Jim Gold 1

Word Count: 3851

Pattern in melodic improvisation and harmonic

progression in the music of John Coltrane:

with particular reference to Coltrane's improvised cadenza during his rendition of

Billy Eckstine's composition 'I Want to Talk about You', and his manipulation of
similar devices in his compositions and improvisation.
Jim Gold 2

Abstract

In ‘Pattern in melodic improvisation and harmonic progression in the music of John

Coltrane’, I aimed to demystify John Coltrane’s music and present a case for its clear
internal logic and structural beauty. I also hoped to create a document useful for those
studying jazz improvisation and harmony. For this essay I focussed primarily on
Coltrane’s improvised cadenza during his rendition of the Billy Eckstine composition
‘I Want to Talk about You’. To carry out a meaningful harmonic analysis, I needed a
transcription, so I undertook this task myself. In addition to reading what I could find
on the subject, I consulted one of Europe’s leading experts on Coltrane’s music,
Mornington Lockett. He was able to provide valuable insights and suggest fresh
avenues of research. In my analysis I attempted to identify recognizable patterns and
shapes in Coltrane’s improvisation, such as triad pairs, hexatonics and II-V-I
language. I also related the devices used to similar examples in the rest of Coltrane’s
body of work. My results were conclusive in proving the wealth of pattern and
structure in Coltrane’s music, and I inadvertently managed to find evidence of
Coltrane’s influence on younger musicians.
Jim Gold 3

Contents

Contents 3
Introduction 4
Deriving Shapes and Patterns from Scales 6
Repeating Motifs 10
Use of Triad Pairs 13
Use of Synthetic Scales 16
Use of the Three-Tonic Cycle 19
Conclusion 23
Bibliography 24
Discography 25
Jim Gold 4

Introduction

John Coltrane (1926-1947) was a leading African-American jazz musician,

performing mainly on tenor and soprano saxophones. Coltrane’s music is renowned
for its fiery creativity and the saxophonist’s visceral approach. This uninhibited style
has led some listeners to be dismissive of his style, considering his note choice to be
random and meaningless. This is particularly true of his more unhinged performances,
such as the seminal free jazz album ‘Ascension’ and the cadenza which follows his
performance of ‘I Want to Talk about You’ on the album ‘Live at Birdland’. The
words of Associate Editor of prominent jazz publication Downbeat, John Tynan, who
stated, on listening to a 1961 performance of the saxophonist, that ‘[he] listened to a
horrifying demonstration of what appears to be a growing anti-jazz trend exemplified
by those foremost proponents [Coltrane and fellow saxophonist, Eric Dolphy] of what
is termed avant-garde music’1 exemplify this trend. It is this cadenza which this essay
will attempt to rationalise and interpret, in order to go some way in understanding
Coltrane’s thought process. In this way it might convince sceptics of the internal logic
of Coltrane’s music. I will relate my analysis of sections of the cadenza to other
examples of Coltrane using similar techniques, both in improvisation and
compositions. By doing this I hope to strengthen my interpretation of Coltrane’s
techniques by establishing continuity in his work.

Coltrane’s motivation for playing these kinds of free cadenzas is touched upon in The
New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, where it is stated that in pieces such as Giant Steps,
Coltrane, ‘by seeking to escape harmonic clichés…had inadvertently created a one-
dimensional improvisatory style. In the late 1950’s he pursued two alternative
directions. First his expanding technique enabled him to play what the critic Ira
Gitler called ‘sheets of sound2’. (Italics mine) It is these ‘sheets of sound’ that can be
heard clearly in the cadenza to I Want to Talk About You. Furthermore, Barry
Kernfeld comments that ‘such flurries…disguised his excessive reiteration of

1
‘John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy Answer The Jazz Critics’, Down Beat Magazine,
http://www.downbeat.com/default.asp?sect=stories&subsect=story_detail&sid=212 (Accessed June 18
2008)
2
Barry Kernfeld, ed., The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz (New York: Macmillan Publishers Ltd),
s.v. "John Coltrane."
Jim Gold 5

formulae.’ It is this very concealing that I will attempt to make lucid in this essay by
revealing Coltrane’s techniques.

The transcription and analysis of these extracts is valuable to the jazz community as a
whole, and in particular the improvising jazz musician. From Coltrane’s use of
patterns and shapes the improviser will be able to derive his own melodic and
harmonic material that will add to his jazz ‘vocabulary’. Furthermore it may inspire
him or her to investigate Coltrane’s cyclic systems and potentially create fresh
systems influenced by them.

