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- John Coltrane1
In the "modern" jazz era (since the late forties), the composer who is
often most closely associated with the use of chromatic third-relation
techniques is saxophonist John Coltrane. First appearing in the late fifties,
this aspect of his compositional and improvisational style had incredible
repercussions among members of the jazz community. Suddenly, it seemed,
Coltrane had created a very different-sounding musical language. After his
premature death in 1967, some came to believe that his preoccupation with
third relationships was solely the product of a religious awakening he
experienced during that period. Coltrane's chromatic third-relation
compositions have been interpreted as a result of his search for perfection in
life and music, with three equal key areas having numerological importance
representing the trinity, or God, or unity.
Demsey - Chromatic Third Relations 2
This study will propose that although the structure of these pieces had
some religious significance for Coltrane and his listeners, his important early
work in the area of third relations had a much more "earthly" origin. We will
see that the appearance of chromatic third-relations in Coltrane's music was
not new to jazz, but existed previously in jazz compositions and popular song
forms of the thirties; furthermore, we will see that Coltrane's compositions are
structurally as similar to nineteenth-century European models as to jazz
literature, in at least one case through surprisingly direct influences. The
main part of the study will analyze several of Coltrane's best-known pieces
containing chromatic third relationships.
appear as the tonic pitches of three key areas on a larger level, the identity of
the composition's tonal center can only be determined by the closure of the
composition.
Gregory Proctor points out that "nineteenth-century chromatic tonality"
(which he differentiates from "classical diatonic tonality") allows for this
relationship because equal temperament is assumed: "enharmonic
equivalence equates the distance between some note and any of the
enharmonic spellings of some other note against which it is measured."2 In
"diatonic tonality," successive ascending major thirds from C will not return
to C, but to its enharmonic equivalent, B-sharp; B-sharp has a much different
tendency for resolution, and therefore a very different harmonic implication,
than does C. In "chromatic tonality," however, B-sharp is potentially identical
to C, and differs only in notation.
Deborah Stein's book Hugo Wolf's Lieder and Extensions of Tonality.3 These
pieces are "Das Stndchen," "Und steht Ihr frh am Morgen" ("When in the
Early Morning Thou Dost Rise"), and "In dem Schatten meiner Locken" ("In
the Shadow of My Tresses"). All three serve well as models for three reasons:
first, they are for solo voice with accompaniment, which is identical to the
format of popular and jazz tunes. Second, they a relatively short in length;
although chromatic third relationships may occur over long periods of time in
larger forms, it is difficult to establish direct relationships between these and
local occurrences in Coltrane's works. Finally and most importantly, the
structural role of the third relationships in these three songs is surprisingly
similar to those found in the music of Coltrane and earlier popular song
writers.
Charles Hamm suggests that the early bandleader Paul Whiteman "may
have been the first to call attention to the dependence of popular song of the
1920s on classical music" in the following dry observation on early jazz: "Do
you not know that more than half the modern art of composing a popular
song comes in knowing what to steal and how to adapt it - also, that at least
nine-tenths of modern jazz music...is frankly stolen from the masters?"4
While this is perhaps an overstatement, it is certain that early composers of
popular and jazz tunes were deeply affected by nineteenth-century European
models.
There are a number of examples of early jazz compositions or popular
songs containing chromatic third relations.5 Many of these pieces
subsequently became jazz standards, such as Jerome Kern's thirties songs "All
the Things You Are" and "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes," and the mid-twenties
standard "Tea For Two." Some of these techniques are similar to those which
John Coltrane utilized in his improvisation and compositions. We will study
a Richard Rodgers song which contains a striking example of a thirds cycle.
"Have You Met Miss Jones?" employs a cycle of equal major thirds
nearly identical to those used by Coltrane. It was composed by Richard
Rodgers (words by Lorenz Hart) in 1937, for the musical "I'd Rather Be
Right."
The fact that this piece contains chromatic third relationships
reminiscent of nineteenth-century compositional techniques is not surprising:
Richard Rodgers had a great degree of familiarity with the European
tradition. Although Rodgers was largely self-taught, he studied at Columbia
Demsey - Chromatic Third Relations 8
University in 1919-21, and at the Institute of Musical Art in 1921-23 (now the
Juilliard School) with Henry Krehbiel and Percy Goetschius. Hamm asserts
that Rodgers was "one of the first to expand the harmonic language of Tin
Pan Alley," and that he "knew the music of classical composers of the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, particularly that of the great Russian and
German composers of the second half of the nineteenth century."6
"Have You Met Miss Jones?" is a classic AABA song form in structure.
