A little-known fact about this composition is that John Coltrane worked on his "improv" over these chords for TWO YEARS before playing it in public. He wasn't just "making it up" on this recording, as the chord changes went whizzing by; he was using some of the specific modal patterns and arpeggios that he liked best, and which suited his "conception" of this piece, AND which he had practiced - intensely - many times in advance. Mr. Coltrane was not only an inspired musical genius, he worked as hard as any Olympic athlete to bring out the very best in his own playing, and he has inspired generations of young musicians to do the same.
I actually like how confused and bewildered the piano solo sounds. He throws a lot of the chords in right at the last minute as a syncopation, like he's just barely keeping up. If the whole song was busy and confident, I think it would lose something.
I really like the honesty of the music; during the piano solo it became obvious that the pianist (Tommy Flanagan) had lost it, he started playing chords, trying to pick it up again. I really like the way this was left in. A lot of artists would have rerecorded the piano track (this was before the technology of punching in and punching out). It shows how these guys were literally flying-by-the-seat-of-their-pants!
@Spanish Moustache Punching in and out are common audio engineering terms. Also, this album was recorded waay before computers were used for recording. These bands were recording live to tape, so punching in a new piano solo probably would've been possible.
@@andrew7taylor It is opposite for me, the callouses on my plucking hand are considerably thicker than the ones on my fretting hand. It was like that even before I started playing stand up!
For me I found that I didn't see the complexity till I tried to play it, then this showed me the patterns. So I went from it being chaos to being genius.
I wouldn't say its chaotic, moreso just incomprendable. It sounds impressive and different, and it looks different from the other solos that you see around here. But, I agree. True appreciation comes after trying to play it.
See I think it's it's the opposite, I thought it was super crazy and complex but now seeing the solo written out its mainly arppegios, running up and down scales and tonal modes, and ya idk, I just understand it more after seeing this
This song is ridiculous, complicated chords, a bunch of key changes, ridiculous speed and change of chords, how did he even breath playing the sax while going at that speed? What an amazing song
Tommy Flannagan began writing his will after finding out Giant Steps was a 280 bpm swing chart and not a ballad, explaining why his solo was just chords.
i train five days a week for a minimum of one hour to create jokes as unfunny as this. it is more than a simple hobby, it is a lifestyle. i will sit down and balance a perfect mix of awkward pacing, flat punchlines, and overdone jokes for hours on end most days, honing my skills to deliver the least funny jokes imaginable. this was one year ago. are you prepared for the might of a trained anti-comedian
I think he wanted to play it toward 300 BPM. Song starts at 300 and ends toward 300. They just (understandably) dragged a bit in the middle, being for most of the tune somewhere between 280 and 290.
nah, more like a pop final in a class you've never heard of, but you have to take it with your other hand and its in another language Giant Steps is hard
I can just imagine this playing in a Starbucks quietly while no one is really listening and just drinking their coffee and all but the jazz musicians suddenly hear their mating call lmaoo
the funny thing is ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Coltrane had spent dozens of hours practicing these chords but he didn't really give Flanagan a heads up,, some people Look at it like Coltrane was the head coach but he didn't tell the pianist what the play was gonna be so the team lost the game but Coltrane had an excellent individual effort,,,lol
Who (other than Charlie Parker or maybe Dizzy Gillespie) could have possibly kept up anyway? I love the piano solo's simplicity because it really adds a beautiful, elegant break, in between John Coltrane's incredible runs on the sax.
@@JazzKeyboardist1 Flannagan had the changes. Coltrane sent him the sheet music before the session date...he thought the tune was a ballad so he practiced it that way...got to the session date and Coltrane counted off crazy tempo lol
I actually love the piano solo, it is a nice calm to the storm of awesome playing. I too just learned about the solo and how Flannagan had seemed to have "given up" during the solo but I is beautiful the whole song is beautiful and I love this animation of the sheet music.
This video, posted 17 years ago. got me hooked on Coltrane, having never previously been a jazz fan. I distinctly recall being astonished by the speed and virtuosity, even though I didn't understand a thing about the music then. From this vid, I went on to discover, and come to deeply love, Coltrane's music, all the way up to the batshit free stuff in his later career. A decade-long journey at this stage. Giant steps indeed.
I can imagine poor Tommy Flanagan sitting there with his jaw open at the piano, realising he needs to come up with a solo for this masterpiece of chordal insanity, and then suddenly he has to play it.
You begin to realize how perfectly these legends play when you see it accompanied on paper! Every note begins to seem so intentional, not quite just improvisation, but the rests are so deliberate that it makes me begin to wonder how exactly their minds are working and what the heck they're thinking when they play their instrument.
Joe Pass was asked a lot what he is thinking while playing and he just simply always answered - "I don't know." They don't think, they just see, hear and live music. There are a lot good musicians that got there through hard work and talent, but there are a few that are just off the charts. Coltrane was one of few.
I wish I could have seen Tommy's face during this recording. I love this piano solo. It truly shows how complicated this song is and how gifted you have to be to improvise on the fly over those rapidly changing chord progressions. That's equivalent to speaking several languages at once super fast and still making sense. Tommy did an amazing job for such a huge challenge.