In order to identify the patterns used, I undertook the task of transcribing notable
sections from the cadenza. By listening carefully I was able to configure these sounds
to standard Western musical notation. It should be noted that the lack of fixed meter
makes precise notation of rhythms particularly challenging, but the transcriptions that
have been produced are nonetheless an invaluable tool in analysing Coltrane’s music.
All transcriptions are mine unless otherwise noted.
Jim Gold 6

Deriving Shapes and Patterns from Scales

Fig.1. John Coltrane, I Want to Talk About You, (06:30 – 06:40)

If we analyse this section in depth it is possible to see it as implying a II-V-I cadence

typical of the jazz idiom, one that Coltrane would have been very familiar with. An
example of such a cadence would be the Dm7 – G7 – Cmaj7 that comes in the last 4
bars of a conventional jazz 12 bar blues in C major. This extract is to some degree a
pastiche of the clichéd jazz ‘lick’ shown below, which is often played over a II-V-I
cadence.

Fig 2. Conventional jazz II-V ‘lick’

Fig 3. John Coltrane, I Want to Talk About You, (06:35 – 06:40)

Particularly from bar 5 in Coltrane’s phrase we see the guide tone of F# (implying the
chord of G minor with a major 7th) descend to an F (implying G minor with a lowered
7th) and then to an E (forming the 3rd of C7). Fig. 3 above indicates these common
guide-tones with arrows.
Jim Gold 7

A scale that jazz musicians commonly use over dominant seventh chords is the
‘altered scale’. This scale is a mode of the melodic minor scale, and is formed by
starting on the leading note of that scale.

Fig 4. G altered scale

Over a tonality of G7, this scale emphasises all the notes that are ‘outside’ the
conventional sound of the chord, and so is typical of harmonically complex jazz. In
How to Comp, Hal Crook describes this effect as ‘altered tensions’3. Notably, the 3rd
(B) and 7th (F) are not altered, as this would too drastically change the function of the
chord.

In addition to playing the scale in a linear fashion one can also derive a number of
shapes and patterns from it. Just as we can derive F and G major triads from C major
scale, we can derive C# and D# major triads from the G altered scale. Below we see
how both Ab and Bb(A#) minor triads are also built into the altered scale.

Fig.5. Minor Triads in G altered scale

It is the minor triad that is built on the b2 of the scale that Coltrane uses in this
extract.

3
Hal Crook, How to Comp, (Advance Music, 1995) p.17
Jim Gold 8

Fig.6. John Coltrane, I Want to Talk About You, (06:37 – 06:40)

Here we see, in the context of a C dominant seventh chord, a C# minor triad. This is a
clear indication of Coltrane deriving the minor triad shape from the C altered scale.

We can see many examples of Coltrane superimposing harmony over existing chord
changes outside of this cadenza. Often he will use triadic or arpeggaic constructions
as these are often the clearest ways to describe harmony. An example might be bars 9-
12 of the saxophonist’s solo on Blue Train from the album of the same name. Blue
Train, as its name suggests, is a 12 bar-blues in the key of Eb. Therefore, the last 4

bars of each 12 bar chorus contain a II-V-I cadence in the key of Eb. In his solo,

Coltrane does not stick rigidly to the chords of Fm7 - Bb 7 - Eb 7, but instead implies
contrasting harmony over the top.

Fig.7. John Coltrane’s solo on Blue Train, bars 8-12.

The key section is shown with the square brackets. In this section Coltrane is not
using the altered scale over the C7 chord, as the F natural used in the line does not fit
into that scale.
Jim Gold 9

Fig.8. C Altered Scale

Instead it appears that Coltrane is implying a minor plagal cadence over the chord
changes. Since a plagal cadence is the resolution from chord IV to chord I, a minor
plagal cadence is the resolution from chord IV minor to chord I. In this case that
resolution is from the clear Bb minor shape indicated by the square brackets to the F
natural that is the first note of the next bar. This example demonstrates that Coltrane
was not limited to altered scale vocabulary in his harmonic language.
Jim Gold 10

Repeating Motifs

In the cadenza Coltrane does repeat certain ideas that demonstrate that his
improvisation is to some degree based on things that he has assimilated and practiced
rather than being completely wild and free. One such motif is heard twice, once at
(06:16) and again at (06:24)

Fig.9. Coltrane’s repeating motif.

If we assume that this pattern is derived from a diatonic scale or mode, there are
several possible harmonic interpretations of it. The one I thought of at first was that it
could imply the tonality of G Lydian.

Fig.10. Harmonic implications of Coltrane’s motif

Similarly it could be descriptive of any of the church modes of D. Also the notes of
the motif fit into the scale of E melodic minor.

