The Giant Steps Fragment

The "Giant Steps" Fragment
Author(s): Matthew Goodheart

Source: Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 39, No. 2 (Summer, 2001), pp. 63-95
Published by: Perspectives of New Music
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/833564
Accessed: 20-11-2016 20:45 UTC
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THE "GIANT STEPS" FRAGMENT
MAr1THEW GOODHEART
THE FOLLOWING IS a transcript of a certain papyrus fragment found in

an earthenware jar beneath my back deck. As many of the terms and
references used in the text are somewhat obscure, a glossary of terms and
bibliography of works mentioned can be found at the end of the paper.
The related events leading up to this discovery are as follows:
I had spent several hours one day looking at certain aspects of symmet-
rical structuring in John Coltrane's "Giant Steps" for inclusion in a book
I am working on entitled Composition, Improvisation, and the Creative
Music Process. The method I utilized for this examination is known as
positional analysis, proposed in W. A. Mathieu's recent book Harmon
Experience: Tonal Harmony from Its Natural Origins to Its Modern
Expression. I had also recently reread Henry Louis Gates on African-
American literary criticism, The Signifying Monkey, which seemed to hav
some influence on the events that followed. That evening I lay in be
unable to sleep as I mulled over the work that I had been doing, and
Esu-Elegbara, a Yoruba Orisha, appeared and asked me to account for
64 Perspectives of New Music
what I thought I had uncovered. (Tara lay mercifully asleep throughout.)

I do not remember exactly when the conversation ended; I think it
trailed off and I fell asleep. The next day I could recall certain aspects of
our encounter, but not many specifics. This did not surprise me, as I have
had occasional encounters with Esu, though none as lengthy as this, and
memories of the events were seldom complete. However, several nights
later, I heard what seemed to be a recording of the conversation emanat-
ing from beneath the deck that lies outside our bedroom window. The
next morning, I opened up the trapdoor we had built into the deck, and
found the earthenware jar partially buried in almost the same spot from
which we had removed the corpse of an unfortunate raccoon some two
years before. The papyrus fragment within the jar seemed to be a record
of my conversation with Esu.
The fragment does not record the full extent of the conversation; sig-
nificant portions of the beginning and end are lost, and there are some
damaged sections in the main body of the text. I have attempted to fill in
any gaps that I can with what little I can remember. Additionally, I have
included the musical and graphic examples we used to elucidate the
points. Esu-Elegbara's name appears as Esu in the text, and I am desig-
nated by the letter A, which I take to mean "Author." Additionally, while
Esu-Elegbara contains both male and female aspects, he is traditionally
referred to as male, a tradition which seems to have been kept in this par-
ticular text.
* * *
[The text begins in mid

ber the beginning of ou
haps his own, and I raise
which stands below the bedroom window. Tara and I had left the cur-
tains open, and there was some moonlight. Esu looked as if he was being
projected from some old film, perhaps in black and white. The appear-
ance was reminiscent of some of the statues I've seen, including the large
erect penis, which, to my surprise, was also circumcised. Esu would occa-
sionally bring up both feet and sort of squat on the dresser, affording me
a view of a cavernous and rather remarkable vagina. However, he did not
seem altogether complete; there were spaces missing in the body,
through which I could see things on the other side- portions of the
wall, the backyard, and the polished stone eggs Tara likes to collect and
arrange on the window sill. Esu's voice was always very clear and mea-
sured, and possessed a smooth quality which would lead one to believe
whatever he said.]
The "Giant Steps" Fragment 65
[Esu:] ... this aspect of the evaluation, the appearance of which suggests
some trepidation on your part.
A: How do you mean?
Esu: Well, take the issue of spelling, for example.
A: Isn't it essentially an oral language? The spelling is purely utilitar-

ian.
Esu: How so?
A: Writing B major was expedient. A lot of jazz playe

what's going on, but it's all aural- and oral- therefo
ing was irrelevant when it came down to throwing
front of someone for the first time, and especially wh
getting your damn fingers over the notes. If I were th
would have had enough shit to deal with without having
about seeing a C-flat chord.
Esu: But your whole basis of interpretation hinges on the

tune is misspelled.
A: That's because it's an analysis. I'm analyzing the co

tune charts through the "tonal pitch space," to use
term for it.
Esu: So you reduce the thing to a number? That's what

"One O'Clock Jump"? That's a 9. "Epistrophy"? T
yes, but "Giant Steps"? That's a 496. "Have You Met
was only a 28, but "Giant Steps" is 496! Pretty soon it w
the prisoners and the jokes. A guy stands up and say
when nobody applauds, the guy next to him says "M
can't make the changes."
A: Look, did I say it was a number?
Esu: You're defensive. I like that in a man.
A: You're putting analyses in my mouth. The only thing I'm bo

rowing from Lerdahl is the concept of "tonal pitch space.
Actually, what's interesting about Lerdahl is that he kind of gets it

right, in a way. He found this weird, and somewhat uninteresting,
way of saying sort of the same thing. That is, the path of our har-
monic movement determines how we experience where we mod-
ulate to. Traditional analysis, using the circle of fifths or
Schoenberg's "chart of the regions," is not necessarily an accurate
indicator of our hearing, so there may be more appropriate ways
to represent it. That's the strength of his idea, but labeling every-
thing with a number is practically the definition of reductive. Not
to mention his numbering system is entirely arbitrary, in his own
terms "like a cash register."
Esu: Cha-ching. So that's why you're not following Layer-it-dull?
A: Ooh, nasty, nasty. If we're going to get into the name game, I'll
plant it and quack. Eschew, Esu. No, the Mathieu shit works
much better. Y'know, tone lattice, or "Shrudi chart" as he calls it.
It's less arbitrary and provides an intuitive and concrete model to
express the way we hear harmonic movement. Molto expressivo.
Numero uno. And by the way, 496? What's up with this perfect
number thing?
Esu: It's just a joke. Number 2.
A: More like a 12. The dozens. In this case, the mover's and shaker's
dozen. To boldly trope where no man has troped before.
Esu: Yo' academic mama.
A: That's very Freudian of you.
[We paused here and stared at each other for a while.]
A: All right, so we need to address the issue of misspelling