Love this.....look at the melodic contour....the 8th note lines in the solo are like a sine wave....roller coaster.....hills and valleys. Thanks for posting!
"Sometimes I wish I could walk up to my music as if for the first time, as if I had never heard it before. Being so inescapably a part of it, I'll never know what the listener gets, what the listener feels, and that's too bad." - John Coltrane
A classic! I read that Coltrane was once termed "The Assassin of Bebop", in that he took the concept of improvising based on rapid and difficult chord changes to its conclusion. Someone here called it "random", but it's anything but - it's beholden to the chord changes. It's interesting to realize that Coltrane later abandoned this chordal approach, taking on a more modal approach with Miles and then getting more into a "free jazz" concept. What an amazing musician he was - truly inspiring.
I am one of those odd ducks that has obsessively listened to his song 1000 times (at least?). This animation actually gives me a new perspective on this piece.
If I were the drummer I would be anything but bored. A pianist continuing a solo for an extra 48 measures and a bass and a tenor sax going at the speed of light.
bro not to be wack, but i literally could not disagree with you more. i see what you're saying about the drum pattern superficially seeming like the same over and over and possibly being boring for art taylor, but the drummer in this recording is clearly so focused and in the game. he is not bored at all. i have always admired the drummer on this track, since he makes such beautiful musical decisions despite having such a limited space to do so. just start listening around 2:54 and pay attention to how the drummer PERFECTLY marks off where coltrane's solo is about to end, he completes the transition and sets up a new direction for the chart. such great musical expertise is shown by "the drums" (art taylor). im not tryna harsh u at all here but dude come on, gotta give respect where it's due;; i think the fact that art taylor is so locked into coltrane's style of playing shows that there's no way he ever felt bored during this or with coltrane. he was definitely fighting to make a strong recording and back up the feel to the best of his ability. you made an amusing comment but theres just not a ton of basis for it, taylor definitely has more of an attention span than the five minutes this song goes on for and is clearly very invested in his 'art'
@@sune8996 i know it was bro, wasnt trying to call you out;; it can just be upsetting sometimes when people always make the common joke that drummers arent involved in the music when they really have a hard job with a lot of responsibility in the band. no hate 2u just trying to show that art taylor was just as involved as everybody else;;; anyways have a nice night and I hope u had a pleasant Christmas, cheers yo
Esto es traumático y asombroso a la vez.Viendo la transcripción de su improvisación no puedo creer el oído y la capacidad musical, sumado a una agilidad mental extraordinaria, para improvisar en todos los cambios de acorde a esa velocidad.Ninguna nota sobra, no juega sobre una sola escala sino que las domina todas como si fuera normal para el.Este tipo es enorme y su legado es increíble.
I remember the first time i watch this video back in 2010 maybe, it blows my mind completly, it was -and still is- so nice and original. Fantastic!! Thank you for this video.
Yes... the point I'm making is that most view this song as difficult to jam, due to the rapid modulations to distant keys. HOWEVER it's conceptually easy, despite being difficult to play.
One can learn the CHORDS and keep them straight... it's making up a new melody that SOUNDS PRETTY and makes MELODIC SENSE which for me is the great difficulty. If I can ever get the hang of that, maybe someday I'd like to then also try improvising a contrapuntal alto line in the right hand at the same time to interlace with the soprano line also in the right hand (piano, organ), but in reality I don't have the depth of character to pull this off.
Giant Steps and his version of "But Not for Me" have those same intervals that I've loved for years. Don't know enough theory anymore to recall the reasons, but I've always loved those.
LOL, Good one, But the evil incarnate Kenny G could play this tune pretty easily and probably has jammed on it hundreds of times.... Kenny figured out while playing with Jeff Lorber that he should create pop instrumental music and he will be rich and famous and be able to improvise anytime he wants and earn hundreds of thousands of dollars..... If it was easy to create pop hits like Kenny G does, don't you think all starving musicians would do it?
+JazzKeyboardist1 Yikes! Millions of starving musicians turning into Kenny G is a scary thought. Nothing against the guy personally. I just don't like that watered down stuff. You make a good point though. I wonder how people would react if Kenny G recorded and released a hard bop album.
JazzKeyboardist1 Ouch! That was mean. Nobody's making me listen to Kenny G. You brought him up, or somebody else did. lol... Now go listen to a drum solo and quit playing all those C7#4 chords! haha...
If Coltrane created this solo, then there's no doubt he can repeat it. He would already have practised these patterns extensively, so the finger memory is already there. And besides, the whole point of learning these solos is to better yourself as an improviser and musician, so you can create your own solos that are on par with the best. It's common practise, and when you are given a score for it, there are no excuses.
The mighty Duke Ellington said it best, "they steal some, I steal some, it's all good." I believe that all music is theft. We begin by trying to play what we have heard, and move on to trying to play it better and better. A few of us learn to mix and match what we have heard with bits that we have added ourselves. Music is like a wedding: something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.
Incredible to hear and see this! Despite all the notes, it's also an interesting solo with a ton of variety, and thoroughly uses the whole "official" range of the tenor (he hadn't explored the ultra-high notes yet). Only complaint: they didn't transcribe that final run that has even faster notes than the rest of the tune!!
