Jazz Artist of the Week
John Coltrane - Giant Steps

During John Coltrane's time with Miles Davis, he started to record his own studio albums. His most famous from this time period is the 1960 release of "Giant Steps." The album solidified Coltrane as a jazz giant. The album is characterized by some of the most difficult chord changes and harmonies in all of jazz. Coltrane used major third relationships for his chords instead of the normal ii-V-I pattern found in most jazz standards. The result is a harmonically unsettled sound that takes a mathematical mind to improvise over the changes. Naima, on the other hand, is a precursor to the kind of spiritual, prayerful music that would define his late period.