said, the misspellings are utilitarian, but not really funct
Functional in the sense of explaining what we're hearing; for
we need to get away from the standard printed page and exam
what we hear. We need to literally re-write the tune in te
what we hear, not what's easiest to play.
Esu: Are you reinterpreting the Odu?
A: Hardly. The chord chart is a translation of a translation. Or a tran-

scription of a translation of a translation. Then, you have to
remember, too, that all we have are the fake-book charts, which
are really transcriptions, the chords some punk transcribed in
music school. At least in the Real Book, which is what most people
use. A translation three times removed. Well, okay there are other
copies of the chart around, too. There's the JOWCOL one, I
guess that's the official one. Or maybe the one in the Abersold
record. But it doesn't matter, they all seem to make the same mis-
take. In this case, a mis-translation is exceedingly deceptive, and
can lead us away from the real Odu of the piece. What is the real
Odu of the tune?
Esu: So you're saying you know what the real Odu is.
A: Um, well perhaps. Well, no, but I think that I can get closer to it
by using Mathieu's methods than by using what the chart spells
out. The Odu of the piece gets translated through the logos in two
ways; into the utilitarian chord chart, and also into the making of
the music, the enfleshment.
Esu: A realization? The logos made flesh?
A: Would it be logos or Odu? I would tend to put it in the Odu cat-

egory, but really in both.
Esu: Why Odu? Because it was written by a negro?
A: A "negro"?
Esu: Perhaps that's essentially what you are arguing. Essentially essen-
tialist. The black-geist, black music. Black humor. Blacula. Booty
Call, baby.
A: So now we're celebrating the "other"?
Esu: Isn't that the Essence?
A: But I'm not an Essene. You're the dualist. You're a duelistic dude.
Esu: Aren't there two of us?
A: Actually three, but she's asleep. A holy trinity.
Esu: Asleep?
A: What is she, my Anna Livia? River of life? Well, only two of us are
awake. Or maybe only one of us.
Esu: My Yin to your Yang?
A: I think your Yang is much more impressive than mine. Your Yin,
too, for that matter. Isn't that the essence of what you are, too? A
two-that-are-one? But there are two here, too. So what are we;
your Dionysus to my Apollo? Or my Eusebius to your Florestan?
Esu: That's closer. You-See-BS! It's canon fodder. Trope the institu-
tion, or at least the institutionalized.
A: Hats off gentlemen, a critic!! And what a funky hat it is, too. Like
an Oreo missing one of its cookies. Oh, maybe that's it.
Esu: Yes! Maybe that's the secret, to lose only one of your cookies!!
Then the inside is also the outside.
A: So if I see BS, what are you? Floor-I-Stand? Are you the rooted
one? It's pretty lame, doesn't really work. Or maybe Florist-And;
you do work with flowers of knowledge, and you're so damn
pretty, too.
Esu: Maybe I'm a For-EST-ian.
A: Actually, you're closer to Eusebius, the first three ...
[The fragment is broken here.]
[Esu] ... to be sure.
A: So it goes down to C-flat. Let me be clear. When you move a

major third down from E-flat, you clearly go to C-flat. If the
names of our tonal centers are to stand for actual relationships,
then we must agree on that. That's what I mean by Functionality.
C-flat a third below E-flat is not the same as the B two thirds
above. Major thirds, I mean. And those relationships are "essen-
tial," if you will, to the logos of the piece. Look, let me go get my
notes.
[At this point, I walked as quietly as I could through the

downstairs to the piano room and gathered up my notes. M
sleeping, but I managed not to wake her as I passed throug
and along the stairs. I did, however, stub my toe on th
remember also petting the cat, who was sleeping on a bla
couch. When I returned to the room, the cat followed me a
be let out, so I let him out through the bathroom window
uninterested in my visitor, although maybe he did rub his fac
Esu at one point.]
[A:] Here, look at this.
[I hand him the following (Example 1):]
X[8 # ~#- =- |t- - ..... -

BMaj7 D7 GMaj7 Bb7 ELMaj7 Amin7 D7 GMaj7
I I V I ii V I
I^^^e-^^<JUIIV I- 1 I
B|7 E6IMaj7 Gb7 CbMaj7 Fmin7 Bb7 EbMaj7 A
V I V I ii V I ii V I
^ I I I I L I I I II I I I
Pb i:_7 rbs n a_ :s _ i! _ . j _ j S _ ' _ _ _* _ _ _X~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
uCmin7 iF7 BMaj7 E:min7 A:7 D:M

ii V I ii V I ii V I
l1lI
EXAMPLE 1
[A:] This pretty clearly shows the chord relations, and the common
tones. The dotted lines represent Didymic commas, which are so
common in tonal music that I'm not considering them significant
in terms of analysis. They occur in the difference between the
root of a ii chord and the fifth of a V chord. In this example
above, the first such comma occurs between the root of the A
minor chord, generated from a minor third below the
subdominant, and the fifth of the D7 chord, which is generated

from two fifths above the tonic.
[Transcriber's note: They are speaking of just intervals. A Didymic

comma is the difference between four perfect fifths (4 X 3:2) and two
octaves plus a major third ((2 X 2:1) + 5:4), which is 81:80, or around
twenty cents. (See Mathieu, chapters 28, 29.)]
Esu: An insignificant comma?
A: Well, there are twenty-six movements from chord to chord, with

