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Giant Steps
''Giant Steps'' is a studio album by the jazz musician John Coltrane. It was released in January or February 1960 through Atlantic Records. This was Coltrane's first album as leader for the label, with which he had signed a new contract the previous year. The record is regarded as one of the most influential jazz albums of all time. Many of its tracks have become practice templates for jazz saxophonists. In 2004, it was one of fifty recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry. It attained gold record status in 2018, having sold 500,000 copies. Two tracks, "Naima" and "Syeeda's Song Flute", are respectively named after Coltrane's wife at the time and her daughter, whom he adopted. A third, " Mr. P.C.", takes its name from the initials of bassist Paul Chambers, who played on the album. A fourth, "Cousin Mary", is named in honor of Mary Lyerly, Coltrane's younger cousin. Background In 1959, Miles Davis's business manager Haro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giant Steps (composition)
"Giant Steps" is a jazz Composition (music), composition by American saxophonist John Coltrane. It was first recorded in 1959 and released on the 1960 album ''Giant Steps (album), Giant Steps''. The composition features a cyclic chord pattern that has come to be known as Coltrane changes. The composition has become a jazz standard, covered by many artists. Due to its speed and rapid transition through the three keys of B major, G major and E♭ major, ''Vox (website), Vox'' described the piece as "the most feared song in jazz" and "one of the most challenging chord progressions to improvise over" in the jazz repertoire. Background "Giant Steps" was composed and recorded during Coltrane's 1959 sessions for Atlantic Records, his first for the label. The original recording features Coltrane on tenor saxophone, Paul Chambers on double bass, Tommy Flanagan (musician), Tommy Flanagan on piano, and Art Taylor on drums. As with other compositions, Coltrane brought "Giant Steps" to the stu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the Jazz#Post-war jazz, history of jazz and 20th-century music. Born and raised in North Carolina, after graduating from high school Coltrane moved to Philadelphia, where he studied music. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of Modal jazz, modes and was one of the players at the forefront of free jazz. He led at least fifty recording sessions and appeared on many albums by other musicians, including trumpeter Miles Davis and pianist Thelonious Monk. Over the course of his career, Coltrane's music took on an increasingly spiritual dimension, as exemplified on his most acclaimed album ''A Love Supreme'' (1965) and others. Decades after his death, Coltrane remains influential, and he has received numerous posthumous awards, including a Pulitzer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The New York City Jazz Record
''The New York City Jazz Record'' is a New York City based monthly free newspaper about jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ... music, including interviews, album releases, and a schedule of live jazz shows. It was launched in May 2002 by co-founders Laurence Donohue-Greene (Managing Editor) and Andrey Henkin (Editorial Director/Production Manager, who departed at the end of 2022) under the name ''AllAboutJazz-New York''. The gazette's name change switched permanently to ''The New York City Jazz Record'' as of March 2011. It is available alongside other free newspapers in unlocked boxes throughout New York City, as well as in pdf form online. Saxophonist Joe Lovano called it "Simply the hippest journal about jazz in New York that has ever been published." It has ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coltrane Changes
Coltrane changes (Coltrane Matrix or cycle, also known as chromatic third relations and multi-tonic changes) are a harmonic progression variation using substitute chords over common jazz chord progressions. These substitution patterns were first demonstrated by jazz musician John Coltrane on the albums ''Bags & Trane'' (on the track "Three Little Words") and '' Cannonball Adderley Quintet in Chicago'' (on "Limehouse Blues"). Coltrane continued his explorations on the 1960 album ''Giant Steps'' and expanded on the substitution cycle in his compositions "Giant Steps" and "Countdown", the latter of which is a reharmonized version of Eddie Vinson's "Tune Up". The Coltrane changes are a standard advanced harmonic substitution used in jazz improvisation. Function The changes serve as a pattern of chord substitutions for the ii–V–I progression (supertonic– dominant– tonic) and are noted for the tonally unusual root movement by major thirds (either up or down by a major third int ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sheets Of Sound
Sheets of sound was a term coined in 1958 by ''DownBeat'' magazine jazz critic Ira Gitler to describe the new, unique improvisational style of John Coltrane. Gitler first used the term on the liner notes for ''Soultrane (album), Soultrane'' (1958).Porter 1999, p. 319. Style Coltrane, a saxophonist, employed extremely dense improvisational yet patterned lines consisting of high speed arpeggios and scale patterns played in rapid succession: hundreds of notes running from the lowest to highest registers.Porter 1999, p. 111. The lines are often faster than sixteenth notes, consisting of quintuplets, septuplets, etc., and can sound like glissandos. Coltrane invented this style while playing with Thelonious Monk and developed it further when he returned to Miles Davis' group. Vertical approach Coltrane used the "sheets of sound" lines to liquidise and loosen the strict chords, modes, and harmonies of hard bop, whilst still adhering to them (at this stage in his musical development).Coltr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liner Notes
Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or cassette j-cards. Origin Liner notes are descended from the program notes for musical concerts, and developed into notes that were printed on the outer album jacket or the inner sleeve used to protect a traditional 12-inch vinyl record, i.e., long playing or gramophone record album. The term descends from the name "record liner" or "album liner". Album liner notes survived format changes from vinyl LP to cassette to CD. These notes can be sources of information about the contents of the recording as well as broader cultural topics. Contents Common material Such notes often contained a mix of factual and anecdotal material, and occasionally a discography for the artist or the issuing record label. Liner notes were also an occasion for thoughtful signed essays on the artist by another party, often a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Miles Davis Quintet
