redbeans hat ja schon mehrfach erwähnt, dass man hier Auszüge aus John Litweilers „The Freedom Principle“ finden kann. Ich lese gerade (in der deutschen Version, hab das Oreos-TB vor ein paar Jahren mal ganz billig gefunden) das Kapitel über Coltrane und bin über den Abschnitt zu Giant Steps erfreut… auf den Seiten davor schildert Litweiler in groben Zügen die Entwicklung Coltranes weg vom Hardbop, was in der folgenden Passage gipfelt:
For John Coltrane, the rhythmic inner life of bop – it’s unending restlessness, its nervous multiplicity of phrase shape and character (and of harmonic suggestion, too); in sum, the idiom’s rich, abundant, neurotic emotionality – was becoming irrelevant. In its place, Coltrane discovered harmonic insecurity at times so vast that the only security in his music was symmetry and rhythmic insistence; reiteration is his defense against utter dislocation, as in the several „So What“ solos or the three Wilbur Harden albums (1958). Coltrane’s reevaluation of resources resulted in a music of extremes, for he seemed to have bypassed the mainstream of hard bop to arrive at a more perilous music; henceforth his art would exist in an unending condition of jeopardy.
~ John Litweiler, The Freedom Principle, 89
Das finde ich sehr, sehr treffend beschrieben, die Musik der Extreme, die sich stets ihrer eigenen Gefährdung bewusst ist, die sich quasi aus sich selbst heraus stets schaffen aber aber auch bewahren muss, um nicht sogleich wieder zu verschwinden.
Giant Steps nun ist gemäss Litweiler (und hier deckt sich seine einigermassen mit meiner laienhaften „Sackgasse“ oder vielleicht treffender, „Abstellgleis“ oder halt einfach „Umweg“ Theorie) die grosse Ausnahme von der Regel, die kurze Abweichung von dieser sonst kontinuierlichen Entwicklung:
In Giant Steps Coltrane’s achievement overshadows his quest for a change. Now that he is not obsessed, melody flows in a stream, his phrases are rhythmically dispersed, and his music acquires new power. A rising four-note motive gives happy character to „Giant Steps“; „Syeeda’s Song Flute“ takes flight from a long, sinuous line. The dogged simplicity that usually rushed in violent symmetrical lines now appears in spare form in the long-tones theme of „Naima“ as the purest of lyricism; embellishment, activity would violate this precious fragility. His tone is soft, and the setting is as simple as possible, over a one-note bass pedal; the melody of „Naima“ – quiet, sunfilled – is worthy of Coltrane’s reverence, the unsuspected calm in the midst of his storms. Like „Traneing In,“ a new blues, „Mr. P.C.,“ has the efffect of prophecy, but now harmonic exploration and rhythmic certainty are no longer at opposite poles; instead, they merge as the burden of symmetry is abandoned. The sound sheets, downbeat accents, repetitions, great speed, and the other features off his most single-minded works are part of his Giant Steps solos; but now they are distributed throughout his solos, and the variety of his phrase shapes is unique in all of Coltrane’s career. The freedom of line suggests liberation from the cave of self; life is deeply enriched by this great creativity.
~ John Litweiler, The Freedom Principle, 89f.
Schon bei Coltrane Jazz geht die unstete aber kontinuierliche Entdeckungsreise wieder weiter – es scheint also tatsächlich so, dass Coltrane mit Giant Steps eine Art Summe seines bisherigen Denkens verfasst hat.
--
"Don't play what the public want. You play what you want and let the public pick up on what you doin' -- even if it take them fifteen, twenty years." (Thelonious Monk) | Meine Sendungen auf Radio StoneFM: gypsy goes jazz, #158 – Piano Jazz 2024 - 19.12.2024 – 20:00 | Slow Drive to South Africa, #8: tba | No Problem Saloon, #30: tba