a total of thirty-five unambiguous common tones, and six addi-
tional relations by Didymic comma, which result from ii - V
movement. As I said, Didymic comma phenomena is so common
in tonal music that it's not really disruptive to our sense of tonal
center. In fact, it may even help it. I don't know, maybe it
doesn't. But my point is that almost all the chords are connected
by common tones. The only place where there's not a direct rela-
tion by common tone is in the turn around, the final ii - V in B
major which takes us back to the top of the chart. But the tonal
centers of D-sharp major and B major are close, and I marked the
common tone A-sharp between the fifth of the D-sharp major
chord and the third of the F-sharp seventh chord. I think we hear
through. Additionally, the JOWCOL chart shows the ii chords as
minor ninths, and I've analyzed them as minor sevenths. It really
doesn't make a difference though, in terms of common tones.
But this is a detail, I don't want to get distracted. It's not a big
point.
Esu: Is your point as big as my point?
A: Good question. I think yours is a point of contention. Look, my

point here is that the common tones absolutely demand that we
recognize the true intervals, that a major third is not a diminished
fourth. We must go forth with clarity.
Esu: And you're saying that 'Trane thought this way?
A: I'm saying that he heard this way. He knew that a major third
down from E-flat is really C-flat and not B. And that's the rela-
tionship he's interested in. If he did write it down as a B, it was,
like I said, for utilitarian purposes. It created the most happiness
for the most people. But the logos of the music was really demand-
ing a C-flat, and that's how he played it. Look, right in the first
chorus of his solo, he plays this.
[I presented him with the following graphic (Example 2):]
txter - _t !?^ r_ _
BI'7 E6Maj7 Gv,7 Ct6Maj7 Fmin7 Bl7 E|?Maj7
EXAMPLE 2
[A:] He's emphasizing the common tones, and our ear recognizes
them, in this case the B-flat. They are linked in our ear. We're not
going to hear that B-flat suddenly shift a Great Diesis away to A-
sharp for one bar and then back again in the next. It is contextual-
ized quite clearly as a B-flat. I think, even if the whole band did
make the microtonal adjustment, the, whatever it is-
Esu: 128:125. Forty-one cents.
[Transcriber's note: The comma of the Great Diesis is the difference

between an octave (2:1) and three major thirds (3 X 5:4). (See Mathieu,
chapter 30.)]
A: Right. Well, I mean, I think that even if the whole band shifted
forty-one cents, we would still hear it as a C-flat major chord (or
tonality) because of the context. And that's what equal tempera-
ment is for, to allow you to present whatever relationship you
want as long as you contextualize it.
Esu: And what about the D-sharp major chord?
[The bottom of the paper he which he got from me shows the following
(Example 3):]
A: It's a little trickier, but "essentially" the same. Here he's working
with both the A-sharp, which is unambiguous, and the D-sharp,
which navigates a Didymic comma. Although, if you notice, he
L-e # C t - ---------- - - ---' - - - - - --
C#min7 F#7 BMaj7 E#fmin7-- -Afrmin7 D7 Maj7
C#7 -.Fmin7 _BMj7
EXAMPLE 3
actually doesn't play the comma; he avoids the D-sharp while o

the E-sharp minor chord, and connects it with the third of the B-
major chord, so that actually it's unambiguous as well. Althoug
the piano I'm sure plays the comma. Tommy [Flanagan] likes h
thirds.
Esu: So 'Trane is thinking the note is D-sharp? And is avoiding t

comma?
A: I don't think he's consciously avoiding the comma, and I think he

knows it's D-sharp but doesn't really care. But I do think he
knows his common-tones. He consistently works the pivot points
between chords and keys.
Esu: 'Trane's training. The great link.
A: Exactly, the unmissing link. Come to think of it, I'm hungry for
links.
Esu: You could link with me.
A: Not unless you barbecue it. Damn, it always comes back to t

with you doesn't it?
Esu: Well, some have made me in that image. You think I did this
myself? Maybe so, maybe not. Maybe both.
A: Maybe, maybe ...
Esu: All right, so you like talking about it?
A: It seems you brought up the point. Or I guess your point was

brought up a long time ago. I guess it's always the point.
Esu: Maybe it's my own Odu.
A: Or logos. Logic. Afro-logic.
Esu: So the avoidance of Didymic commas is Afrologic? Or C-flat is?

Maybe it's Afro-ific.
A: A form of Afro-gnosis? Or Afrognosis. Or a A-Frog-Knows-This.
Esu: So who needs sleep now?
A: Look, it's late. Go screw yourself.
Esu: Actually, that's possible.
A: Right. Look. Have I convinced you here or not? With the respell-
ing of the chords, or actually the true spelling, if you will. That's
what I really mean. That these are the true chords. And if we
accept that, then we can proceed to the next step.
Esu: I'll do it.
[He seemed to produce, as if from nowhere, a small wooden

with fine white sand, upon which he drew, with black sand
pitch relations (Example 4).]
[Transcriber's note: This lattice demonstrates just pitch rela

manner of Mathieu's book. The format is applicable to 5-lim
which makes it applicable to some, but not all, jazz music (t
tion here being that blues music evokes 7-limit relations).
horizontal axes, or spines, represent perfect fifths, or 3:2 relat
the slanted vertical spines represent major thirds, or 5:4 relati
A: That looks about right. These are all the pitches and ch
in the piece. At least I think so. You can reduce the whole
chords, or actually tonal centers, which lay solely al
spine.
0 ^ / u^B A
e B6 D
9:
9:~~~~~E
9): 6
9:~~d
EXAMPLE 4
Esu: Ga?
A: The spine of thirds. 5:4.
Esu: Ga?
A: All right, all right. Neo-hippie pan-spiritual bliss-

clature. Give me a break. Is it that different fro
[Anthony] Braxton would say?
[At this point I drew the following in the sandbox (Ex
[A:] Okay. So we reduce the pitch lattice down to the

