Coltrane changes
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In jazz harmony, the Coltrane changes (Coltrane Matrix or cycle) 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 album Blue Train on the tunes "Lazy Bird" and "Moment's Notice". Coltrane continued his explorations on the 1960 album Giant Steps, and expanded upon the substitution cycle in his compositions "Giant Steps" and "Countdown", the latter of which is a reharmonized version of Miles Davis's "Tune Up." The ability to solo over the Giant Steps/Coltrane cycle remains one of the standards by which a jazz musician's improvising ability is measured.[citation needed]
The changes serve as a pattern of chord substitutions for the ii-V-I progression (supertonic-dominant-tonic) 
Play (help·info) and are noted for the tonally unusual root movement down by major thirds (as opposed to the usual minor or major seconds, thus the "giant steps"[citation needed]), creating an augmented triad.
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[edit] Influences
David Demsey, saxophonist and Coordinator of Jazz Studies at William Paterson University, cites a number of influences leading toward's Coltrane's development of these changes. Miles Davis, who mentored Coltrane in many ways, was in the late 1950s moving toward the modal style of Kind of Blue. In playing that style, Coltrane found it "easy to apply the harmonic ideas I had... I started experimenting because I was striving for more individual development." He also played with pianist Thelonious Monk during this period, whose unusual harmonic and rhythmic innovations contributed greatly to Coltrane's musical development.
Coltrane studied harmony at the Granoff School of Music in Philadelphia, exploring contemporary techniques and theory. He also spent much time studying the Thesaurus of Scale and Melodic Patterns by Nicolas Slonimsky (1947), which additionally served as practice material. The first half of Giant Steps (melody and harmony) is contained in the Preface of Slonimsky's book.
Music critics speculate that the bridge of the Rodgers and Hart song "Have You Met Miss Jones?", the only jazz standard to incorporate a major thirds cycle (shown by the *), may have inspired Coltrane's innovation.
Have You Met Miss Jones B Section Chord Progression (Bridge):
* * * * | B♭M7 | A♭m7 D♭7 | G♭M7 | Em7 A7 | DM7 | A♭m7 D♭7| G♭M7 |Gm7 C7 |
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[edit] The major thirds cycle
The standard Western chromatic scale has twelve semitones. When arranged according to the circle of fifths, it looks like this:
Looking above at the marked chords from "Have You Met Miss Jones?", B♭-G♭-D are spaced a major third apart. On the circle of fifths it appears as an equilateral triangle:
By rotating the triangle, all of the thirds cycles can be shown. Note that there are only four unique thirds cycles. This approach can be generalized; different interval cycles will appear as different polygons on the diagram.
[edit] "Tune Up" and "Countdown"
[edit] "Tune Up"
These are the first eight bars of the Miles Davis composition "Tune Up." The chord changes are relatively simple, a straightforward application of the ii-V-I progression, which is extremely common in jazz.
ii V I ii V I | Em7 | A7 | DM7 - | Dm7 | G7 | CM7 - |
The chord progression is a standard ii7 V7 I progression in D Major and then in C Major. Assume that the time signature is 4/4 and that each chord gets 4 beats.
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[edit] "Countdown"
The Changes below show Coltrane's substitution of chord changes over "Tune Up". When writing jazz tunes that substitute chords, it is very common to title the tune with a play on words of the name of the original composition, hence "Tune Up" became "Countdown". The ii V I progression from "Tune Up" still appears but is enhanced with several transition chords that lead to a more complex harmonic progression.
ii * * V I ii * * V I | Em7 F7 | B♭M7 D♭7 | G♭M7 A7 | DM7 | Dm7 E♭7 | A♭ B7 | EM7 G7 | CM7 |
In the standard Coltrane change cycle the ii V I is substituted with a progression of chords that cycle back to the V I at the end. In a 4/4 piece, each chord gets 2 beats per change.
