Coltrane changes

Coltrane changes (Coltrane Matrix or cycle, also known as chromatic third relations and multi-tonic changes) are a harmonic progression variation
using substitute chords over common jazz chord progressions. These substitution patterns were first demonstrated by jazz musician John Coltrane on the
albums Bags & Trane (on the track "Three Little Words") and Cannonball Adderley Quintet in Chicago (on "Limehouse Blues").[1] Coltrane continued
his explorations on the 1960 album Giant Steps and expanded on the substitution cycle in his compositions "Giant Steps" and "Countdown", the latter of
which is a reharmonized version of Eddie Vinson's "Tune Up". The Coltrane changes are a standard advanced harmonic substitution used in jazz
improvisation.

Contents
Function
Influences
Coltrane substitution
Major thirds cycle
"Tune Up" and "Countdown"
"Tune Up"
"Countdown"
"Giant Steps"
Standard substitution
See also
References
Further reading
External links

Function
The changes serve as a pattern of chord substitutions for the ii–V–I progression (supertonic–dominant–tonic) Play and are noted for the tonally
unusual root movement by major thirds (either up or down by a major third interval as opposed to more typical minor or major second intervals, creating
an augmented triad. Root movement by thirds is unusual in jazz, as the norm is cycle of fifths root movement, such as ii-V-I, which in the key of C is D
minor, G7 and C major.

Influences
David Demsey, saxophonist and Coordinator of Jazz Studies at William Paterson University, cites a
number of influences leading to Coltrane's development of these changes. After Coltrane's death it was
proposed that his "preoccupation with... chromatic third-relations" was inspired by religion or
spirituality, with three equal key areas having numerological significance representing a "magic
triangle", or, "the trinity, God, or unity."[2] However, Demsey shows that though this meaning was of
some importance, third relationships were much more "earthly," or rather historical, in origin. Mention
should be made of his interests in Indian ragas during the early 1960s, the Trimurti of Vishnu, Brahma SeeChord (http://www.seechord.co.u
and Shiva may well have been an inherent reference in his chromatic third relations, tritone substitutes, k/) chart of "Have You Met Miss
and so on.[2]. Anyway, this changes were used extensively on many classical pieces from at least 1800. Jones?"
One can find many of this changes on Chopin's works. Coltrane just played them jazzyly.

In playing that style, Coltrane found it "easy to apply the harmonic ideas I had... I started experimenting because I was striving for more individual
development."[3] He developed his sheets of sound style while playing with Davis and with pianist Thelonious Monk during this period.[4] Saxophonist
Odean Pope considers pianist Hasaan Ibn Ali a major influence on Coltrane in his development of the sheets of sound style.[5]

Coltrane studied harmony with Dennis Sandole and at the Granoff School of Music in Philadelphia. He explored contemporary techniques and theory. He
also studied the Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns by Nicolas Slonimsky (1947).[6]
The first appearance of the "Coltrane changes" appear in the verse to the standard ""Till the Clouds Roll By" by Jerome Kern.[7] The bridge of the
Rodgers and Hart song and jazz standard "Have You Met Miss Jones?" (1937) predated Tadd Dameron's "Lady Bird", after which Coltrane named his
"Lazy Bird", by incorporating modulation by major third(s).[8] (highlighted yellow below) "Giant Steps" and "Countdown" may both have taken the
inspiration for their augmented tonal cycles from "Have You Met Miss Jones?".[9]

"Have You Met Miss Jones?" B section chord progression (bridge):

│ B♭Maj7 │ A♭m7 D♭7 │ G♭Maj7 │ Em7 A7 │ DMaj7 │ A♭m7 D♭7 │ G♭Maj7 │ Gm7 C7 │

Coltrane substitution
The Coltrane substitution, Coltrane changes, or Countdown formula, is as follows. Start with a ii–V–I
turnaround lasting four measures:

ii7 V7 I I
│ Dm7 │ G7 │C│C│

with the dominant chord (V7) preceding the tonic (I). ii–V7–I progression in C lasting only
two measures Play .
One substitutes two chords for each of the first three:[10]

ii7 V7 I
│ Dm7 E♭7 │ A♭ B7 │ E G7 │ C │
╲╱ ╲╱ ╲╱ ╲╱ ╲╱ ╲╱
m2 P4 m3 P4 m3 P4

Notice a dominant seventh chord preceding and thus tonicizing a major chord on C and also E and A♭,
both a major third from C.

V7 I V7 I V7 I
E♭7 │ A♭ B7 │ E G7 │ C
SeeChord chart of a Coltrane
This also may begin on C, as on "Giant Steps", giving:
substitution.

