Artist: John Coltrane · Album: Giant Steps · Year: 1960 · Label: Atlantic · Rank: 82 / 500
Giant Steps is the sound of a musician outrunning the limits of his own era. Coltrane’s “sheets of sound” approach crystallizes here into something architectural: chord changes shifting in rapid, symmetrical patterns, a harmonic maze only he seemed able to navigate at full speed.
Yet for all the theory surrounding it, the album feels joyous— a saxophonist discovering a new language in real time.
The Coltrane Changes
The title track is notorious: a set of chord cycles moving by major thirds, demanding nimble improvisation and superhuman breath control. Pianist Tommy Flanagan famously struggled to keep up— and who could blame him?
But Coltrane sounds effortless, leaping across the progression like he’s skipping over stones in a river.
Not Just Speed, but Shape
“Naima,” a ballad for his then-wife, shows his lyrical side: floating melody, suspended harmony, the band leaving wide-open space. “Cousin Mary” and “Syeeda’s Song Flute” mix blues vocabulary with modernist drive, proving that Coltrane’s revolution wasn’t an escape from tradition but a reframing of it.
The Quartet in Formation
This is pre–Classic Quartet Coltrane, but the seeds of that spiritual, modal sound are already planted. His tone is huge, metallic, and searching, every phrase carved with intention.
Legacy
Giant Steps became a rite of passage for jazz musicians and a foundational text in modern improvisation. Even if you don’t speak the theory, you can feel the exhilaration of hearing someone break open a new door.