the keys we go through in the piece.
Esu: And this is the logos?
A: Well, let's just follow the course of the modulation. We begin

with a movement from B major down to G major in the first two
bars. Then down to E-flat in the third. We move back up into G
B
G
Eb
cb
EXAMPLE 5
major in the fifth and sixth. We've surrounded G, so from one

standpoint, this makes it look as if the piece is in the key of G
major. At least that might be the "Euro-perspective." [See ex-
ample 6.]
D#
B,
G1-2
E-3
Eb J5
2
cb
EXAMPLE 6
[A:] This actually gets suggested even further, by the complete move-
ment. From then on out, we move down to E-flat, down to C-
flat. [See example 7.]
This is the lowest point we go to; we climb all the way back up,
past G major, back to B major, and then even up higher, all the
way to D-sharp major. In the last bar we circle again back to B
major to begin again. It's all symmetrical around G. [See example
8.]
B,
Cb7 7-6
EXAMPLE 7
2-13 B16-1
G l2 1-2
EXAMPLE 8
Esu: So you're saying that Giant Steps is in G major, and no one's real-
ized it.
A: Ah, not exactly. I am saying that G major is the harmonic mid-

point, and in fact, if you play a G major chord after the last bar of
the piece, it does make a kind of sense, it feels like some kind of
resolution.
Esu: So everyone's been ending the piece wrong all these years? Even
'Trane?
A: You're getting ahead of me. I mean, what's really remarkable

about this to me is that, first there are no commas. I mean, I've
been playing this piece for years, and always assumed that there
would be a Great Diesis somewhere. But there isn't. That's kind
of astounding in itself, seeing as how jazz music tends to have
commas when it modulates around like this piece does. Most jaz
is asymmetric. That's what's weird about this piece.
Esu: I think you're just repeating what's been said before. 'Trane sym
metrically trisects the octave. He did it before and he did it after;
much ado about the same old doo-doo. Like he did in "Count-
down."
A: Not at all. First of all, "Countdown" is derived from Miles

[Davis's] "Tune-Up," which itself modulates a Didymic comma
away. But reharmonizing each tonal center with his third progres-
sions, each four bars of 'Trane's tune modulates very neatly a
Great Diesis away. The first four bars move clearly from D to B-
flat to G-flat to E double-flat. And then the whole piece moves a
"meta-comma," the Didymic comma of "Tune-Up." That's
pretty damn spiffy in itself, but it might be what you'd expect in
harmonically adventurous music. Lots of commas. Just like in
"Fifth House," where the bridge uses lots of third relations. It
also modulates a Great Diesis away, but does it by jumping all
over the map, even to the point of tonicizing E triple-flat! (See
Appendix.)
Esu: And your meta-comment?
A: "Giant Steps" is absolutely symmetrical. At least in terms of its

tonal center movement. This is what I mean about a mistranscrip-
tion, or translation, being deceptive. If we conflate the B and C-
flat, and the E-flat and D-sharp, it suggests that the Diesis is
important, that we have some kind of virtual return, and that is
exactly what the piece scrupulously avoids.
Esu: "Have You Met Miss Jones" does the same thing, actually. I
mean, it's a fairly traditional rhythm-changes tune in F-major, but
there's this weird bridge which starts on the subdominant and
then moves by major-thirds. It maps out like this:
[He draws the following (Example 9):]
[Esu:] Do you see the roots of the tree here?
EXAMPLE 9
A: Or the roots of the mustard seed? Again, movement almost to the

point of a Great Dieses, but then it comes back. Interesting.
Okay, I think you can definitely see the influence of this piece. It
has input, and has shaped the logos, but has it shaped the Odu? As
an antecedent it definitely seems part of the network of forces of
the ase, as well as one part of the historical revisionary aspects of
the Odu. At least that's how Gates might see it. Troped out. Um,
you're still getting me ahead of myself. But this is a good point. I
mean, that, that the historical implications, or rather, the roots
are, well, to quote George [Lewis], "Afrologic." But you will also
notice that the movement is really straight. It just dips down and
then goes back up. "Giant Steps" moves all over the place, but
never really goes anywhere.
Esu: Afrologic? Rodgers and Hart?
A: Oh shit, wait. No, is he? I mean, wait. Oh fuck, I don't know.
[At this point I remember that Esu laughed, and produced his famous
black and white hat from his pocket, whirling it around his head.]
A: Look, you've gotta keep it down.
Esu: Don't worry about waking other people up.
A: Oh, I see. The point is just to wake me up. How very provocative
of you, sage master. And what are you doing here among the
sleepers?
Esu: Is that how you see me? Thusly speaking?
A: Now that's the trick. Strauss goes up the partials: Two, three,
four, and five, any higher and he'll get a nosebleed, so he flips the
ratios and goes inversional, brings in the minor. Bah-bum. That's
Europe for ya. Zarathustrian. But the Zoroastrians were a differ-
ent story. Or the Indians, the Africans, they dig out on it. Seven,
eight, nine. Still got the blues. What about eleven, do Africans get
there? I guess everybody does, really, whether they know it or
not.
Esu: Oh, now that's deep. Very Braxton. The "higher partials"
African awareness. So where does this account for ...
[The fragment is broken here in several places]
[A:] ... [symmetrical?] structuring. Do you think that's so?
Esu: Do I think? It's ...
[A:] . . . functional of, or rather is ...
[Esu:] ... power and power relations in the Odu [.. .] forbi
ments of [. . .] generation.
[A:] ... clearly. I mean, look at how it's working, even in term
other elements. Clearly one of the principal elements of th
is symmetry. I mean, look at the way the whole melody
structured. He's dropping by thirds in the melody. Or r
begins by dropping by thirds, then has this little hic
drops by thirds again. The first phrase is repeated exactly
lower. Look, I've worked it out here.
[I hand him a paper with the following (Example 10):]
[A:] As you can see there almost an organicist connection be