│C E♭7 │ A♭ B7 │ E G7 │ C │
╲╱ ╲╱ ╲╱ ╲╱ ╲╱ ╲╱
m3 P4 m3 P4 m3 P4

Four-measure ii–V–I progression in C with Coltrane

substitution Play .

Major thirds cycle

The harmonic use of the chromatic third relation originated in the Romantic era and may occur on any structural level, for example in chord progressions
or through key changes.[11] The standard Western chromatic scale has twelve equidistant semitones.[12] When arranged according to the circle of fifths, it
looks like this:
 Precisely because of this equidistancy, the roots of these three chords can produce a destabilizing effect; if C, A♭ and E 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.

— Demsey (1991)[11]

Looking above at the marked chords from "Have You Met Miss Jones?", B♭, G♭ and D are spaced a major third apart. On the circle of fifths it appears as
an equilateral triangle:

By rotating the triangle, all of the thirds cycles can be shown. Note that there are only four unique thirds cycles. This approach can be generalized;
different interval cycles will appear as different polygons on the diagram.

"Tune Up" and "Countdown"

"Tune Up"
These are the first eight bars of the Miles Davis composition "Tune Up". The chord changes are
relatively simple, a straightforward application of the ii–V–I progression, which is extremely common in
jazz.

ii V I ii V I SeeChord chart of Tune Up.

│ Em7 │ A7 │ DMaj7 │ DMaj7 │ Dm7 │ G7 │ CMaj7 │ CMaj7 │

The chord progression is a standard ii7–V7–I progression in D major and then in C major. Assume that the time signature is 4
4 and that each ii and V
chord gets four beats and the I chord gets eight beats.

"Countdown"
The Changes below show Coltrane's substitution of chord changes over "Tune Up". When writing jazz
tunes that substitute chords, it is very common to title the tune with a play on words of the name of the
original composition, hence "Tune Up" became "Countdown". The ii–V–I progression from "Tune Up"
still appears but is enhanced with several transition chords that lead to a more complex harmonic
progression.

SeeChord chart of "Countdown".

ii V I ii V I
7 7
│ Em F │ B♭ Maj7 7
D♭ │ G♭ Maj7 7
A │DMaj7 7 7
│ Dm E♭ │ A♭ Maj7 7
B │EMaj7 7
G │CMaj7 │

In the standard Coltrane change cycle the ii–V–I is substituted with a progression of chords that cycle back to the V–I at the end. In a 4
4 piece, each chord
gets two beats per change.

Coltrane developed this modified chord progression for "Countdown", which is much more complex. At its core, "Countdown" is a variation of "Tune
Up", but the harmonic substitutions occur rapidly and trick the listener into thinking that they are listening to a completely unrelated tune. The ii, V and I
remain, but in between are other chords (highlighted in yellow and blue) from the major thirds cycle centered around each I. Preceding the first chord of
each major thirds cycle is its V chord.
An earlier Coltrane piece, "Lazy Bird", also features two tonal centers a major third apart in its A section.

"Giant Steps"
The "Giant Steps" cycle is the culmination of Coltrane's theories applied to a completely new chord
progression. Coltrane uses the cycle in descending major third tonal transpositions in the opening bars
and then ascending ii–V–I progressions separated by a major third in the second section of "Giant
Steps". The second section is basically the inverse of the bridge section described in "Have You Met
Miss Jones" above.
SeeChord chart of "Giant Steps".

I Coltrane substitution cycle ii V I Coltrane substitution cycle

│ BMaj7 D7 │ GMaj7 B♭7 │ E♭Maj7 │ Am7 D7 │ GMaj7 B♭7 │ E♭Maj7 F♯7 │ BMaj7 │

Ascending/descending ii–V–I progression separated by a major third (tonal centers E♭, G, B, E♭, B)

The structure of "Giant Steps" as

shown on the circle of fifths.

ii V I ii V I ii V I ii V I ii V
7 7
│ Fm B♭ │ E♭ Maj7 7 7
│ Am D │ GMaj7 7 7
│ C♯m F♯ │ BMaj7 7 7
│ Fm B♭ │ E♭ Maj7 │ C♯m F♯7 │
7

This table shows which scales are used for the different chords:

Chords Scale

BMaj7 B major

D7 → GMaj7 G major

B♭7 → E♭Maj7 E♭ major

Am7 → D7 → GMaj7 G major

B♭7 → E♭Maj7 E♭ major

F♯7 → BMaj7 B major

Fm7 → B♭7 → E♭Maj7 E♭ major

Am7 → D7 → GMaj7 G major

C♯m7 → F♯7 → BMaj7 B major

Fm7 → B♭7 → E♭Maj7 E♭ major

C♯m7 → F♯7 B major

Standard substitution
Although "Giant Steps" and "Countdown" are perhaps the most famous examples, both of these compositions use slight variants of the standard Coltrane
changes (The first eight bars of "Giant Steps" uses a shortened version that does not return to the I chord, and in "Countdown" the progression begins on
ii7 each time.) The standard substitution can be found in several Coltrane compositions and arrangements recorded around this time. These include: "26-
2" (a reharmonization of Charlie Parker's "Confirmation"), "Satellite" (based on the standard "How High the Moon"), "Exotica" (loosely based on the
harmonic form of "I Can't Get Started"), Coltrane's arrangement of "But Not for Me", and on the bridge of his arrangement of "Body and Soul".