Its "A" section is a catchy, rising melodic line accompanied by an
undistinguished harmonic progression. There are two tonic cadences in F
major, each supported by V/ii. It is the "B" section which is much more
unusual, and noteworthy for the purposes of this study. It begins in the
subdominant, B-flat, and moves through cadences in the keys of D and G-flat.
Coltrane used this same major thirds cycle in several pieces included in Part
IV of this study.
Such harmonic flight during the "B" sections of AABA song forms was
quite common, acting as a miniature "development." Hamm comments on
this stylistic trait of the thirties popular song:
"...Many of the songs of the era have a "B" section
which is tonally unstable, moving through a sequence of
chromatic chords back to the tonic for the return of "A";
the character of such a section is often more that of a
bridge between the second and last statement of "A" than
of a separate, contrasting section. The four or eight
measures taking on this function are known as the
"release," and it is here that the composer had his best
Demsey - Chromatic Third Relations 9
Figure 2 shows a sketch of the "Have You Met Miss Jones?" bridge.
Despite its unusual harmonies, its basic function is similar to those of the
prototypical popular song bridge. It acts as a prolongation of dominant
preparation, moving eventually to V, which prepares the start of the final "A"
section. The progression begins on B-flat (IV) and moves to g minor (ii). This
is accomplished by first descending downward by major thirds through G-
flat and D major, then retracing its motion back upward to G-flat, creating a
cycle of major thirds made up of the three equidistant key centers of B-flat, D,
and G-flat. The composer finds his way out of this foreign-key detour by
means of a deft motion from a G-flat major seventh chord to g minor seventh:
only the root and fifth raise by half-step, while the third and seventh (chord
tones which usually signal important voice-leading motion during cadences)
are stationary.
To add further melodic stability to this harmonically unstable bridge,
Rodgers uses a diatonic motive in a downward sequence from ^5 to ^b3. It
should be noted that the downward harmonic sequence of major thirds in
mm. 17-21 causes the structural notes of this passage to outline a D whole-
tone scale (see sketch in Fig. 2). We will see that this inherent voice-leading
property of cyclic major-third descents is also used by Coltrane.
Demsey - Chromatic Third Relations 10
as a jazz theorist and film composer with his brother, Adolphe. Coltrane's
background and rigorous training as an improviser meant that he was
already familiar with basic harmonic concepts; he spent much of his class
time studying the more complex techniques of the late nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries. In an interview for this study, Sandole outlined the
specific theory curriculum he covered with Coltrane: "In the early fifties,
Coltrane and I had probed into third relationships; also extended harmonic
devices, i.e. double chromatic scales, deceptive resolution, chromatic root
movement, [equal] division of the octave (extended), semi-tonal scale and
resolving propensities, synthetic chords, polytonal scales and chords, and
displacement of rhythms."10 In an interview with J.C. Thomas, Sandole
detailed his student's curiosity about contemporary harmonic techniques.
"[Coltrane] asked me about bitonality and polytonality, combining more than
one key signature. I [discussed] tetrachord techniques and pentatonic...scales,
and he was soon playing arpeggios on all of them...He also studied...modal
scales, pedal point clusters and harmony derived from melodic lines, with no
chord structure involved."11
This curriculum contains many possible explanations for indirect
connections between John Coltrane's compositional style and nineteenth
century notions of chromatic third relations. One connection, however, is
surprisingly direct, and may help explain Coltrane's motivation for writing
such a large group of pieces employing this device within such a short two-
year time period.
Demsey - Chromatic Third Relations 12
Detroit jazz pianist Barry Harris (now a successful New York recording
artist and teacher) is credited with giving Coltrane the book, Thesaurus of
Scales and Melodic Patterns12 which had been published in 1947 by Nicolas
Slonimsky. Exactly when Coltrane received this book is unclear; Thomas
describes it only as "a few years" before 1958.13 From interviews by Thomas
with Coltrane's musician friends and relatives, and from an interview for this
study with Coltrane's pianist, McCoy Tyner, it is apparent that the Slonimsky
book was in Coltrane's possession constantly around the time that he was
working out his third-cycle compositions.14 It was an important part of his
lengthy daily practice regimen during the mid- and late fifties. The
Slonimsky Thesaurus contains material which is virtually identical to
portions of "Countdown" and "Giant Steps," and Slonimsky may be the most
direct link between John Coltrane and structural principles of the late
nineteenth century. Although much of the material in the Thesaurus was
designed by Slonimsky with a much different purpose in mind (i.e., the
formation of symmetrical scales reflecting the early twentieth-century
techniques of Bartk and Scriabn), Coltrane seems to have interpreted it from
a distinctly nineteenth-century harmonic perspective.