Great tune and good animation! As a saxophonist, I never understand why people think Giant Steps is really hard to play. If you're a jazzer, then the chords are just moving up in minor 3rds then acting as a V, I. For example, if the first chord is Ab, the next chord would be C, then F. Also, look at Coltranes solo, it's mainly chord tones! And what I mean by that is he's mainly sticking to the notes in the arpeggio of the chord he's playing on. So simple but yet so fascinating. I'm studying this at University at the moment and I'm loving it!
In the same vein, I could never understand all that hype about what Michelangelo did to the Sistine chapel. I painted my own ceiling a couple of times, and it really ain't that hard.
it is around 280 to 300 bpm, roughly equivalent to very fast bluegrass. In tunes like Giant Steps (or any of the insanely fast stuff with Charlie Parker) the playing is based on eighth notes, 2 notes per beat. In bluegrass, the feel is based on 16th notes (4 four notes per beat), and tempos are around 144.
My conclusion on jazz and soloing on the basic chords is like this; If everybody can play Coltranes solo, it is no more a solo, it is a written piece of music. You can as a musichen play a solo once, that is so perfect, it is a solo, your own and nobody elses. But if you want to copy solos just for practice it is OK for me, but who wants to be a "copyplayer"?
From my understanding, the reason you would copy Coltrane to learn some vocabulary of the language he is using. He did the same thing to players before him like Charlie Parker... These guys are speaking a complicated-ass language, and just as we all mimicked words as a baby; we did so until the point that we could construct out own sentences.
I don not think that any seriou Jazz player wants to be a "copy-cat!" IMITATION is an essential way of LEARNING; from babies to adults. After that, you're on your own ! Enjoy !
I view forms like Jazz Improv as a musical conversation. You have to be able to speak the language to communicate. kvsuprise got it but yea it's good to be original as much as possible (which is why being a working artist is so tough).All good posts.
A perfect song. Not only is the simple theme very beautiful, catchy, and satisfying to listen to, but the "improv" (wink wink) solo is goddamn godlike.
The reason for the transposition to C it's because the Tenor Saxophone player plays Bb as if it is C, because it's a transposing instrument. This happens as well with the Soprano Sax, and in the case of the Alto and Baritone, Eb is what they call C. Just to let you know.
Now, this is deep and worth audible notice. I don;t play tenor sax, but I know many who do. I'm going to ask what's going on here. This is serious, timeless, essential to know.
Makes a little bit of sense, though. The head transcription would be in concert pitch since it would be shared with all the band members for comping and such. As for the solo, it would be assumed that only a tenor sax player would be concerned with it, and the transcription would reflect that.
Just discoverd this after a new email from Lester Perkins' "Jazz on the tube" newsletter. Pretty amazing. Although, be sure, Coltrane didn't write down that solo, probably ever. If you're into music composition, math, esoteric stuff, or just curious, also read here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coltrane_changes
It still amazes me how comfortable the greats, like Coltrane and Parker, are with soloing over rapid chord progressions. It's just absolutely stunning, and I can't imagine how much time it would've taken to be comfortable with it. I mean, Coltrane didn't even practice songs. Just technique, over and over. He put his life and soul into the sax, and it's not really something everyone can do. That's what separates the greats from everyone else. You can be like them, but it's just a lot of work. If you work hard, you will be far better than any "talented" person. The only problem is, is that no matter how great you are you won't ever shine because of the era of music we are in. It's truly a shame. Personally, I don't care for all the electronically created beats. This is where it's at. I mean, I'd even take classical over the crap that's played today.
Whether the sounds are electronic or not, doesnt change the chords that are in said songs. I know a ton of electronic artists who dip heavily into jazz. For example, Haywyre. Try it!
I'm going to start learning this solo on the violin, so I could definitely use some advice: How do jazz musicians conceptualize the pulse in this piece? Is the unit pulse felt as a lightning fast quarter note or a heavily subdivided half note?
Este video tiene mas de 10 años, cuando lo vi la primera vez me impresiono mucho.! Ho lo vuelvo a ver y me sigue dejando sin aliento.¡ gran trabajo! Grande Coltrane.!!!!
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
Thanks for showing the piano solo! Appreciate it.
I know. And they transcribed it without missing a note!
@@27shogun58 without missing a bar*
😂😂😂😂
Took me a second to get that this was joke. Lol.
Damn you Monday!
facebook.com/VoxEarworm/videos/359315524626704/?t=0
Everyone bemoans the pianist but ... the bassist had to WALK over these chord changes...I can’t imagine the amount of stress he must’ve been under
If I am not mistaken, the bassist was Paul Chambers, one of the best jazz bassists of all time so I think he was just fine.
Etienne Music dont think he was just fine if this is one of the first times he was seeing this.
But, but,... basically it's just ii-V-I. Right? 😁
Flying Spagetti lol I wish
Flying Spagetti LOLOLOL
A little-known fact about this composition is that John Coltrane worked on his "improv" over these chords for TWO YEARS before playing it in public. He wasn't just "making it up" on this recording, as the chord changes went whizzing by; he was using some of the specific modal patterns and arpeggios that he liked best, and which suited his "conception" of this piece, AND which he had practiced - intensely - many times in advance. Mr. Coltrane was not only an inspired musical genius, he worked as hard as any Olympic athlete to bring out the very best in his own playing, and he has inspired generations of young musicians to do the same.