Fig.11. Further Harmonic implications of Coltrane’s motif

These and other interpretations are possible, and nobody can definitely state what
Coltrane was thinking. However, Mornington Lockett has suggested me that the motif
Jim Gold 11

could imply several of the ‘altered tensions’ over the chord of Eb 7. All the notes of

the motif fit into the Eb altered scale. Remember that the altered scale is the same as
the melodic minor scale a semitone up, and so just as the motif fits into E melodic
minor scale, it fits into the Eb altered scale.4

Fig.12. Further Harmonic implications of Coltrane’s motif

This is possibly the most practical use of this shape for jazz improvisers, as dominant
seventh chords are extremely common in jazz harmony.

If we look at this motif in its historical context there are several interesting things
about it. The first is that we can see the late Michael Brecker, a celebrated
saxophonist and devotee of John Coltrane’s music, using an identical shape in bar 92
of his solo on the piece Pools by the jazz fusion group Steps Ahead.

5
Fig.13. Michael Brecker Pools solo.

The brackets indicate the relevant segment; we can see that it is simply a transposed
version of the original Brecker construction. This pattern is well known and attributed
to Brecker. On his website Mornington Lockett refers to a version of this pattern as a
‘classic Michael Brecker construction’.

4
Mornington Lockett, interview by author, Winter 2008.
5
Transcription by Charles McNeal, http://www.charlesmcneal.com/, (19th June 2009)
Jim Gold 12

Fig.14. ‘Classic Michael Brecker Construction’ from Mornington Lockett

The relationship between Brecker’s pattern and the motif by Coltrane is clear. It
seems very likely that Brecker, who is known to have transcribed a great deal of
Coltrane’s music, heard this motif (perhaps subconsciously) and created his version of
it. This is a very exciting discovery and it surely demonstrates how artists as great as
Brecker are very much influenced by their own heroes just like the novice jazz
musician.
Jim Gold 13

Use of Triad Pairs

The use of triad pairs is well documented in jazz. Several books exclusively cover this
topic such as Walt Weiskopf’s Intervallic Improvisation: The Modern Sound and
Gary Campbell’s’ Triad Pairs for Jazz. The most common technique is to alternate
the use of two triads, creating a hexatonic (six note) scale. However, as Jason Lynn
states in his article on the technique, ‘in order for this approach to yield a hexatonic
(six note) scale, the two triads must be mutually exclusive – they must contain no
common tones.’6

This technique can create some very interesting colours of tonality. Below we see
how two major triads (the most common pairing of triads) can produce, on a major
chord, a Lydian or #11 sound.

Fig.15. Example 1 of triad pairs.

Similarly, over a dominant 7th chord, two major triads can produce the sound of a
suspended 4th, or, as it would be known to jazz musicians, a ‘sus chord’.

Fig.16. Example 2 of triad pairs.

In Coltrane’s cadenza on I Want to Talk About You we can clearly see his use of this
technique.

6
Part II, Hexatonics, Jason Lynn, http://www.opus28.co.uk/jazz3hex.pdf, (18th June 2007)
Jim Gold 14

Fig.17. John Coltrane, I Want to Talk About You, (06:04 – 06:10)

Here we see the alternating of E minor triad and F major triad along with C
augmented triad and Bb diminished triad.

Fig.18. Coltrane’s use of triad pairs, Example 1

Since Coltrane is not playing over a fixed chord sequence at this point, it is harder to
decipher what tonality this triad pair implies. The most obvious would be that of C
major with a #11, i.e. the church mode of C Lydian. Because a diatonic scale cannot
contain 3 semitones next to one another, the ‘missing seventh note’ from the
hexatonic ‘must’ be D, as either Db or D# would result in a non-diatonic scale. This
would indicate that the tonality implied must be that of one of the church modes of C.
However, as we will see by Coltrane’s use of synthetic scales, there is no need for us
to be bound to the conventions of diatonic scales in our analysis of his music.

Fig.19. Coltrane’s use of triad pairs, Example 2

In this example the triad pairs are not mutually exclusive, and so together create a
pentatonic scale rather than a hexatonic. This pentatonic is very interesting and could
be used to describe several advanced jazz harmonic sounds.
Jim Gold 15

Fig. 20. Pentatonic derived from Coltrane’s Triad Pairs

This is perhaps one the most attractive of its possible manifestations. In the context of
a C7 chord the pentatonic contains two ‘altered tensions’ that are found in the altered
scale that were covered in the first section of this essay. These are the b2 and #5 (Db

and G#). In addition, the natural 3rd (E) and flattened 7th (Bb) mean that the chord’s
function is not obscured – the scale only colours it. This is a prime example of how
the analysis of Coltrane’s cadenza can produce material that is suitable for
improvisers to absorb into their melodic and harmonic vocabulary.
Jim Gold 16

