Style:

Swing, typically played at fast tempos.

Form:

A-B (16 Bars) [8-8]

Key:

Eb Major

Harmony/Overview:

The  harmony of this composition is very complex and would go on to codify what would come to be known as 'Coltrane Changes'; the constant use of secondary dominants to shift tonal centers repeatedly in Major 3rds.  Before this composition the only predecessor with an inkling of similarity would have been the bridge to the Rodgers/Hart standard "Have  You Met Miss Jones?". It was unprecedented however to have an entire  composition revolve around this motif, and it presented a challenge to the improviser unlike anything else that had come before it. It is worth  taking note of the bass line that Paul Chambers plays on the original  recording during the head. He begins on the root of BMaj7 and proceeds to descend in whole tones before arriving at the tonic in the third bar:  Bmaj7 - D7/A - Gmaj7 - Bb7/F - EbMaj7. This movement of the whole-tone  scale moving from the root opens up a pathway that is very important for  the soloist to hear while improvising. This idea demonstrated quite clearly at the start of Coltrane's solo on his later composition "26-2".  Another important pathway for navigating through Coltrane Changes is to hear the Augmented scale descending in half notes beginning on the 3rd of the first chord: BMaj7 (D#) - D7 (D) - GMaj7 (B) - Bb7 (Bb) - EbMaj7  (G). Finally, Coltrane can be heard using 4-note groupings extensively in his solos while navigating through the changes, and it can be reassuring to see how similar some of the alternate takes are to one  another.

Recordings:

This  song has been recorded over 250 times to date and is one of the  compositions to be of the most consequence in the entire history of jazz  music. It was first released on Coltrane's fifth studio album Giant Steps in 1960. An alternate take was released posthumously from a session  that predates that of the initial release, featuring a slightly  different line-up. Similarly to how the changes of "Cherokee"  revolutionized the trajectory of improvised jazz music forever, "Giant  Steps" very much so did the same. It continues to be performed and  recorded frequently to this day.

JGC Top Picks:

Jon Gordon, Ask Me Now, 1994

Kenny Garrett, Triology, 1995

Pat Metheny, Trio Live, 1999