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Coltrane developed this modified chord progression for "Countdown", which is much more complex. At its core, Countdown is a variation of Tune Up, but the harmonic substitutions occur rapidly and trick the listener into thinking that they are listening to a completely unrelated tune. The ii, V and I remain, but in between are other chords(*) from the major thirds cycle centered around each I . Preceding the first chord of each major thirds cycle is its V chord.
An earlier Coltrane piece, "Lazy Bird", also features, two tonal centers a major third apart in its A section.
[edit] "Giant Steps"
The Giant Steps cycle is the culmination of Coltrane's theories applied to a completely new chord progression: Coltrane uses the Coltrane cycle in ascending Major 3rd tonal transpositions in the opening bars and then ascending ii V I progressions separated by a major 3rd in the second section of Giant Steps. The second section is basically the inverse of the bridge section described in "Have You Met Miss Jones" above.
I Coltrane Substitution Cycle ii V I Coltrane Substitution | BM7 D7 | GM7 B♭7 | E♭M7 | Am7 D7 | GM7 B♭7 | E♭M7 F♯7 | BM7 | Ascending/Descending ii V I progression separated by a Major 3rd (Tonal centers E♭ - G - B - E♭ - B) ii V I ii V I ii V I ii V I ii V | Fm7 B♭7| E♭M7 | Am7 D7 | GM7 | C♯m7 F♯7 | BM7 | Fm7 B♭7| EbM7 | C♯m7 F♯7 ||-> repeat...
This diagram shows what scales are used for the different chords:
BMaj7 BMaj scale D7 to GMaj7 GMaj scale B♭7 to E♭Maj7 EbMaj scale Am7 to D7 to Gmaj7 GMaj scale B♭7 to E♭Maj7 EbMaj scale F♯7 to BMaj7 BMaj scale Fm7 to B♭7 to E♭Maj7 Eb Maj scale Am7 to D7 to GMaj7 GMaj scale C♯m7 to F♯7 to BMaj7 B Maj scale Fm7 to Bb7 to E♭Maj7 Eb Maj scale C♯m7 to F♯7 B Maj scale
[edit] Sample
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These variations were used to compose other Coltrane tunes based on other jazz standards:
[edit] The standard substitution
Although "Giant Steps" and "Countdown" are perhaps the most famous examples, both of these compositions use slight variants of the standard Coltrane changes (The first eight bars of "Giant Steps" uses a shortened version that doesn't return to the "I" chord, and in "Countdown" the progression begins on the IIm7 each time.). The standard substitution can be found in several Coltrane compositions and arrangements all recorded around this time. These include: "26-2" (a re-harmonization of Charlie Parker's "Confirmation"), "Satellite" (based on the standard "How High the Moon"), the original tune "Exotica," Coltrane's arrangement of the standard "But Not for Me," and on the bridge of his arrangement of the famous ballad "Body and Soul."
In addition, Coltrane's tune "Fifth House" (based on "What is This Thing Called Love") is particularly notable because the standard substitution is implied over an ostinato bass pattern, with nobody actually playing the chord changes. When Coltrane's improvisation superimposes this progression over the ostinato bass, it is easy to hear how he used this concept for his more free playing in later years.
[edit] See also
[edit] Further reading
- Yamaguchi, Masaya (2003). John Coltrane Plays Coltrane Changes. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard Corp. ISBN 0-6340-3864-8.
- Demsey, David (1996). John Coltrane Plays Giant Steps. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard Corp. ISBN 0-7935-6345-3..
- Weiskopf, Walt; Ramon Ricker (1991). Coltrane - A Player's Guide to His Harmony. New Albany, Indiana: Jamey Aebersold.
- Baker, David N. (1990). The Jazz Style of John Coltrane. Alfred Publishing. ISBN 0769233260.
- “Chromatic Third Relations in the Music of John Coltrane,” Annual Review of Jazz Studies 5 (1991): 145-80
[edit] External links
- The Giant Steps Progression and Cycle Diagrams (155 KB PDF) - Dan Adler
- "Countdown" formula - David Baker
- Giant Steps (in minute detail) - SongTrellis
- Augmented Scale Theory