Poor Tommy (piano player) didn't spend 2 years practicing..
+Christian Adamsson An dit shows :D
Can you imagine if Coltrane came back from the dead and said, "Na, I just pushed some buttons and BOOM, magic."
shut up boomer @@aviewer6897
I liked it better when I thought he just walked up to the mic and layed it out like he was whistling Dixie.
I can honestly claim to be able to play every note of this. Just not in the same order nor as fast.
+Emerald Coast Community Band gg
Haaaa!!!!!
Unfortunately this statement can be applied to any song
Corey Henry did an awesome rendition of this song and it was pretty slow. Slow ain't bad, just different.
On the piano , as above. Sadly my Sax repertoire consists of me humming "SAX-O-MO-PHONE SAX-O-MO-PHONE" into the mouthpiece and being sad.
I can play all of the rests in this song... perfectly.
+W4Rnerv Thing is.. even that is a good accomplishment.
+Harrison Houde I was thinking something along those lines. Some of those rests come in at some strange places, mainly because it's going by so fast.
+W4Rnerv LOL! You're an idiot! LOL! Oh well, at least you're better than I am.
+Lamont Lewis It's four minutes and fifty two seconds of the most entertaining silence you've ever experienced!
+W4Rnerv what do you do in between ;-)
Lol that 14 measure “piano solo pause” followed by a 48 measure pause “piano solo continues”
federico saviano
Flanagan flails.
Wait.... WAIT INTENSIFIES
I actually like how confused and bewildered the piano solo sounds. He throws a lot of the chords in right at the last minute as a syncopation, like he's just barely keeping up. If the whole song was busy and confident, I think it would lose something.
exactly how I feel
he IS barely keeping up coltrane immediately picked up right at the end to save him
In the last re edition of giant steps there is a false start because the piano couldnt keep up
*Coltrane playing the pickup at the end of the piano solo* bitch you’re a whole ass measure behind
i felt like i should have been wearing a seatbelt while listening to this
This made me wheeze
I wish
43K who'd survived giant steps
A very pleasant evening 😍🌹
There are no breaks on the Coltrane.
brakes?
Frijolero18 actually there was a break... the paino solo
Woooooooosh
No breaks. Instead, rests and stops.
Jesus Christ it's a PUN
"What key is this in?"
"Yes."
I laughed at this for way longer than I should have.
I think it’s that one
Its in every key you could possibly think of 😂😂
I think it's in "Jailer's Keys."
You killed me😂😂😂😂
I really like the honesty of the music; during the piano solo it became obvious that the pianist (Tommy Flanagan) had lost it, he started playing chords, trying to pick it up again.
I really like the way this was left in. A lot of artists would have rerecorded the piano track (this was before the technology of punching in and punching out).
It shows how these guys were literally flying-by-the-seat-of-their-pants!
heh, yea
i like how on the score it just says "piano solo 48 (bars)"
like the pianist lost his shit
...and with root movement in 3rds, rather than more the usual shifts in 4ths.
@Spanish Moustache Punching in and out are common audio engineering terms. Also, this album was recorded waay before computers were used for recording. These bands were recording live to tape, so punching in a new piano solo probably would've been possible.
I personally fucking love the piano solo. Despise its less elitist chopz approach that is expected of the elite jazz musician behind the screen
i figure the bassist must have had major callouses on all his fingertips...
Considering he was a bebop base player, he likely did!
Sockem what makes a beepbop bass player different
@@zanetorres1291 playing at the vigorous pace required for bepop really tears up your fingertips. I speak from experience
All bass players have callouses on their playing (left) hand, even amateurs. It comes with pushing with steel wires with force.
@@andrew7taylor It is opposite for me, the callouses on my plucking hand are considerably thicker than the ones on my fretting hand. It was like that even before I started playing stand up!
you dont realize the complexity until you can visually see it. this is awesome.
For me I found that I didn't see the complexity till I tried to play it, then this showed me the patterns. So I went from it being chaos to being genius.
I wouldn't say its chaotic, moreso just incomprendable. It sounds impressive and different, and it looks different from the other solos that you see around here. But, I agree. True appreciation comes after trying to play it.
yeah that or until you start to transcribe and play it yourself!
See I think it's it's the opposite, I thought it was super crazy and complex but now seeing the solo written out its mainly arppegios, running up and down scales and tonal modes, and ya idk, I just understand it more after seeing this
But he only plays one note at a time! ;)
if this was a Guitar Hero song, the plastic controller would melt.
ua-cam.com/video/PFa-4WSvfi0/v-deo.html
there is a clone hero chart for it, which is essentially the same thing.
Acai probs
Just so happens this is one of my favorite songs to play on Clone Hero lol
this actually wouldn't be extremely hard on guitar hero, a lot of the really good players do faster stuff than this
This song is ridiculous, complicated chords, a bunch of key changes, ridiculous speed and change of chords, how did he even breath playing the sax while going at that speed? What an amazing song
Coltrane is awesome, but get into some Charlie Parker. ☺
All those little rests after the quick passages.