Use of Synthetic Scales

Synthetic scales can be defined as non-diatonic scales, i.e. scales that are not modes of
the major, harmonic major, harmonic minor or melodic minor scales. Examples of
these are the whole-tone scale and the diminished scale. Classical musicians may
know these same scales as Messiaen’s 1st and 2nd modes of limited transposition.
Another example of a synthetic scale is the augmented scale. This is constructed of
alternating minor thirds and semitones to form a six note scale (hexatonic). It can also
be thought of as two augmented triads a semitone apart and so another example of the
technique of triad pairs that has already been noted.

Fig. 21. Augmented Scale

If the order of intervals is reversed so that the scale is now formed by repeating
semitone-minor third, this new scale is called the inverted augmented scale.

Fig. 22. Inverted Augmented Scale

The following extract can be analysed and shown to be an example of Coltrane using
the inverted augmented scale.
Jim Gold 17

Fig.23. John Coltrane, I Want to Talk About You, (07:08-07:10)

Further analysis can give an indication of the tonalities that Coltrane is implying in
this phrase.

Fig.24. John Coltrane, I Want to Talk About You, (07:08-07:10)

This shows how the shape of the augmented scale can be used to outline an
augmented tonality, i.e. a chord containing a #5.

One might say that we cannot be sure that Coltrane was thinking of this exact scale
when improvising this extract. However, there is good evidence that the saxophonist
was very familiar with this synthetic scale. In the book, ‘The Augmented Scale in
Jazz’, Walt Weiskopf and Ramon Ricker admit that ‘in examining improvised solos it
appears to the authors that most soloists have used augmented scales and triads in an
intuitive manner. It is doubtful that many of the players cited in this book have
systematically tried to codify their use of this material.’ However, they go on to say
that ‘two players that might be an exception to this speculation are John Coltrane and
Michael Brecker’.7

The clearest indicator of Coltrane’s familiarity with the augmented scale is his use of
it in his composition One Down, One Up. This piece has a form of AABA and is

7
Walt Weiskopf and Ramon Ricker, The Augmented Scale (New Albany: Jamey Aebersold Jazz, Inc,
1993), page 6.
Jim Gold 18

comparable with Miles Davis’ composition So What in its use of only two chords –
each A section is Bb 7#5 throughout and likewise each B section is composed only of

Ab 7#5.

Fig.25. First 3 bars of Coltrane’s One Down, One Up

As shown below, this extract from One Down, One Up contains all but one notes of
the inverted augmented scale, and includes no tones extraneous to that scale.

Given that this melody was pre-composed and thought-out carefully, we can be
almost certain that Coltrane was thinking of an ‘augmented scale’ as the basis for his
melodic material. Therefore we can be confident that the examples of augmented
scale material in the cadenza were intentional by the saxophonist.
Jim Gold 19

Use of the Three-Tonic Cycle

To jazz musicians, John Coltrane’s most infamous composition is surely Giant Steps.
This piece is well-known for being a minefield for improvisers who are often tested
on their ability to successfully navigate the treacherous chord changes. In Giant Steps,
instead of following most common jazz standards which modulate generally round the
cycle of fourths or in tone and semitone shifts, Coltrane takes the major third as the
basic for his harmonic movement. A number of common standards did contain
elements of this kind of modulation, such as Rodgers and Hart’s Have you Met Miss
Jones.

Fig.26. Chord Changes to the B section of Have you Met Miss Jones, Rodgers & Hart (Note:
Have You Met Miss Jones is generally played a semitone lower than it is notated here, but I
have shown it in this key for each of comparison to Giant Steps)

As we can see, the initial tonal centre of B moves down a minor third to G by way of
a traditional II-V-I cadence, typical of jazz harmony. Notably, in the 6th bar of this
bridge the direction of the major third cycle changes, and the Eb tonal centre rises to
G instead of going down to B.

In Giant Steps Coltrane took this technique to new extremes by using several patterns
of modulation to traverse the chord sequence. He made frequent use of the technique
of prefixing each new tonic centre with its respective II-V cadence or at least its
dominant.
Jim Gold 20

8
Fig.27 John Coltrane’s Giant Steps

In the extract notated below, we can see evidence of Coltrane using this system of
modulation by major third in his improvisation.

Fig.28 John Coltrane, I Want to Talk About You, (07:36-07:43)

At normal speed this section sounds extremely chaotic, but on closer inspection there
is definite pattern in Coltrane’s use of repeating shapes.

