Giant Steps

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Released in January 1960, John Coltrane's first album devoted entirely to his own compositions confirmed his towering command of tenor saxophone and his emerging power as a composer. Apprenticeships with Dizzy, Miles and Monk had helped focus his furious, expansive solos, and his stamina and underlying sense of harmonic adventure brought Coltrane, at 33, to a new cusp--the polytonal "sheets of sound" that distinguished his marathon solos were offset by interludes of subtle, concise lyricism, embodied here in the tender "Naima". That classic ballad is a calm refuge from the ecstatic, high-speed runs that spark the set's up-tempo climaxes, which begin with the opening title song, itself a cornerstone of modern jazz composition. This exemplary reissue benefits from eight alternate takes of the original album's seven stellar tracks, excellent remastering of the original tapes, and an expanded annotation. --Sam Sutherland

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While there may be a few jazz fans living on Mars who are not yet aware of Giant Steps, it's a sure bet that many people who have Kind of Blue in their collection as their only representation of jazz are unaware that Coltrane was making records at the same time under his own name that were every bit as monumental and influential as Miles's well-known classic. Giant Steps is a frighteningly powerful and cogent statement of Coltrane's musical manifesto as it read in early 1959. Indeed, every single composition on this release, from the title track through "Cousin Mary" and "Syeeda's Song Flute" to "Naima" and "Mr PC", have all become jazz standards and required lessons for any would-be sax enfant terrible. This edition of the classic contains no extra tracks, as did a previous CD incarnation, but it has an exceptionally good transfer and preserves the original cover and liner notes. --Keith Shadwick