Matt G. cocaine
+narfcakes colctraine
+KeMiHaLo Apparently Parker said to Miles, 'I can't stop practicing , what can I do ?' To which Miles replied , 'take it out of your mouth Man'
Tommy Flannagan began writing his will after finding out Giant Steps was a 280 bpm swing chart and not a ballad, explaining why his solo was just chords.
Comedy isn't your calling.
@@musical_lolu4811 who asked tho
i train five days a week for a minimum of one hour to create jokes as unfunny as this. it is more than a simple hobby, it is a lifestyle. i will sit down and balance a perfect mix of awkward pacing, flat punchlines, and overdone jokes for hours on end most days, honing my skills to deliver the least funny jokes imaginable. this was one year ago. are you prepared for the might of a trained anti-comedian
I think he wanted to play it toward 300 BPM. Song starts at 300 and ends toward 300. They just (understandably) dragged a bit in the middle, being for most of the tune somewhere between 280 and 290.
I think he was paid per note....
lmao
Lmao na I doubt he had much money
Nah, it was per chord multiplied by the amount of keys the song was in if I recall correctly
Or per key
Ok Mr. Coltrane, here is your check for $12,785 and 19 cents.
Nah, Coltrane did Flanagan dirty...
Like a teacher slappin a pop quiz in front of you without warning and expecting it to be done.
nah, more like a pop final in a class you've never heard of, but you have to take it with your other hand and its in another language
Giant Steps is hard
Piano Solo |--- 14 ---| LOL. Poor Tommy!
Minty Swirl and then |--- 48 ---| lol
I can't blame him though.
What does it mean?
Minty Swirl Leaving a tactical dot bc I'm curious what this means >>> .
@@samueljoeltangkawarow1288 it just means rest 14 measures
@@xxdarkknight420xx2 it means to rest for 14 measures
I can just imagine this playing in a Starbucks quietly while no one is really listening and just drinking their coffee and all but the jazz musicians suddenly hear their mating call lmaoo
My favorite part of this is when the piano comes in and how this guy just clearly can't keep up with Coltrane lol
the funny thing is ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Coltrane had spent dozens of hours practicing these chords but he didn't really give Flanagan a heads up,,
some people Look at it like Coltrane was the head coach but he didn't tell the pianist what the play was gonna be so the team lost the game but Coltrane had an excellent individual effort,,,lol
Who (other than Charlie Parker or maybe Dizzy Gillespie) could have possibly kept up anyway? I love the piano solo's simplicity because it really adds a beautiful, elegant break, in between John Coltrane's incredible runs on the sax.
@@JazzKeyboardist1 Flannagan had the changes. Coltrane sent him the sheet music before the session date...he thought the tune was a ballad so he practiced it that way...got to the session date and Coltrane counted off crazy tempo lol
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3:54 where Coltrane bolted out hahahaha
I don't know how to read music (for now), but this an absolute delight to watch
This was very entertaining thank you.
Hi Chris
Hi Chris
pizza_theme_spiderman_ps2_ytpmv_wheeze.mp4
It looks like I was watching a Tom and Jerry chase sequence, I like it
Tom and Johnny 😄
Except here, they’re both on crack
Tommy and Johnny...
I actually love the piano solo, it is a nice calm to the storm of awesome playing. I too just learned about the solo and how Flannagan had seemed to have "given up" during the solo but I is beautiful the whole song is beautiful and I love this animation of the sheet music.
This video, posted 17 years ago. got me hooked on Coltrane, having never previously been a jazz fan. I distinctly recall being astonished by the speed and virtuosity, even though I didn't understand a thing about the music then. From this vid, I went on to discover, and come to deeply love, Coltrane's music, all the way up to the batshit free stuff in his later career. A decade-long journey at this stage. Giant steps indeed.
one of the most difficult jazz standart for solo improvising...
Coltrane's performance is unbelievable....
"so what scale is this in"
"Chromatic scale, duh"
Richard Lyman check the song look at the sheet music
@@richardlyman2961 look at the chords
and also its not in a scale but a key.
I can imagine poor Tommy Flanagan sitting there with his jaw open at the piano, realising he needs to come up with a solo for this masterpiece of chordal insanity, and then suddenly he has to play it.
Wonderful!!! Coltrane and his patners: Tommy Flanagan (piano) Paul Chambers (bass) and Art Taylor (drums). A masterpiece of modern jazz.
You begin to realize how perfectly these legends play when you see it accompanied on paper! Every note begins to seem so intentional, not quite just improvisation, but the rests are so deliberate that it makes me begin to wonder how exactly their minds are working and what the heck they're thinking when they play their instrument.
Joe Pass was asked a lot what he is thinking while playing and he just simply always answered - "I don't know." They don't think, they just see, hear and live music. There are a lot good musicians that got there through hard work and talent, but there are a few that are just off the charts. Coltrane was one of few.
I wish I could have seen Tommy's face during this recording. I love this piano solo. It truly shows how complicated this song is and how gifted you have to be to improvise on the fly over those rapidly changing chord progressions. That's equivalent to speaking several languages at once super fast and still making sense. Tommy did an amazing job for such a huge challenge.