It is truly remarkable that a musicologist born nearly a century ago in
Russia might have had such an effect on this jazz saxophonist. Born in 1894,
in St. Petersburg, Slonimsky received all of his early training in pre-
Revolutionary Russia. He studied theory and harmony with two pupils of
Rimsky-Korsakov and later studied composition with Glire. Examples of
Russian nineteenth-century theoretical thought in the area of cyclic third
relationships can be seen in the writings of Boleslav Yavorsky (included in
Demsey - Chromatic Third Relations 13
For many improvising jazz musicians, the decades of the seventies and
the eighties are the "post-Coltrane" era, since today's jazz performers and
theorists are still attempting to assimilate much of his music over twenty
years after his death.
In 1955, Coltrane was asked to join Miles Davis' quintet. This proved to
be a watershed in his development. In the only known article written by
Coltrane, he acknowledged in more detail that Davis' harmonic techniques
inspired him to develop his own ideas.
"...I found Miles in the midst of another stage of his
musical development. There was one time in his past that
he devoted [himself] to multichorded structures...But now
it seemed that he was moving in the opposite direction to
the use of fewer and fewer chord changes in songs...This
approach allowed the soloist the choice of playing
chordally (vertically) or melodically (horizontally).
In fact, due to the direct and free-flowing lines in his
music, I found it easy to apply the harmonic ideas that I
had. I could stack up chords say, on a C7, I sometimes
superimposed an Eb7, up to an F#7, down to an F [major
chord]. That way I could play three chords on one...I
started experimenting because I was striving for more
individual development."17
Demsey - Chromatic Third Relations 16
process which is usually identified with the bebop era of the late forties: the
creation of a new melody on an existing chord progression.
Figure 5A shows "Tune Up" and Coltrane's "Countdown" superimposed.
The structure of "Tune Up" is a downward sequence of ii-V-I cadential
formulae. The melody is simple and austere; the home key of the piece is not
immediately clear, since the downward sequence does not follow a diatonic
pattern (i.e. descending through ^8-^7-^6), but instead descends by whole-
steps. The sixteen measures of "Tune Up" contain a four-bar cadence in D
major, followed by a four-bar cadence a whole-step lower in C, and another a
whole-step lower in B-flat. The final four measures imply a return to D
major, but a deceptive cadence to the VI of the parallel minor, B-flat, blurs
this return, suggesting instead a prolongation of the last key in the downward
sequence.20
Coltrane creates a new melody on this downward sequence of ii-V-I
cadences, but does not stop at that. Into each cadential pattern, between the ii
chord and the V chord, two rapid V-I cadences are interpolated (as shown in
the first four measures of Fig. 5A, and sketched in Fig. 5B). The tonic chord in
each of these two cadences moves downward a major third. The result is that
the four-measure phrase implies a full octave descent by equal major third
intervals: the progression begins with the ii chord in D, down to V-I in B-flat,
down to V-I in G-flat, and finally ends with V-I in D. In this case, the thirds
cycle is controlled by a prevailing dominant-to-tonic motion. The two foreign
keys do not relate harmonically either to the ii or the V; rather, they are an
insertion between the subdominant and dominant chords in D. As in "Tune
Up," "Countdown's" second phrase (mm. 5-8) is a sequential repetition of the
Demsey - Chromatic Third Relations 18
first, transposed down a whole step, and its third phrase (mm. 9-12)
continues the sequence down another whole step. There are no third
relations in its final phrase; rather it is almost the same as the final phrase of
"Tune Up," except that the B-flat chord is included with its own V, recalling
mm. 1 and 2, rather than the deceptive cadence used in "Tune Up," and
making the prolongation of B-flat in the last two phrases that much stronger.
Also, Eb7#11 manages both to recall B-flat and prepare a return to D by tritone
substitute.
