Vijay Iyer Improvises on Coltrane's Giant Steps and Discusses his Approach to Playing

[@sonocentric]

I agree about the crucial importance of historical and social context in discussions of African American music. I did not convene this panel, nor did I edit it down from the hour-long conversation to this extract. Elsewhere I have often spoken and written at length about the questions you raise, including my dissertation from 1998, numerous interviews, and the very article you refer to.

[@totallyfake2852]

Do you have perfect pitch?

[@untipcubreton]

Incredibly intelligent. Truly one of the most unique voices in jazz living today.

[@IAmFitEnough]

Hi Vijay, I am in 8th Grade. I am doing a Music project on you, and I find you really interesting. I am also an Indian, and a Tamilian, so out of all the jazz musicians on my list, I chose you. And, I am very glad I chose you, because you can definitely help me with an A+. Have a great day.

[@dalegraham4058]

Coltrane was transcendental, as music made it possible. Music and infinite possibilities. Mr Iyer shares an experience in which he disappears into the music. And the music is the message. Amazement.

[@limaktba]

I like Vijay's answers to the question of, what are you thinking about. This is a question that gets asked often, it seems, mainly by aspiring jazz musicians (who want to nail Giant Steps haha). The problem is that often it seems that when people aske the question, they don't specify just what they mean by "think".

[@SOUNDsculptures]

Wow, impressive. Who knew someone would play a real piano and make it sound like midi!

[@MabookaMabooka]

:))))))

[@JoePandur]

😂😂😂

[@dasaggropop1244]

nailed it. he says the most interesting thing in the discussion: his approach is not about outlining the chords, but exploring possibility spaces inbetween them. giant steps is not a conventional standard, more a technical exercise and demonstration of coltranes harmonical concept on a level that is impressive, even if you don't like the musical result. i don't get why everybody tries to handle it like a standard. it is not "standard" in the sense of ABAA, 2-5-1 resultion. sure it looks like that written down, but instead of percieving it as 3 keys that don't fit together, see it as one that works. if you don't like the melody or flavour, try one that suits you better. Coltrane went out of his way to create a harmonic space he felt right for him, for his moves, for his horn, his story...ridiculous to transcribe that and reproduce it without second thought in a conventional manner. in my humble opinion one of the more intelligent approaches demonstrated and explained here. this staccato of equally shaped tones on a tenor horn is really like a train, some modernist monster from the future of the fifties, dashing over merely anticipated, rather assumed changes hinted in presumption. sounds less good for voice or guitar, no matter how well trained the performer is. the sound of the piano...well anything goes on a piano. just kidding, really nice work from this man.

[@pavedwave]

While most follow Coltrane's technical approach, have a listen to Gary Bartz solo over it, one of the most melodic versions I've ever heard. The strings in the intro aren't my style but his solo is just butter.

[@ALTERED13TH]

Wow, Vijay Iyer is a profound thinker and a great pianist. Glad MacArthur Foundation awarded him a genius grant or I might never have heard of him or heard him play. I hope he comes to Chicago.

[@caponsacchi]

"Giant Steps" may not be the public's favorite Coltrane recording (try "A Love Supreme"), but it's the most important recording by arguably the most seminal musician in the 2nd half of jazz history. It also demonstrates how the Great American Songbook is inseparable from jazz history. Coltrane's radical revision of dominant-tonic chord movement follows the pattern of Rodgers and Hart's "Have You Met Miss Jones" (the bridge). Moreover, Trane's obsession with modes (scales) throughout the '60s was anticipated by a song like Rodgers and Hammerstein's "My Favorite Things." (Add to that Leonard Bernstein's "Some Other Time," Bill Evans' "Peace Piece," and Bill's influence on Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue"). Coltrane first recorded "Giant Steps" with Cedar Walton. Dissatisfied with the result, he went to Tommy Flanagan, with whom he re-recorded the published result. Both pianists felt blind-sided by the difficulty of the tune but eventually got it under control.

[@dojomania]

+caponsacchi absolutely, and couldn't have said it better myself. Only one thing, he and Tommy made giant Steps swing, as you note, no easy task. I had not known that bit about Cedar Walton. I just can't stand how this guy is mashing Coltrane's masterpiece..."weird leaps".."microdecisions, potentialities?" ??! ..I dare Iyer to actually play melodically, with an actual bassline. Picasso could draw beautifully, before he made his abstract/cubist art. People who play outside should prove they can play inside first.

[@jeffreyruggles2780]

+Diomedes22 Agree about Bird. The man changed music. But Coltrane took jazz to heaven. In every way he exploded the genre and turned it into what it is today.

[@caponsacchi]

Coltrane didn't quite make it that far. Like Icarus, his wings melted on the way. He was the modern Coleridge, Shelley ("I fall upon the thorns of life, I l bleed") and Keats ("Truth is Beauty, beauty truth. That is all ye know on earth, and all you need know." After Cedar and Tommy both considered their attempts failures, they soon got it under their fingers in subsequent editions. Reminiscent of Coltrane blindsiding Hank Mobley on "Someday My Prince Will Come." But the 4 times I caught Trane following the deparature of Elvin and McCoy, he was God-awful. He emptied Soldier's Field at the Playboy Jazz Festival and the U. of Wisconsin Student Union in Madison. People were bee-lining for the exits, lost, disillusioned, disenchanted--so the Stones and Dylan would have to do it for them. Always the same formula--2 basses, 2 drummers--with one song (My Fav Things) which covered the full concert. No intermission. Blacks had caught on and abandoned him. Trane seemed oblivious to the whole thing.

[@BeatsNKarats]

Wow, I love your interpretation and timing, amazing

[@Bebopopotamus]

Fresh approach!

[@SoundEagle]

It seems to be a pity that this video does not show his fingers playing.