The way Trane relaxes at the last few measures is beautiful .
John Coltrane: Hey Tommy! I want you to improvise over some chords!
Tommy Flanagan (the pianist): What chords?
John Coltrane: *Yes*
I can't even read music. This is just interesting to see.
Work and genius are intimately linked.
jazz degree under 5 minutes thank you Internet
Wow! Kudos for transcribing this! Unless you've tried transcribing, people, you have no idea nor appreciation how difficult this had to be.
Love this.....look at the melodic contour....the 8th note lines in the solo are like a sine wave....roller coaster.....hills and valleys. Thanks for posting!
"Sometimes I wish I could walk up to my music as if for the first time, as if I had never heard it before. Being so inescapably a part of it, I'll never know what the listener gets, what the listener feels, and that's too bad." - John Coltrane
“My greatest pain in life is that I will never be able to see myself perform”
-Kanye West
This video only makes me appreciate this man more than I already did. Absolute unparalleled musical genius. Thank you for this.
This man went above and beyond to write and animate every single moving note Coltrane made.
A classic! I read that Coltrane was once termed "The Assassin of Bebop", in that he took the concept of improvising based on rapid and difficult chord changes to its conclusion. Someone here called it "random", but it's anything but - it's beholden to the chord changes. It's interesting to realize that Coltrane later abandoned this chordal approach, taking on a more modal approach with Miles and then getting more into a "free jazz" concept. What an amazing musician he was - truly inspiring.
This is the best movie I've ever seen
planning on playing this. wish me luck folks
How's it going?
Apparently not well XD
But, I would like to be wrong.
He died trying it
RIP
I was ready to write "RIP in advance", but it already killed him
I am one of those odd ducks that has obsessively listened to his song 1000 times (at least?). This animation actually gives me a new perspective on this piece.
and the drums are like "well this is boring"
If I were the drummer I would be anything but bored. A pianist continuing a solo for an extra 48 measures and a bass and a tenor sax going at the speed of light.
bro not to be wack, but i literally could not disagree with you more. i see what you're saying about the drum pattern superficially seeming like the same over and over and possibly being boring for art taylor, but the drummer in this recording is clearly so focused and in the game. he is not bored at all. i have always admired the drummer on this track, since he makes such beautiful musical decisions despite having such a limited space to do so. just start listening around 2:54 and pay attention to how the drummer PERFECTLY marks off where coltrane's solo is about to end, he completes the transition and sets up a new direction for the chart. such great musical expertise is shown by "the drums" (art taylor). im not tryna harsh u at all here but dude come on, gotta give respect where it's due;; i think the fact that art taylor is so locked into coltrane's style of playing shows that there's no way he ever felt bored during this or with coltrane. he was definitely fighting to make a strong recording and back up the feel to the best of his ability. you made an amusing comment but theres just not a ton of basis for it, taylor definitely has more of an attention span than the five minutes this song goes on for and is clearly very invested in his 'art'
@@rickjames-uh4dw damn man,, it's just a joke
@@sune8996 i know it was bro, wasnt trying to call you out;; it can just be upsetting sometimes when people always make the common joke that drummers arent involved in the music when they really have a hard job with a lot of responsibility in the band. no hate 2u just trying to show that art taylor was just as involved as everybody else;;; anyways have a nice night and I hope u had a pleasant Christmas, cheers yo
@@rickjames-uh4dw You have the respect of us pianists
I came here after watching the Vox video so I could appreciate the entire song. I was not disappointed.
One of the only songs in "H"
Esto es traumático y asombroso a la vez.Viendo la transcripción de su improvisación no puedo creer el oído y la capacidad musical, sumado a una agilidad mental extraordinaria, para improvisar en todos los cambios de acorde a esa velocidad.Ninguna nota sobra, no juega sobre una sola escala sino que las domina todas como si fuera normal para el.Este tipo es enorme y su legado es increíble.
When i was in band class, I told my teacher i wanted to learn this as my final exam. She laughed. I understand why.
The 235 dislikes tried to play along and just couldn't do it!
hahaha, i still gave it a like either way
its 250 dislkes now but i still liked
ahaha!you're right!they just dislike their life!looooooosers!
It's near impossible to play along because it isn't in the right key for a tenor.
Because you can't see the notes in advance
this must have taken a good minute to make.. great effort, thanks for sharing!
I remember the first time i watch this video back in 2010 maybe, it blows my mind completly, it was -and still is- so nice and original. Fantastic!!
Thank you for this video.
Happy birthday John...you'd be 90 today
Bassist, Tommy Flanagan and Coltrane working hard on changes while the drums are like
👁👄👁
The Magic of old UA-cam , i dunno how you did this animation but surely took a lot of effort, a lot, thanks a lot
Piano solo: --14--
*_PIANO SOLO CONTINUES --48--_*
So hard to play, but so easy conceptually.... V-I or ii-V-I only. Wow!
but a constantly modulating V I
Yes... the point I'm making is that most view this song as difficult to jam, due to the rapid modulations to distant keys. HOWEVER it's conceptually easy, despite being difficult to play.