The Miles Davis Quintet was an American jazz band from 1955 to early 1969 led by Miles Davis. The quintet underwent frequent personnel changes toward its metamorphosis into a different ensemble in 1969. Most references pertain to two distinct and relatively stable bands: the First Great Quintet from 1955 to 1958, and the Second Great Quintet from late 1964 to early 1969, Davis being the only constant throughout. First Great Quintet/Sextet (1955–58) In the summer of 1955, after Davis performed at the Newport Jazz Festival, he was approached by Columbia Records executive George Avakian, who offered him a contract if he could form a regular band. Davis assembled his first regular quintet to meet a commitment at the Café Bohemia in July with Sonny Rollins on tenor saxophone, Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums. By the autumn, Rollins had left to deal with his heroin addiction, and later in the year joined the hard bop quintet led by Cliffor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kind Of Blue
''Kind of Blue'' is a studio album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released on August17,1959, by Columbia Records. For this album, Davis led a sextet featuring saxophonists John Coltrane and Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, pianist Bill Evans, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Jimmy Cobb, with new band pianist Wynton Kelly replacing Evans on " Freddie Freeloader". The album was recorded at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York City in two sessions on March2 and April22,1959. Influenced in part by Evans, who had been a member of the ensemble in 1958 and was called back for this album, Davis departed further from his early hard bop style in favor of greater experimentation with musical modes, as on the title track of his previous album, ''Milestones'' (1958). Basing ''Kind of Blue'' entirely on modality, Davis gave each performer a set of scales that encompassed the parameters of their improvisation and style and consequently more creative freedom with melodies; Coltra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lex Humphries
Lex Humphries (August 22, 1936 – July 11, 1994) was an American jazz drummer. He worked with two musicians known for mixing world music with jazz: Sun Ra and Yusef Lateef. As a member of Sun Ra's "Arkestra" he appeared in the film '' Space Is the Place''. Humphries played on the ''Giant Steps'' sessions with John Coltrane. The alternate versions of "Giant Steps", "Naima", and "Like Sonny" that he and Cedar Walton recorded with Coltrane were first released in 1974. He was also the first drummer in the Jazztet, appearing on their first album, ''Meet the Jazztet'', in 1960. He died in Philadelphia in 1994, aged 57. The cause of death was undisclosed, but according to fellow drummer Mickey Roker, he was distraught in his later years due to marital problems and being separated from his son. Discography As sideman With Donald Byrd *'' Fuego'' (1959) *'' Byrd in Flight'' (1960) *'' At the Half Note Cafe'' (1963) *''A New Perspective'' (1963) With John Coltrane *'' Alternate Takes' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cedar Walton
Cedar Anthony Walton Jr. (January 17, 1934 – August 19, 2013) was an American hard bop jazz pianist. He came to prominence as a member of drummer Art Blakey's band, The Jazz Messengers, before establishing a long career as a bandleader and composer. Several of his compositions have become jazz standards, including "Mosaic", "Bolivia (Walton song), Bolivia", "Holy Land", "Mode for Joe" and "Ugetsu/Fantasy in D". Early life Walton was born and grew up in Dallas, Texas."Pianist-Composer Cedar Walton Dies at Age 79" , ''DownBeat'', August 20, 2013. His mother Ruth, an aspiring concert pianist, was his first teacher, and took him to jazz performances around Dallas. Walton cited Nat King Cole, Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk and Art Tatum as his major influences on piano. He be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Milt Jackson
Milton Jackson (January 1, 1923 – October 9, 1999), nicknamed "Bags", was an American jazz vibraphonist. He is especially remembered for his cool swinging solos as a member of the Modern Jazz Quartet and his penchant for collaborating with hard bop and post-bop players. A very expressive player, Jackson differentiated himself from other vibraphonists in his attention to variations on harmonics and rhythm. He was particularly fond of the twelve-bar blues at slow tempos. On occasion, Jackson also sang and played piano. Biography Jackson was born on January 1, 1923, in Detroit, Michigan, United States, the son of Manley Jackson and Lillie Beaty Jackson. Like many of his contemporaries, he was surrounded by music from an early age, particularly that of religious meetings: "Everyone wants to know where I got that funky style. Well, it came from church. The music I heard was open, relaxed, impromptu soul music" (quoted in Nat Hentoff's liner notes to '' Plenty, Plenty Soul''). ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Record Contract
A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording act (artist or group), where the act makes an audio recording (or series of recordings) for the label to sell and promote. Artists under contract are normally only allowed to record for that label exclusively; guest appearances on other artists' records will carry a notice "By courtesy of (the name of the label)", and that label in question may receive a percentage of sales through publishing. Copyrights, payment and royalties Labels typically own the copyright in the records their artists make, and also the master copies of those records. An exception is when a label makes a distribution deal with an artist; in this case, the artist, their manager, or another party may own the copyright (and masters), while the record is licensed exclusively to the label for a set period of time. Promotion is a key factor in the success of a record, and is largel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
