether parts.
A: Well look, there are certain things we know. We know that 'Trane
had a certain interest in Schoenberg. He used the twelve-tone
method to write the head of "Miles's Mode." So it's no stretch of
the imagination to think that he had read "Composition with
Twelve Tones."
A: Does that mean that he couldn't have read the essays earlie
Maybe his interest in it changed, but he must have seen that ther
was an interest in symmetry.
Esu: Who went out in a flash. And [Nicolas] Slonimsky, the grea
divider.
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86 Perspectives of New Music
Esu: But the ascending half of "Giant Steps" is not twelve tones. It's
eight.
A: Right. He's not copying it, but sort of invoking it. Riffin' on it.
Signaling it.
Esu: Signifiyin(g).
Esu: So this is what 'Trane meant to address when he set out to write
"Giant Steps"?
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The "Giant Steps" Fragment 87
Esu: The two that are one. The honored one and the scorned one. The
alien and the citizen.
A: Screw you. I'm not saying that. I think that there are logical w
things are going to progress, and that any tonal system th
begins to modulate to farther and farther regions is eventua
going to break down. European music did it in one way, and J
did it in another. Look, I'm not [Andre] Hodier, here. There
similarities, I mean they're both using equal temperament, b
are based in a tonal harmonic conception, maybe even both us
the piano as a harmonic model, so it makes sense that there a
going to be similarities. According to you, if I give two people on
opposite sides of the world a drum, and they both strike it, o
with their palm, the other with a stick, and then say "look, they
both hitting the drum," you'll say I'm being essentialist. I me
maybe one would sing into it, and the other would drop it of
cliff, but if they both hit it to make a sound, what's wrong with
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88 Perspectives of New Music
noting that, with saying that two people, no matter how dispar-
ate, might make similar observations and similar conclusions?
A: No, but in a way yes. Nes and yo. I'm saying that there are simi-
larities in the way some aspects of jazz developed and some
aspects of European music developed, in harmonic structuring in
particular. And that's even less surprising, considering the influ-
ence European music has had on jazz. Of course, by Coltrane's
time, they were influencing each other. But I'm not saying that
they are the same, or that jazz was just recapitulating classical
music. [Ronald] Radano said that music history is a series of
"fusions and oppositions." I think "Giant Steps" is both, and I
think that that's part of the Odu of the tune. He's simultaneously
copying it and making fun of it. An open gate to Signifyin(g)!
And I think that it's also kind of' Trane's summation of bebop.
After that he changed. I mean, he was looking for something else.
He tried the Ornette thing with The Avante Garde, which didn't
really work out too well, and the next big thing he hit was "My
Favorite Things."
A: I mean, yes, he did write "Central Park West" later, and although
it's a beautiful tune, the writing isn't quite as tight. That's what I
was trying to say about "Fifth House."
A: Yeah. I mean it's a great tune. And, in fact, it seems like the whole
last half of the tune is spent reassuring us that we're in B major,
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The "Giant Steps" Fragment 89
that this B major is really the same one as the beginning of the
tune. The logos of "Central Park" is closer to "Giant Steps," but
the Odu doesn't seem to be. In fact, the Odu of "Giant Steps" is
closer to "Favorite Things," at least I think. They both have that
element of taking something, something that was once thought
about in a certain "acceptable" way, and turning it on its head. I
mean, jazz and bebop had been doing that for a long time, but
there was a particular way that 'Trane did it. Look, you can find
general evolutionary trends in his, or anyone else's work, but I
don't mean to imply it's purely linear. Like I said, "Giant Steps"
isn't a pivot point, but maybe it's the central factor in a pivot area.
He had his own "fusions and oppositions." In fact Miles had
fusion and apposition.
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90 Perspectives of New Music
APPENDIX
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The "Giant Steps" Fragment 91
017
Gis!
EN19
(21-22)
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92 Perspectives of New Music
GLOSSARY
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The "Giant Steps" Fragment 93
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94 Perspectives of New Music
REFERENCES
Barthes, Roland. 1975. The Pleasure of the Text. New York: The Noon-
day Press.
Gates, Henry Louis Jr. 1988. The Signifying Monkey. New York: Oxford
University Press.
Porter, Lewis. 1998. John Coltrane, His Life and Music. Ann Arbor:
University of Michigan Press.
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The "Giant Steps" Fragment 95
Gnostic Texts:
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