The harmonic operations at work in "Countdown" are similar to several
of the models mentioned earlier in the study. Although there are obvious
structural similarities between the major third cycles in "Countdown" and the
Wolf songs mentioned earlier, the example most like "Countdown" is the
bridge of "Have You Met Miss Jones?": the thirds cycle is identical in its
uniform support by secondary dominant chords, although key areas are in a
different order of appearance; the two pieces only differ in that Rodgers used
the thirds cycle as a subdominant prolongation, where Coltrane uses it as a
tonic prolongation (substituting for a ii-V-I progression).
then descends twice through a full octave by equal major thirds: first it moves
down a major third to C-flat major, then down another major third to G
major, then returns to the tonic. After two beats of V, the process repeats
itself. (This actually varies slightly from "Countdown:" "But Not For Me"
begins on I of the tonic key, not on ii.) In m. 8, the seventh of the tonic chord
is flatted, and the resulting E-flat dominant chord is preceeded by its related
ii, all of which creates a motion to the IV, as in Gershwin's version.
An interesting feature of Coltrane's reharmonization is its bassline,
included in the middle staff of Fig. 6. In jazz harmony, the vast majority of
chord voicings utilize root position chords; jazz harmonies derive their color
from added alterations and extensions, complex sonorities which make clear
root motion necessary. Coltrane, by allowing the bass to descend through
other chord tones and upper extensions of his cyclic progression, outlines a
whole-tone scale. This same voice-leading principle was employed in the
structural melody pitches of the "Have You Met Miss Jones?" bridge. There
are two whole-tone descents in the first eight measures of "But Not For Me."
Note that they have tonal implications: the first descent begins on ^5, and the
second begins on the tonic. Coltrane accomplishes this by beginning with the
"wrong" whole-tone scale, using a bass line composed only of fifths and
ninths; he "corrects" this with the second presentation, using roots and fifths
to imply a dominant-tonic relationship between the two scales. It should be
noted that these two whole-tone scales make up the aggregate; we will see
other more sophisticated Coltrane examples of pitch-set properties later in
this study.
Demsey - Chromatic Third Relations 23
The same October 1960 recording sessions which yielded "But Not for
Me" and "Body and Soul" also included "Central Park West," a Coltrane
composition which utilizes third cycles in a unique way. It also includes the
significant use of modal, or drone-bass, techniques typical of Coltrane's
Modal Period.
This piece has rarely been mentioned, either in Coltrane's biographical
material or in theoretical writings. However, it is uniquely important among
Coltrane's third-cycle compositions in two ways: 1) it is the only example of a
ballad which uses third cycles (it is recorded at a relatively slow tempo of
quarter note = 72); 2) it is based around a cycle of minor thirds, rather than
the major third relationships found in the previous pieces discussed.
The piece is characteristically short, with a length of only ten measures.
Its harmonic and formal scheme is shown in Figure 8. Included in "Central
Park West" are the four major keys of B, D, F and A-flat, each separated by a
minor third. All of the key areas are set up by ii-V-I cadential patterns. An
inherent property of these four equidistant ii-V-I cadences is that the
combined roots of all twelve of the chords involved make up the aggregate
Demsey - Chromatic Third Relations 25
divided into the three minor-third cycles. We will see that "Giant Steps" has
similar pitch-set characteristics.
The compact form of "Central Park West" can best be described as
ABAC, divided into two main portions. The "A," "B," and second "A" sections
are each two measures in length, and the final "C" section lasts four measures,
accounting for the odd ten-measure total length. The first portion of the piece
(sections "A" and "B") appears to employ a harmonic technique where the
third relations exist outside of the tonic-dominant framework. Although it
seems to consist of a series of ii-V-I progressions like the bridge to "Have You
Met Miss Jones?", it is structurally different; the four key areas move so
rapidly and almost "randomly" that it is difficult to determine the home key
center over a relatively large section of this piece. This cyclic progression first
cadences in B, then moves through D and A-flat to end the first portion with a
cadence in F. (Note that not all movements between keys are by minor third.
Some key area motions, such as D to A-flat, are by tritone.) The piece begins
in B major, so the ear is drawn to this as a center. However, since this first
"A" section ends a minor third away from where it begins, a firm key center is
certainly not established at this point. The melodic ascent of this first section
deserves mention since it outlines the first four pitches of a whole-tone scale,
employing the same principle seen in the melody of "Have You Met Miss
Jones?" and the bassline of "But Not for Me." In this instance the melodic
ascent occurs over a harmonic ascent by minor thirds.