phrases, or rather the melody fragments. I mean, the first
bars are a clear phrase, which is repeated a major third
bars 5-8. And the addendum of the fourth bar sets us u
phrases from bar eight to the end. It's a pretty tig
melodically, just like the harmony is really tight. And the
look at the shape of the melody itself, it basically looks lik
# r Ir J. r 1 + DJ I
;r 6 I J J. Io
F---0I - iJ-nTI I # r
pi rv
16
16 L 1 I
v# 1- I
EXAMPLE 10
[I draw the following in the sand box (Example 11):]
EXAMPLE 1 1
[A:] It's symmetrical. I mean not in the finest detail, but it is basica
symmetrical. You descend, and then ascend. And the process o
that descent and ascent is in this tightly controlled, very intercon
nected language. The logos definitely generates symmetrical rel
tionships.
Esu: You forgot to hiccup.
[He reaches in to the sandbox and alters my drawing (Example 12):]
EXAMPLE 12
[At this point, I remember, Esu leaned back and placed both feet up on
the dresser. It had the appearance of casualness, but really seemed
designed to afford me an unfettered view of an area which distracted me
considerably.]
A: All right, well, all right. Um, okay this shows the movement from
A up to D in bars four to five. Well, okay, maybe it's a significant
move. So . . . okay, so it's not exactly symmetrical. I mean, it
would be boring if it were exactly so. I just mean on a large scale,
the melody is symmetrical. It descends and ascends. Well ... all
right, maybe this is a large scale drawing. So what's your point?
Esu: What's your point?
A: It's symmetry, yet it's not. I mean it has a symmetrical suggestion,

but it's not totally symmetrical. Maybe it's a defeated symmetry.
Implying symmetry without actually being totally symmetric.
Esu: Is that the language the logos generates?
A: Now that's an interesting, ah, thought. I mean, well, that the

logos generates symmetrical structures asymmetrically. But how
would this play out on the lattice?
Esu: How does the piece end?
A: Well, we're hanging up there on the D-sharp major. That's how it

ends on the recording. We just get up there, we don't even end
back at the B-major chord, we end suspended up in the air. So if
we look at the chart without thinking of it repeating, or rather if
we look at the last time we go through the chart (Example 13):
EXAMPLE 1 3
[A:] Okay, again it's a symmetrical implication, treated in an asymmet-

rical manner. A balanced structure set off balance. Actually, I
thought about this when I worked out the tonal rhythm, I mean
the change in tonal centers is really interesting. The tonal rhythm.
It works out to this:
[I dig around and find the following among my papers (Example 14):]
1 r LLJ J Io I o6,J bJ l l,o o oI o o-o o071o (o,)I

B G El G E6 cC Eb G B Dt
EXAMPLE 14
[A:] Oh wow, and when you look at it that way, it follows the shape of
the melody, too. What a trip. Both end higher than they begin,
too.
Esu: Is that all?
A: Okay, I think there's more. Harmonic rhythm ... it can b

ken into two sections. Actually it works best if we divide it at
end of the seventh bar instead of the eighth, which would r
be the exact center of the tune. If we attach the last measure, t
turnaround, to the first, the piece divides up into two separate

rhythms. The first seven bars plus the pickup divide into two
phrases of six beats, four beats, six beats. Bars 8 to 15 are all in an
eight-beat rhythm.
[I draw the following (Example 15):]
I I
z. oI hf JJJ I I I
,olo 0I o _ L -- "I ?? 0
EXAMPLE 15
A: In fact, each individual phrase in the first half is also symmetrical

in terms of the tonal rhythm. Six, four, six. It looks like all the
things that are generated, all the forms of the musical language
derived from the logos, are symmetrical structures treated in an
asymmetrical manner. Or are treated in a manner that subverts
the symmetry that it seems to suggest. So is that it? Is that the
force of the Odu, the subversion of its own symmetrical leanings?
Esu: Are you saying that that's the whole Odu?
A: Don't be absurd, but I am saying that maybe it points us toward

the Odu or is one of the significant ese. It is part of the nonmusi-
cal meaning. Look, this is the guy who turned the whole "white
cotton sheets" and whatever other celebration of total whiteness
into a deeply black work of art. I mean he was commenting on
cultural things; you have to take that into account in the Odu of
"My Favorite Things," and can't that kind of be part of "Giant
Steps," too? As an element of the Ifa of 'Trane's work?
Esu: You're saying he's riffin' on white pop culture in "Giant Steps"?
A: On the contrary, maybe he's riffin' on white high art culture.

Twentieth-century white concert music culture. TCWCMC. Or
maybe just WCM. I mean, it was no secret that twentieth-century
European composers were interested in symmetrical structures.
And here, he's using symmetrical structures, but turning them on
their head. Trope a dope. I mean, didn't Debussy use symmetry?
Esu: You tell me.
A: Aw, shit. Well I think so. I mean, all that whole-tone shit, t
symmetrical. And 'Trane was hip to Debussy, and knew a l
other composers, too. Look, there's been a lot of talk of s
metry in European music, even prior to the twentieth cent
mean, equal temperament itself is a symmetrical constructi
addition, Schoenberg talks about "mirror forms" and inver
all of which produce symmetrical construction. Who was it
Lewin guy, who talks about Schoenberg using symmetry
organizing element in both his tonal and non-tonal music.
Esu: You're adopting the [Ingrid] Monson approach? It's a "

cultural and intracultural allusion through which jazz musi
assert irony"? Does this really carry weight? How can you
what he's really doing, what's going on inside- it's speculati
speculation. You think you've got a speculum, looking rig
into him. And all you catch is wind. A Monsoon.
A: I told you a dozen times not to play with people's names. On