[@haveatomato]

Love his music. Pretty smart dude.

[@pukulu]

I used to play Giant Steps but I could not improvise anything like this.

[@ronnieanand]

How did your project go ?

[@vtlundy]

You can't underestimate the value of someone in jazz explaining the depth of what's going on and making it accessible, even if that's all you believe is happening hear, which I don't. If Joey Alexander ever reaches the critical acclaim that Vijay has attained, I am sure Pepper Williams will be the first to rip him off his pedestal.

[@mauz3496]

so cool!

[@milosmamula1975]

that's what barry harris is saying

[@tulsiraakh6671]

AMEN!!! AMEN!!! AMEN!!!

[@JazzKeyboardist1]

the camera is between a rock and a hard place?

[@samferguson9171]

vijay is the best

[@deepintheslums]

This man is a genius....

[@DoctorMaxMoebius]

For Shame! I heard a number of missed notes!! How dare he! How can anyone post such a performance! He he.. He's quite good. I really like his use of space (silence) - I wonder if he's a Phineas Newborn fan?

[@caponsacchi]

+DoctorMaxMoebius No. He probably consumes every note by Oscar Peterson and Art Tatum. Actually, the key to the wild success of a newcomer like this--even among the so-called "critics"--is his "accessibility." Like Monk, he enables listeners to grab on to something they can understand. Monk, too, was a master of "space" (strange word, since music is "temporal," not "spatial"). On his good nights, he would dance around the piano, relying heavily on a strong "walking bass" player. But the pianist who can weave spells with silence and repetition is Ahmad Jamal. And the pianist who can make every note "breathe," sounding as alive and intimate as the human voice, is Bill Evans. The post-performance discussion: 1. Yes, you have some things in mind before performing; 2. Yes, you allow for spontaneity while seated at the piano; 3. Rhythm is more than "time-keeping"--it's also a collectively-felt pulse (i.e. "swing"?). [Addendum: Khurram Azziz's reference to a vocal source strikes home because jazz parlance used to talk about musicians who could "blow" piano, not simply "play" it. The word choice was most apt because Fatha Hines was trying to replicate the lines of Louis just as Bud was working to express the lines of Bird. And if you heard these guys live--Oscar's screaming vocalizations (never on pitch) were constant and loud enough to drown out his piano. Same with Bud. And by now many have seen videos of Keith's moans and groans. These guys are all "singing" the notes as they play them (with no regard to pitch). It's a way of precluding the conscious mind's interference with the flow of the creative process "in the moment," ensuring the unleashing of the deeply felt emotive contents of the unconscious self. Dionysian, true. But Nietzsche wasn't wrong about everything.

[@kindpoo5096]

Hmmm.....MacArthur Fellow?

[@WickBeavers]

Hi Vijay! I am neither an Indian nor a Tamil but I am a photographer who has been to Sri Lanka and who has played a little piano. I wish you had raised a little anger, hit a little ire, had a little thunder in your piece and plunked down hard and solid periodically (I was also hearing some Thelonius in the arpeggios lower hand off key pokes on the right). I missed that. Otherwise, I think your playing here was the best. Hogwash- it was great!

[@videolover61]

Dang...that discussion is like so stiff. And where's the heat in the playing?

[@goldjoinery]

videolover61 Cold heat.

[@tulsiraakh6671]

345-4=35

[@way2gomusic]

intelligent guy and intelligent playing, but I miss a little humor and looseness...

[@supahsekzy]

Really interesting guy. I bet he likes Ornette Coleman

[@MabookaMabooka]

I bet he just likes to show off. No music.

[@p1anosteve]

It's impressive improvisation but to me it does not seem to swing .

[@UkuleleAversion]

Yeah it doesn't swing and it doesn't have to. Jazz isn't swing.

[@p1anosteve]

Agreed, Jazz is not just Swing, but to me the use of characteristic rhythm is one pillar of the Jazz art form, the others being characteristic harmony and improvisation. Otherwise how do you classify music? Me personally, I just like jazz to swing.

[@87areeves87]

Yeah feels more like a college lecture than a church sermon

[@UkuleleAversion]

Alexander Reeves I've tried to "get" Vijay but I'm afraid I just can't dig it, it feels exactly as you've said.

[@scriabinbartok3465]

His time and phrasing fees like licking sand paper.

[@MabookaMabooka]

VJ: what is your POINT??? It is NOT beautiful.

[@plvarnier]

Umm try again sweatie

[@PAOComposer]

Inaccessible to most. Highly specialized.

[@pepperwilliams4428]

He doesn't do anything for me. Joey (12 year old) Alexander is way better!

[@donbroni]

+Pepper Williams you may as well listen to the original then. this is much more refreshing than just another giant steps cover

[@pepperwilliams4428]

+donald clark That comment doesn't make much sense. There are many many interpretations of Giant Steps that are awesome, that are nothing like the original. I just happen to not prefer this one.

[@caponsacchi]

I get the use of "cover" for most pop hits, followed by any number of releases of the same song on competing labels or the live versions by saloon and wedding bands. But it doesn't work for me in the arts. I mean is Art Rubenstein's interpretation of Beethoven's "Moonlight" sonata a "cover" of Vladimir Horwiz's? Is Glenn Gould's version of Bach's "Goldberg Variations" a "cover" or a revisioning? is "Leonard Bernstein and the NY Phil's version of Beethoven's 5th a "cover" of Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony's? Here's where the word "interpretation" comes into play for me. Or maybe there's an in-between word. Coltrane's "Giant Steps" was the throwing down of the gauntlet, and the issuance of a challenge: "Can you execute this pattern as proficiently as me?" It's a standard of excellence that some musicians have come closer to executing at Coltrane's level than others. It's not a matter of trying to capitalize on someone else's "lucky" hit song.