In "Fifth House" (based on "Hot House", i.e. "What Is This Thing Called Love") the standard substitution is implied over an ostinato bass pattern with no
chordal instrument instructed to play the chord changes. When Coltrane's improvisation superimposes this progression over the ostinato bass, it is easy to
hear how he used this concept for his more free playing in later years.

See also
Tritone substitution

References
1. Porter, Lewis (January 28, 2000). John Coltrane: His Life and Music. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press. p. 151.
ISBN 978-0-472-08643-6.
2. Demsey, David (1996). John Coltrane plays Giant steps. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Hal Leonard. p. 145. ISBN 0-7935-6345-3.
3. Demsey, David (1991). "Chromatic Third Relations in the Music of John Coltrane". Annual Review of Jazz Studies. 5: 158. ISBN 0-
8108-2478-7.
4. Ruhlmann, William. "John Coltrane" (https://www.allmusic.com/artist/john-coltrane-mn0000175553/biography). AllMusic. Retrieved
21 December 2018.
5. Porter, Lewis; DeVito, Chris; Wild, David (26 April 2013). The John Coltrane Reference (https://books.google.com/books?id=mjXN4UH
gU1IC&pg=PP103). Routledge. pp. 103–. ISBN 978-1-135-09794-3.
6. Porter, Lewis (2000). John Coltrane: His Life and Music. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press. p. 149. ISBN 978-0-472-
08643-6.
7. Kern, Jerome (1967). Till the Clouds Roll By (http://web.ocpl.org/sheetmusic/viewfile.php?id=Till_the_clouds_roll_by(1).pdf) (PDF)
(sheet music). New York City: T. B. Harms. p. 3.
8. Lyon, Jason (2007). "Coltrane's Substitution Tunes" (http://www.opus28.co.uk/tranesubtunes.pdf), in
www.opus28.co.uk/jazzarticles.html (http://www.opus28.co.uk/jazzarticles.html).
9. Christiansen, Corey (2007). "Coltrane-Style II–V–Is", Guitar Player Jun; 41, 6.
10. Baker, David (1990). David Baker's Modern Concepts in Jazz Improvisation: A Comprehensive Method for All Musicians. Alfred
Publishing. pp. 92–93. ISBN 0-7390-2907-X.
11. Demsey (1991), p.146-147.
12. Proctor, Gregory (1978). Nineteenth-Century Chromatic Tonality: A Study in Chromaticism, p.150. Ph.D., Diss., Princeton. Cited in
Demsey (1991), p.148.

Further reading
Baker, David N. (1990). The Jazz Style of John Coltrane. Alfred Publishing. ISBN 0-7692-3326-0.Nettles, Barrie & Graf, Richard
(1997). The Chord Scale Theory and Jazz Harmony. Advance Music, ISBN 3-89221-056-X
Weiskopf, Walt; Ray Ricker (1991). Coltrane - A Player's Guide to His Harmony. New Albany, Indiana: Jamey Aebersold.
Yamaguchi, Masaya (2003). John Coltrane Plays Coltrane Changes. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard Corp. ISBN 0-634-03864-8.
Yamaguchi, Masaya (2002). "A Creative Approach to Multi-Tonic Changes: Beyond Coltrane's Harmonic Formula", Annual Review of
Jazz Studies 12. ISBN 0-8108-5005-2

External links
"The Giant Steps Progression and Cycle Diagrams" (http://www.danadler.com/misc/Cycles.pdf), (155 KB PDF), Dan Adler,
DanAdler.com
"Augmented Scale Theory" (http://www.javierarau.com/books-augmented.php), Javier Arau
"John Coltrane - Harmonic Substitutions" (http://www.lucaspickford.com/transsubs.htm), "Extending the Coltrane Changes" by David
Baker, LucasPickford.com
"Giant Steps (in minute detail)" (http://www.songtrellis.com/GiantStepsInDetail), SongTrellis
"Giant Steps, Central Park West and Modulatory Cycles" (http://www.thinkingmusic.ca/analyses/coltrane/), Michael Leibson,
ThinkingMusic.ca.

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