Yes, I do agree. It does make an easier time of playing over the progression.
Just play the 2-5-1s, looool
One can learn the CHORDS and keep them straight... it's making up a new melody that SOUNDS PRETTY and makes MELODIC SENSE which for me is the great difficulty. If I can ever get the hang of that, maybe someday I'd like to then also try improvising a contrapuntal alto line in the right hand at the same time to interlace with the soprano line also in the right hand (piano, organ), but in reality I don't have the depth of character to pull this off.
Giant Steps and his version of "But Not for Me" have those same intervals that I've loved for years. Don't know enough theory anymore to recall the reasons, but I've always loved those.
Why was this just recommended to me 13 years later
This makes me feel like a marble in the dryer
One of the greatests bebop piece i've ever heard. Coltrane, the best jazz artist ever!.
Watching this and thinking of you dad. Sooooo miss you!
Thank you Dan Cohen for making this amazing video you made viewable again!
I see Kenny G came in here and hit 'dislike' over 200 times.
LOL, Good one, But the evil incarnate Kenny G could play this tune pretty easily and probably has jammed on it hundreds of times.... Kenny figured out while playing with Jeff Lorber that he should create pop instrumental music and he will be rich and famous and be able to improvise anytime he wants and earn hundreds of thousands of dollars..... If it was easy to create pop hits like Kenny G does, don't you think all starving musicians would do it?
+JazzKeyboardist1 Yikes! Millions of starving musicians turning into Kenny G is a scary thought. Nothing against the guy personally. I just don't like that watered down stuff. You make a good point though. I wonder how people would react if Kenny G recorded and released a hard bop album.
JazzKeyboardist1 Ouch! That was mean. Nobody's making me listen to Kenny G. You brought him up, or somebody else did. lol... Now go listen to a drum solo and quit playing all those C7#4 chords! haha...
+rannxerox ROTFLMAO.
+drewper73 I'd love to see Kenny G release a hard bop album. Dude can play real good I just don't like what he's playing
Watching the music sheet roll by is like being on a roller coaster. Fascinating to watch.
If Coltrane created this solo, then there's no doubt he can repeat it. He would already have practised these patterns extensively, so the finger memory is already there. And besides, the whole point of learning these solos is to better yourself as an improviser and musician, so you can create your own solos that are on par with the best. It's common practise, and when you are given a score for it, there are no excuses.
The mighty Duke Ellington said it best, "they steal some, I steal some, it's all good." I believe that all music is theft. We begin by trying to play what we have heard, and move on to trying to play it better and better. A few of us learn to mix and match what we have heard with bits that we have added ourselves. Music is like a wedding: something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.
Learning the first page of "The flight of the bumblebee' will give players ideas on how to chromatically conquer this tune
Why does this make me laugh? Lmao I mean it's amazing but the craziness just makes me chuckle.
My non musical wife said:” whats that noise?”
If only she knew....
Divorce her
She's right hahahah
@Dozo it's so weird trying to imagine how things would sound to me if I had no musical training
Sacrifice her
“Keep it simple, stupid.”
Solo advice from Adam Neely’s teacher
Back when I was playing sax regularly, I attempted to improvise over this song...and failed. A new challenger has appeared!
Put it on 2x speed and play it
Done.
uh it really isn't my tempo
That's how "Countdown" was recorded
I can play some of it at 133% of the tempo.
Why would anyone dislike this?... I don't even know
Bebopper didn't like Trane
It's in c
Coz its in the fuking wrong key for tenor players Jesus Christ, why would anyone like the video and btw I love this song just not the vid
No it ain't?
Jealousy comes to mind ...
Then notes look like they’re having a good time :-)
It makes me happy seeing an animated transcription.
Incredible to hear and see this! Despite all the notes, it's also an interesting solo with a ton of variety, and thoroughly uses the whole "official" range of the tenor (he hadn't explored the ultra-high notes yet). Only complaint: they didn't transcribe that final run that has even faster notes than the rest of the tune!!
Great tune and good animation! As a saxophonist, I never understand why people think Giant Steps is really hard to play. If you're a jazzer, then the chords are just moving up in minor 3rds then acting as a V, I. For example, if the first chord is Ab, the next chord would be C, then F. Also, look at Coltranes solo, it's mainly chord tones! And what I mean by that is he's mainly sticking to the notes in the arpeggio of the chord he's playing on. So simple but yet so fascinating. I'm studying this at University at the moment and I'm loving it!
In the same vein, I could never understand all that hype about what Michelangelo did to the Sistine chapel. I painted my own ceiling a couple of times, and it really ain't that hard.
fishbonegroove cheeky comment/comeback of the decade. just bloody fookin well funny cheeky clever mate. oi.
A minor third above Aflat is Cflat. A minor third above C is Eflat. This is wrong.
Andrew Mankin No he means a minor third above the I chord. So the one chord is F and a minor third above F is Ab.
Fish- I get your sarcasm !!
I love this, thanks for making it! Felt like Coltrane was making the notes appear on the sheet music
I don’t know why but this has strange shitpost energy
Human Spielberg Like that big band chart that’s literally all variations of “the lick.”