other hand, Monson did set off a storm. I think she's right ab
part of it, at least in what's relevant to what we're talking abo
That's how it ends up working out, how it ends up being
ceived. I mean, I guess you could accuse me, and Monson for
matter, of the "intentional fallacy."
Esu: Isn't all interpretation phallus-ey? Trying to penetrate the

covering it, well, with intellectual seed.
A: Dude, that's just an escape. You're mistaking the terms f

actual. Those are products of the language, the metaphors y
using. The way something is talked about is not the same a
thing itself. If I'm going to look, I might as well leer at the "thing
itself."
Esu: Ahh, the male gaze fantasy. To see or not to see. Spread the work
open to gaze at the nether parts.
A: Exactly. I mean, that's the jouissance. I guess I can't reach it with-

out my own little fallacy.
Esu: The soupe du jouir.
A: Well look, there are certain things we know. We know that 'Trane
had a certain interest in Schoenberg. He used the twelve-tone
method to write the head of "Miles's Mode." So it's no stretch of
the imagination to think that he had read "Composition with
Twelve Tones."
Esu: But "Miles's Mode" is 1961. "Giant Steps" is earlier.
A: Does that mean that he couldn't have read the essays earlie
Maybe his interest in it changed, but he must have seen that ther
was an interest in symmetry.
Esu: There's Arnie's famous chart of the concentric circles.
A: Right. And then there was [Anton] Webern.
Esu: Who went out in a flash. And [Nicolas] Slonimsky, the grea
divider.
A: Slick!! That's right-'Trane worked from "The Dinosaur" [The

saurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns]. Solomon-nimsky, who'd
divide the kid not only in half, but in ditones, tritones, and sesqui-
quadritones. Ultra-hip infrapolation transubstantiation. Especially
if "The Dinosaur" really was part of 'Trane's daily bread, then he
was faced with WCM and associates' obsession with symmetry all
the time. In fact, if I remember, this cat named [David] Demsey
wrote something about this a while back in Down Beat. He
showed how the second half of "Giant Steps," the ascending half,
was related to, in fact kind of lifted from an example Slonimsky
gives in the introduction. It's a tone row harmonized with
dominant-tonic relationships, with the tonal centers descending
by major thirds!! Wow. Kind of wraps it up in a neat package,

huh?
Esu: Yeah. Real meat. And Demsey's spelling?
A: Oh, it's atrocious. And, actually, he mistranscribes the "Giant

Steps" head, in the last four measures. He alters the melody to fit
the Slonimsky pattern. But 'Trane doesn't follow it exactly in the
last two iterations, he repeats one of the notes instead of descend-
ing by whole-step. Despite that, I think Demsey's onto some-
thing. I mean the "down a second, up a fourth" melodic pattern
is very distinctive. Once you play through "The Dinosaur" ex-
ample, it's hard not to hear some connection.
Esu: But the ascending half of "Giant Steps" is not twelve tones. It's
eight.
A: Right. He's not copying it, but sort of invoking it. Riffin' on it.
Signaling it.
Esu: Signifiyin(g).
A: That's what I meant.
Esu: So this is what 'Trane meant to address when he set out to write
"Giant Steps"?
A: It really doesn't matter what he set out to do. Phenomeno-

logically, that is what happened. With "The Dinosaur" he's deal-
ing with symmetrical structuring on a daily basis, at least
according to legend. Then he writes a tune in which the issue of
symmetrical structuring is dealt with. I mean, it seems "Giant
Steps" became Coltrane's take on it, perhaps whether he realized
it or not; that's what came out. But the Odu of "Giant Steps"
addresses this issue, the relationship of 'Trane's music and
expanding jazz harmonies to WCM conceptions of symmetry. It
adopts the technique of symmetrical structuring while simulta-
neously subverting it. And this invocation of "classical" concep-
tions of symmetry is simultaneous with the invocation of the jazz
"tradition" through "Have You Met Miss Jones," or "Tune-Up."
They exist side-by-side, seemingly related. But the asymmetrical
use really subsumes the WCM conception into the jazz one. I
mean, it clearly becomes a "jazz" take on the "classical" idea. But

then, just like in "Have You Met," it's shown to be really a "jazz"
idea too.
Esu: The two that are one. The honored one and the scorned one. The
alien and the citizen.
A: Yeah, the heretic and the orthodox. A perfect thunder. Look, we

think of "Giant Steps" as this really serious piece, mostly because
it's so damn difficult to make the changes, but it's really very play-
ful. I mean, in many ways this piece was the end of something for
'Trane. Not that it's an absolute pivot point, but his focus began
to shift toward modal stuff after this.
Esu: The first and the last.
A: You're a nag, but, yeah, you're sort of right. "Fifth House" is

kind of a midpoint between third relations and modal music, an
evolutionary development. So maybe "Giant Steps" is his version
of the tonal breakdown.
Esu: Like the Tristan Prelude.
A: In a sense, but much more playful.
Esu: So he was just recapitulating Western tonal development. I do