The second "A" section begins by exactly repeating the first two
measures of the piece as it moves through the keys of B and D. Rather than
continuing the four-bar phrase structure established by the first portion, the
Demsey - Chromatic Third Relations 26
"C" section instead cuts this phrase off at two measures, returns to B major
and remains there to create the final four-measure phrase. Finally, B is firmly
established as the home key. However, this does not require a tonic-
dominant relationship; it is accomplished by a series of repetitive, modal-
sounding ii-I cadences, and it is further solidified by the presence of a tonic
pedal throughout this final "C" section. As mentioned earlier, this pedal
technique is a common characteristic of Coltrane's Modal Period writing.
"Giant Steps" is the most well-known piece from the period under
discussion, and justifiably so. It demonstrates the most highly organized use
of the third-relation principle in any Coltrane composition, and combines
these techniques with a surprising degree of pitch-class set organization.
"Giant Steps" was recorded at the same sessions as "Countdown," on
May 4 and 5, 1959. As was the case with "Countdown," Coltrane had been
working out its harmonic and thematic material for some time before the
actual recording session; it is not clear which piece was actually written first,
although we will see that "Giant Steps" seems to grow structurally out of
"Countdown." In a 1962 interview, Coltrane explained, "At the time I left
Miles [Davis] I was trying to add a lot of sequences to my solo work, [adding]
chords to the things I was playing...It was before I formed my own group that
I had the rhythm section playing these sequences...I made 'Giant Steps' with
some other guys and carried the idea on into my band."24
"Giant Steps" is based upon a major third cycle similar to that used in
"Countdown." However, in "Giant Steps," the cycle is not used as a
reharmonization technique within a tonic-dominant framework, plugged into
Demsey - Chromatic Third Relations 27
octave from E-flat to E-flat. The harmonic motion slows as the ascent moves
through the three key centers of the cyclic relationship (E-flat, G, B and E-flat)
again, establishing each with a ii-V-I cadence. The final measure of the piece
is a "turnaround" or "turnback," a half cadence in B which sets up the next
repetition of the sixteen-measure chorus.
There are several unusual features of "Giant Steps," features which make
it unique among the pieces in this study. David Baker described
compositions like "Countdown" and "Giant Steps" as being written "in the
manner of an etude."25 If this piece is viewed as a type of exercise, then the
overall purpose of the composition was to blur the identity of the tonic key
center. The harmony has no "top" or "bottom," no starting point perceived
from the diatonic series of a major or minor scale; none of the keys is
indicated as the center by the harmonic rhythm. So, the most important key
of the three can only be determined through the context of the melodic and
harmonic phrase structure. However, these harmonic and melodic sections
are purposely misaligned: the melodic elision between the first and second
sections has been discussed; this elision also occurs harmonically, since the ii-
V in m. 8 resolves in m. 9. The listener's ear automatically falls into this
pattern of hearing each ii-V-I cadence as a separate idea, and consequently m.
16 appears to continue the sequence which has ascended through the second
section into the beginning of the next chorus. Yet, when viewed melodically,
this same m. 16 seems to float separately from the second section. When the
melody is present, the piece does seem to end logically in m. 15 (indeed, there
is a fermata here in the final chorus of the recorded version). However, when
only the chord progression is played and repeated, as during an improvised
Demsey - Chromatic Third Relations 29
Jaffe finds another unusual characteristic of this piece outside the realm
of its tight harmonic organization: there is a system of pitch control present
as well (shown in Fig. 9C). He notes that when a seven-pitch set is formed
using all of the pitches from mm. 1-8, the five remaining pitches comprise a
transposition of the motive seen in mm. 1-3. Also, when a nine-pitch set is
formed using all of the pitches from mm. 9-16, the remaining three pitches
form an augmented chord which is a transposition of the cyclic key
relationships found in this piece.
In addition to Jaffe's findings, there is another unusual pitch
organization characteristic in "Giant Steps" (shown in Fig. 9D). The melody
notes in Jaffe's nine-pitch set are also the nine chord roots of the piece. Again,
the remaining pitches form an augmented triad comprising a transposition of
the key relationship present. When these pitches are set in ascending order,
they form a symmetrical scale which repeats itself at the interval of a major
third.
It has been documented that Coltrane worked out the harmonic scheme
of "Giant Steps" long before it was recorded, but mention is rarely made of
the pitch organization. Could this degree of pitch control have been a
coincidence, or simply a natural occurrence as a result of the harmonic
properties of the piece and high degree of sequential material? Figure 9E
shows the remaining three unused pitches not included in Coltrane's melody.