Lmao it's the 14 bar "piano solo" followed by 48 "piano solo continues", you can't make this shit up, Coltrame was a machine
Coltrane in his mind: HAHA chords go change. Good luck Tommy! 😄 🤣 😂
Hey, this is great. It's another way to appreciate the music, and Coltrane's remarkable dexterity
Liszt: I make the hardest tracks
John Coltrane: hold my beer
Liszt actually did make much harder pieces. And ever heard of alkan
Record manager: we're paying you for each key change
Coltrane: oh boy 🤑
this is amazing. A whole new perspective on Trane's style in terms of how his licks were put together.
1 2 3 5 patterns everywhere!
Dude. This is beyond fast
it is around 280 to 300 bpm, roughly equivalent to very fast bluegrass. In tunes like Giant Steps (or any of the insanely fast stuff with Charlie Parker) the playing is based on eighth notes, 2 notes per beat. In bluegrass, the feel is based on 16th notes (4 four notes per beat), and tempos are around 144.
it feels like a crime listening this for free
My conclusion on jazz and soloing on the basic chords is like this;
If everybody can play Coltranes solo, it is no more a solo, it is a written piece of music.
You can as a musichen play a solo once, that is so perfect, it is a solo, your own and nobody elses. But if you want to copy solos just for practice it is OK for me, but who wants to be a "copyplayer"?
We are all 'copyplayers', whether or not we realize it. The only question is if we pay tribute to those who are already influencing our playing.
From my understanding, the reason you would copy Coltrane to learn some vocabulary of the language he is using. He did the same thing to players before him like Charlie Parker... These guys are speaking a complicated-ass language, and just as we all mimicked words as a baby; we did so until the point that we could construct out own sentences.
very Good idea ksuprise
I don not think that any seriou Jazz player wants to be a "copy-cat!" IMITATION is an essential way of LEARNING; from babies to adults. After that, you're on your own ! Enjoy !
I view forms like Jazz Improv as a musical conversation. You have to be able to speak the language to communicate. kvsuprise got it but yea it's good to be original as much as possible (which is why being a working artist is so tough).All good posts.
I can play the sax part from 3:04 to 3:54... and I can't even play the sax!
(I get the joke)
There is no sax part there
@@AnhThuNguyen-zz2hm thanks now i get the joke
A perfect song. Not only is the simple theme very beautiful, catchy, and satisfying to listen to, but the "improv" (wink wink) solo is goddamn godlike.
The reason for the transposition to C it's because the Tenor Saxophone player plays Bb as if it is C, because it's a transposing instrument. This happens as well with the Soprano Sax, and in the case of the Alto and Baritone, Eb is what they call C. Just to let you know.
Yea but usually the whole leadsheet is transposed, fsr the version in this video has the melody in C but the solo in Bb which is odd.
Now, this is deep and worth audible notice. I don;t play tenor sax, but I know many who do. I'm going to ask what's going on here. This is serious, timeless, essential to know.
Makes a little bit of sense, though. The head transcription would be in concert pitch since it would be shared with all the band members for comping and such. As for the solo, it would be assumed that only a tenor sax player would be concerned with it, and the transcription would reflect that.
1:36 the lick?
one of my favorite videos ever. remember when i saw this like 10 years ago
3:04 I can do that...
b u r n
@@jacobscott9183 They're Talking about the multi measure rests.
Mean
Just discoverd this after a new email from Lester Perkins' "Jazz on the tube" newsletter. Pretty amazing. Although, be sure, Coltrane didn't write down that solo, probably ever.
If you're into music composition, math, esoteric stuff, or just curious, also read here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coltrane_changes
What? Trane didn't write down this solo, this very one? Damn man, next someone is going to say there's no Santa Claus. I'm crushed.
obviously. gods create, simple human being just copy it
That was waaaaaay cool. Thanks for bringing such an iconic sound to visual life!!
It still amazes me how comfortable the greats, like Coltrane and Parker, are with soloing over rapid chord progressions. It's just absolutely stunning, and I can't imagine how much time it would've taken to be comfortable with it. I mean, Coltrane didn't even practice songs. Just technique, over and over. He put his life and soul into the sax, and it's not really something everyone can do. That's what separates the greats from everyone else. You can be like them, but it's just a lot of work. If you work hard, you will be far better than any "talented" person.
The only problem is, is that no matter how great you are you won't ever shine because of the era of music we are in. It's truly a shame. Personally, I don't care for all the electronically created beats. This is where it's at. I mean, I'd even take classical over the crap that's played today.
Whether the sounds are electronic or not, doesnt change the chords that are in said songs. I know a ton of electronic artists who dip heavily into jazz. For example, Haywyre. Try it!
I'm going to start learning this solo on the violin, so I could definitely use some advice:
How do jazz musicians conceptualize the pulse in this piece? Is the unit pulse felt as a lightning fast quarter note or a heavily subdivided half note?
Este video tiene mas de 10 años, cuando lo vi la primera vez me impresiono mucho.! Ho lo vuelvo a ver y me sigue dejando sin aliento.¡ gran trabajo! Grande Coltrane.!!!!
If you can play Just harmonies at this tempo, it's ok you are Jazzman!!!