told dem black folks theys jes copyin' da white folks.
A: Screw you. I'm not saying that. I think that there are logical w
things are going to progress, and that any tonal system th
begins to modulate to farther and farther regions is eventua
going to break down. European music did it in one way, and J
did it in another. Look, I'm not [Andre] Hodier, here. There
similarities, I mean they're both using equal temperament, b
are based in a tonal harmonic conception, maybe even both us
the piano as a harmonic model, so it makes sense that there a
going to be similarities. According to you, if I give two people on
opposite sides of the world a drum, and they both strike it, o
with their palm, the other with a stick, and then say "look, they
both hitting the drum," you'll say I'm being essentialist. I me
maybe one would sing into it, and the other would drop it of
cliff, but if they both hit it to make a sound, what's wrong with
noting that, with saying that two people, no matter how dispar-
ate, might make similar observations and similar conclusions?
Esu: So this is your defense?
A: No, but in a way yes. Nes and yo. I'm saying that there are simi-
larities in the way some aspects of jazz developed and some
aspects of European music developed, in harmonic structuring in
particular. And that's even less surprising, considering the influ-
ence European music has had on jazz. Of course, by Coltrane's
time, they were influencing each other. But I'm not saying that
they are the same, or that jazz was just recapitulating classical
music. [Ronald] Radano said that music history is a series of
"fusions and oppositions." I think "Giant Steps" is both, and I
think that that's part of the Odu of the tune. He's simultaneously
copying it and making fun of it. An open gate to Signifyin(g)!
And I think that it's also kind of' Trane's summation of bebop.
After that he changed. I mean, he was looking for something else.
He tried the Ornette thing with The Avante Garde, which didn't
really work out too well, and the next big thing he hit was "My
Favorite Things."
Esu: So he abandoned it? What about "Central Park West"?
A: I mean, yes, he did write "Central Park West" later, and although
it's a beautiful tune, the writing isn't quite as tight. That's what I
was trying to say about "Fifth House."
Esu: "Central Park" has a diaschisma, I think. Although nothing is

misspelled.
[Transcriber's note: a Diaschisma is the difference between three octaves

(3 X 2:1) and four perfect fifths plus two major thirds ((4 X 3:2) + (2 X
5:4)), or about twenty cents. (See Mathieu, chapter 32.) In the case of
"Central Park West," the comma occurs between the first B-major chord
in bar one, and the B-major chord in bar four. Again, they are talking
about commas between tonal centers. Diaschismas between tones are
common in jazz, as they are part of the often used "half-step above" sev-
enth chords.]
A: Yeah. I mean it's a great tune. And, in fact, it seems like the whole
last half of the tune is spent reassuring us that we're in B major,
that this B major is really the same one as the beginning of the
tune. The logos of "Central Park" is closer to "Giant Steps," but
the Odu doesn't seem to be. In fact, the Odu of "Giant Steps" is
closer to "Favorite Things," at least I think. They both have that
element of taking something, something that was once thought
about in a certain "acceptable" way, and turning it on its head. I
mean, jazz and bebop had been doing that for a long time, but
there was a particular way that 'Trane did it. Look, you can find
general evolutionary trends in his, or anyone else's work, but I
don't mean to imply it's purely linear. Like I said, "Giant Steps"
isn't a pivot point, but maybe it's the central factor in a pivot area.
He had his own "fusions and oppositions." In fact Miles had
fusion and apposition.
Esu: How do you know your divination isn't based on ...
[The fragment ends at this point.]
APPENDIX
For reference, positional charts of "Tune-Up," "Countdown," and the

bridge of "Fifth House" are as follows. The charts show what would be
the "pure movement" of the tonal centers if played in just intonation:
EXAMPLE 16: THE DIDYMIC COMMA OF "TUNE UP"
EXAMPLE 17: "COUNTDOWN" (GREAT DIESIS BARS 1-4)
Since no move is created to reverse the downward progression of tona

centers, a Great Diesis is clearly perceived due to the treatment of t
double-flat. This pattern of Dieses can then be superimposed upon t
chart of "Tune-Up" to map the movement of the entire tune, so that th
tune encompasses three Dieses in the first twelve bars (three group
four bars), and a meta-Didymic comma over the course of the ent
chart.
017
Gis!
EN19
(21-22)
EXAMPLE 18 "FIFTH HOUSE" (BRIDGE)
The bridge of "Fifth House" requires a considerable amount of respell-

ing in order to make things clear. The passage ends up a Great Diesis
away, on D double-flat three major thirds below the initial tonic C. This
movement, however, is quite circuitous. Rather than the clear dropping
by major thirds in "Countdown," there is a dramatic initial drop to G-
flat. After the signature movement by thirds to C double-flat, the tonici-
zation of E triple-flat is achieved only through a ii - V progression, with-
out resolving to a I chord. It is as if we are savoring the beauty of
becoming disoriented. Whatever the perceptual outcome, the important
point is that this piece jumps about in a manner that "Giant Steps"
clearly avoids.
GLOSSARY
ase: A constellation of forces which generate the creative process. Also a

term for the creative force itself. In Yoruba tradition, the force of cre-
ation itself.
the dozens: Also called "playing the dozens." A form of African-

American word game which involves making derogatory remarks, usu-
ally of another's family, particularly one's mother. Many of the remarks
are sexual in nature, often obscene.
ese: A single instance of meaning within the Odu. In Yoruba tradition, a

single verse of an Odu.
Esu-Elegbara: A Yoruba deity or Orisha. While considered male, Esu is

portrayed as containing both male and female characteristics. A com-
plex entity, he is considered a trickster and is associated with the act of
interpretation. In particular, he is a central figure in tradition Yoruba
Ifa interpretation. Esu-Elegbara also figures significantly in Gate's The
Signifying Monkey.
Ifa: The corpus of Odu generated by a particular artist, artistic move-

ment, or style-projection. In Yoruba tradition, the sacred text (usually
oral) which is consulted through chance methods to find a relevant
Odu for the seeker's situation.
logos: A translation of the Odu into "rational principle(s)" from which

the musical languages are derived. Schoenberg's Grundgestalt and
Schenker's Urlinie are similar concepts. In Judeo-Christian tradition,
the living rational principle from which all of creation is derived.
Odu: The nonmusical meaning or network of meanings inherent in a

piece. It could also be considered the "identity" of the work. In
Yoruba tradition, a set of verses within the Ifa.
Signifyin(g): A term for a particular form of black linguistic play or rhe-

torical strategy coined by Gates in The Signifying Monkey. According
to Gates:
The relationship between black [Signifyin(g)] and white "signi-

fication" is, paradoxically, a relation of difference inscribed
within a relation of identity. That, it seems to me, is inherent in
the nature of metaphorical substitution and the pun, particularly
those rhetorical tropes dependent on the repetition of a work
with a change denoted by a difference in sound or

(agnominatio), and in homonymic puns (antanaclas
tropes luxuriate in the chaos of ambiguity that rep
difference (be that apparent difference centered in th
or in the signified, in the "sound-image" or in th
yield in either an aural or a visual pun. (Gates, 45)
REFERENCES
Barthes, Roland. 1975. The Pleasure of the Text. New York: The Noon-
day Press.
Bernstein, David. 1993. "Symmetry and Symmetrical Inversion in Turn-

of-the-Century Theory and Practice." In Christopher Hatch and
David Bernstein, editors, Music Theory and the Exploration of the Past.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press: 377-407.
Demsey, David. 1995. "'Earthly' Origins of Coltrane's Third Cycles."