Next to each of those pitches are the chords included in the harmony of
"Giant Steps" which contain these notes as chord tones, and which therefore
could have supported these pitches as melody notes. Coltrane avoided all of
these many possibilities - a coincidence is almost impossible.
Demsey - Chromatic Third Relations 31
NOTES
and Dizzy Gillespie were deeply interested in the music of Stravinsky and
Bartk.
9 J.C. Thomas, Chasin' the Trane, (New York: Da Capo, 1979): 52. This book is
the most widely read biographical work on Coltrane. It is easily readable
and makes a good introduction to Coltrane's musical and personal life. It
falls somewhat short, however, with respect to scholarly thoroughness; it
is often impossible to determine the date (even the year) of events
discussed, and sometimes event sequences are blurred by personal
anecdotes.
10 letter to the author, 12 April, 1989.
11 Thomas, 51.
12 Nicolas Slonimsky, Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns (New York:
Scribner, 1947)
Other Slonimsky books are:
Nicolas Slonimsky, Music Since 1900, 4th ed. (New York: Charles
Scribner's Sons, 1971). Rather than being written in the textbook
style one might expect, this is a day-by-day chronology of musical
events and oddities since January 1, 1900.
Lexicon of Musical Invective, 2nd ed. (Seattle: Univ. of Washington Press,
1979), a collection of bad concert reviews since the time of
Beethoven, criticism of works now considered masterpieces which
is often hilarious in its nastiness;
Slonimsky is the editor of Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians,
7th ed. (New York: Schirmer, 1984). It is a widely used reference
Demsey - Chromatic Third Relations 36
book, but few readers notice the less than subtle humor in
Slonimsky's autobiographical entry on p.2146;
Nicolas Slonimsky, Perfect Pitch: A Life Story (New York: Oxford, 1988)
is the author's recently published autobiography. It contains an
entire chapter on the Thesaurus of Scales.
Nicolas Slonimsky, Lectionary of Music (New York, McGraw-Hill, 1989)
is Slonimsky's newest publication at this writing; it is intended as a
dictionary for browsers, full of musical anecdotes and quirks of
history.
13 Thomas, 102.
14 Thomas, 101-2; McCoy Tyner interviewed by the author on the campus of the
University of Maine in February 1989.
15 Gordon D. McQuere, "The Theories of Boleslav Yavorsky" chap. in Russian
Theoretical Thought in Music (Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1983): 111.
16 Slonimsky, Thesaurus, vi. I would like to thank Robert Wason of the
Eastman School of Music for bringing this to my attention.
17 Coltrane/DeMicheal, 26-7.
18 There are other later Coltrane compositions which contain chromatic third
relationships, often identical to those used in "Countdown." Following is
a list of some of these pieces recorded on Coltrane albums.
takes its title from the Tadd Dameron tune "Hot House" based on the
same chord progression, as well as from Coltrane's interest in
astrology. A thirty-two measure AABA form, it contains the same
descent by major thirds which appears in "Countdown," in the "A"
sections in the keys of F and C, and in the "B" section in B-flat.
"26-2" [rec. 10/24/60, on the same day as "Central Park West" and "Body
and Soul"] Based on the chord progression of the Charlie Parker
composition "Confirmation." A thirty-two measure AABA form
utilizes the "Countdown" cycle in F and B-flat in the "A" sections, but
closely recalls the original "B" section of "Confirmation." This is the
first piece on which Coltrane played both soprano and tenor
saxophones.
"Satellite" [rec. 10/24/60, on the album "Coltrane's Sound"] A thirty-two
measure tune based on the chords of the standard tune "How High
the Moon." The "Countdown" cycle appears in descending keys of G
and F, and partially at the tune's end.
2. Original Coltrane Compositions:
"Exotica" [rec. summer 1960 on the album "Echoes of An Era"] This AABA
form uses a major third descent in C major twice during the "A"
section, and in G at the end of the bridge (interrupted by a Dm7
inserted before G7).
"Naima" [rec. 12/2/59 on the album "Giant Steps"] A ballad, mostly using
pedal tone effects, features a root descent by thirds at the end of the
bridge: while a B-flat pedal sounds, a Bmaj7 drops a minor third to
Abmaj7, then down a major third to Emaj7, finally descending a minor
Demsey - Chromatic Third Relations 38
and Coltrane may have found it there. Also note that the row has
Demsey - Chromatic Third Relations 39
other properties: Hexachords A and B are both set class 6-33, i.e. they
contain the same intervals.