Re: Giant Steps
Bert Ligon ( BLigon@mozart.music.sc.edu )
Sat, 10 May 1997 07:51:21 -0400
>I scanned the achives and was not able to find any discussion on this
>so ....
>
>Recently changes to Giant Steps were posted. I am adding this song to
>my "book" and like to have a base understanding of the harmonic
>structure of each tune I learn. I am a little puzzled by this one
>however.
>
>It appears to be divided into 2 parts (for simplicity I'll call them A
>and B). Part A is the first 8 bars which is a repeated 4 bars of ...
>|I V|I V|I |ii V| with key changes on chord #s 2,4,6 of the first line
>and 2,4,6 of the second line. The "B" section appears to be 8 bars
>which is a repeated 4 bars of ...
>|I |ii V|I |ii V| with key changes at the beginning of the 1st, 2nd
>and 4th bar of each 4 bar line.
>
>I caught the tritones where the I chord is held for a full measure
>going to the ii chord of the next key. Is that the underlying basis
>for the key changes, to capture that tritone?
>
>Basic changes the above comments are based upon are:
>
>|B D7 |G Bb7|Eb |A-7 D7|
>|G Bb7|Eb F#7|B |F-7 Bb7|
>|Eb |A-7 D7|G |C#-7 F#-7|
>|B |F-7 Bb7|Eb |C#-7 F#-7|
>
>I realize there are many approaches to soloing, but ... this tune
>seems to lend itself to a solo based upon a symetrical type scale
>(whole tone or diminished).
>
>Any suggestions for a newbie jazzplayer want-a-be would be most
>welcome.
>
>Mike
>mdtemple@ix.netcom.com
There are some Giant Steps exercises in my book, Connecting Chords with
Linear Harmony, on pp.123-127. These exercises show just one of many
approaches to the changes. Time permitting, I will add more to the
discussion.
_______________________________________
Bert Ligon
Director of Jazz Studies
_______________________________________
School of Music
University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC 29208
Voice: (803) 777-6565
Fax: (803) 777-2151
http://www.music.sc.edu/Departments/Jazz/
bligon@mozart.sc.edu
_______________________________________