Down Beat 62 (July): 63
Gates, Henry Louis Jr. 1988. The Signifying Monkey. New York: Oxford
University Press.
Karade, Baba If. 1994. Handbook of Yoruba Religious Concepts. Simon

Weiser.
Lerdahl, Fred. 1988. "Tonal Pitch Space." Music Perception 5, no. 3

(Spring): 315-50.
Lewin, David. 1996. "Inversional Balance as an Organizing Force in
Schoenberg's Music and Thought." Perspectives of New Music 16, no.
1 (Spring): 1-21.
Lewis, George. 1967. "Improvised Music After 1950: Afrological and
Eurological Perspectives." Black Music Research Journal 6 (Spring-
Summer): 91-122.
Mathieu, William Allaudin. 1997. Harmonic Experience: Tonal Harmony
from Its Natural Origins to Its Modern Expression. Rochester, Vermont:
Inner Traditions International.
Monson, Ingrid. 1994. "Doubleness and Jazz Improvisation: Irony, Par-

ody, and Ethnomusicology." Critical Inquiry 20, no. 2: 283-313.
. 1996. Saying Something: Jazz Improvisation and Interaction.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Porter, Lewis. 1998. John Coltrane, His Life and Music. Ann Arbor:
University of Michigan Press.
Radano, Ronald M. 1993. New Musical Figurations: Anthony Braxton's

Cultural Critique. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Schoenberg, Arnold. 1984. "Composition With Tw

"Composition With Twelve Tones 2." In Style an
Leonard Stein. Berkeley: University of California Pr
Slonimsky, Nicolas. 1975. Thesaurus of Scales and Mel

York: Macmillian.
Gnostic Texts:
. 1990. "The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth" and "The

Thunder, Perfect Mind." In The Nag Hammadi Library. New York:
Harper Collins.

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The Giant Steps Fragment

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The "Giant Steps" Fragment

Author(s): Matthew Goodheart

THE FOLLOWING IS a transcript of a certain papyrus fragment found in

what I thought I had uncovered. (Tara lay mercifully asleep throughout.)

[The text begins in mid

A: How do you mean?

Esu: Well, take the issue of spelling, for example.

A: Isn't it essentially an oral language? The spelling is purely utilitar-

Esu: How so?

A: Writing B major was expedient. A lot of jazz playe

Esu: But your whole basis of interpretation hinges on the

A: That's because it's an analysis. I'm analyzing the co

Esu: So you reduce the thing to a number? That's what

A: Look, did I say it was a number?

Esu: You're defensive. I like that in a man.

A: You're putting analyses in my mouth. The only thing I'm bo

Actually, what's interesting about Lerdahl is that he kind of gets it

Esu: Cha-ching. So that's why you're not following Layer-it-dull?

Esu: It's just a joke. Number 2.

Esu: Yo' academic mama.

A: That's very Freudian of you.

[We paused here and stared at each other for a while.]

A: All right, so we need to address the issue of misspelling

Esu: Are you reinterpreting the Odu?

A: Hardly. The chord chart is a translation of a translation. Or a tran-

Esu: A realization? The logos made flesh?

A: Would it be logos or Odu? I would tend to put it in the Odu cat-

Esu: Why Odu? Because it was written by a negro?

A: So now we're celebrating the "other"?

Esu: Isn't that the Essence?

Esu: Aren't there two of us?

A: Actually three, but she's asleep. A holy trinity.

Esu: My Yin to your Yang?

Esu: Maybe I'm a For-EST-ian.

A: Actually, you're closer to Eusebius, the first three ...

[The fragment is broken here.]

[Esu] ... to be sure.

A: So it goes down to C-flat. Let me be clear. When you move a

[At this point, I walked as quietly as I could through the

[A:] Here, look at this.

[I hand him the following (Example 1):]

X[8 # ~#- =- |t- - ..... -

uCmin7 iF7 BMaj7 E:min7 A:7 D:M

subdominant, and the fifth of the D7 chord, which is generated

[Transcriber's note: They are speaking of just intervals. A Didymic

Esu: An insignificant comma?

A: Well, there are twenty-six movements from chord to chord, with

Esu: Is your point as big as my point?

A: Good question. I think yours is a point of contention. Look, my

Esu: And you're saying that 'Trane thought this way?

[I presented him with the following graphic (Example 2):]

Esu: 128:125. Forty-one cents.

[Transcriber's note: The comma of the Great Diesis is the difference

Esu: And what about the D-sharp major chord?

L-e # C t - ---------- - - ---' - - - - - --

C#min7 F#7 BMaj7 E#fmin7-- -Afrmin7 D7 Maj7

C#7 -.Fmin7 _BMj7

actually doesn't play the comma; he avoids the D-sharp while o

Esu: So 'Trane is thinking the note is D-sharp? And is avoiding t

A: I don't think he's consciously avoiding the comma, and I think he

Esu: 'Trane's training. The great link.

Esu: You could link with me.

A: Not unless you barbecue it. Damn, it always comes back to t

A: Maybe, maybe ...