8
Walt Weiskopf and Ramon Ricker, Giant Steps: A Player’s Guide to Coltrane’s Harmony (New
Albany: Jamey Aebersold Jazz, Inc,
1994), page 10.
Jim Gold 21

9
Fig.29. Lockett’s analysis of Coltrane

In the above analysis of the key passage from the middle of the extract Mornington
Lockett, an expert on Coltrane’s work, has identified the tonalities that Coltrane is
implying. We should keep in mind that Gb major is the relative major of Eb minor,
and so for the purposes of this analysis we can treat them as indicative of the same
general tonality. Therefore, we can state that the sequence of key centres inside the
square brackets is B minor – Eb minor – G minor – Eb minor – G minor.10 These

three centres (B, Eb and G) form an augmented triad, as they are each a major third
away from each other. Therefore, this sequence is an example of Coltrane
manipulating the three-tonic cycle that he also used in Giant Steps, by repeating a
certain pattern (in this case minor7 arpeggios) in major thirds. This sequence is
comparable to the bridge of Have You Met Miss Jones in that it changes direction
round the cycle i.e. it does not go from G minor to B minor as one might expect but
instead to Eb.

There are further examples in the cadenza of Coltrane using similar ideas involving
repeating a pattern while moving it around in major thirds.

Fig.30. Coltrane, I Want to Talk About You, (06:28)

9
The Online Sax Lesson, Mornington Lockett,
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/morningtonlockett/iso/isosaxlesson.html, (18th June 2009)
10
Ibid
Jim Gold 22

Again the shape being manipulate is that of a minor7 arpeggio and again the relative
major of one of the minor chords is implied, in this case D major. While we could
look at both these examples as a textbook use of the three-tonic system, Mornington
Lockett has produced a fascinating new interpretation of them. He realised that by
taking all the notes of Gm7, Am7 and Ebm7 and forming a linear scale out of them,
you come up with a nine note synthetic scale.

Fig.31. Construction of Messiaen’s 3rd Mode

This scale has the interesting characteristic of containing the first three notes of the
natural minor scale repeating every major third. As it turns out this scale was also
used by Messiaen as another in his series of ‘Modes of Limited Transposition’, in this
case Mode 3. As Mr. Lockett states, ‘I am not suggesting that ‘Trane was actually
thinking of it in that way, but it is a point of interest.’ Nonetheless, we know that
Coltrane thought incredibly technically into the harmonic implications of various
patterns, studying Nicholas Slonimsky’s Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns,
in which the Russian-born composer aimed to document all possible combinations of
tones. The relationship between Coltrane and this text is well illustrated in Jeff Bair’s
dissertation, ‘Cyclic Patterns in John Coltrane’s Melodic Vocabulary as Influenced
by Nicholas Slonimsky’s Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns’. This all shows
that Coltrane analysed harmony in extreme detail and it is not inconceivable that he
conceived of the implications of Messiaen’s Mode 3 in relation to his 3-tonic cycle.
Jim Gold 23

Conclusion

Throughout this essay we have seen much evidence that Coltrane’s improvisation was
not random and thoughtless, but instead he considered harmony and scalic patterns in
considerable depth. It is telling that something so seemingly random does in fact have
a clear internal logic. This surely supports Mark Levine when he states in the
introduction to his seminal text The Jazz Theory Book that ‘A great jazz solo consists
of 1% magic and 99% stuff that is explainable, analysable, categorisable and
doable’.11 I hope that studying this essay will help the musician to incorporate
elements of John Coltrane’s harmony into their music. Furthermore, the saxophonist
would benefit from playing along with Coltrane and aiming to reproduce his phrasing
and tone with precision. In the middle of such a harmonically dense analysis it is easy
to forget that there is more to music than just the notes.

In his book Jazz John Fordham relates an anecdote which illustrates Coltrane’s
tendency to play a lot of notes for a long time (demonstrated in this cadenza!).
Apparently Coltrane told his bandleader Miles Davis that ‘once immersed in a solo,
he didn’t know how to stop. ‘Try taking the saxophone out of your mouth’, replied
Davis’.12

11
Levine, Mark. The Jazz Theory Book, (Petaluma: Sher Music Co) page vii
12
John Fordham, Jazz (London: Dorling Kindersley Limited, 1993), page 120.
Jim Gold 24

Bibliography

Crook, Hal, How to Comp,.17, Advance Music.

"John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy Answer the Jazz Critic." Down Beat Magazine.
http://www.downbeat.com/default.asp?sect=stories&subsect=story_detail&sid=212
(accessed June 19, 2009).

Fordham, John. Jazz., 120. London: Dorling Kindersley Limited, 1993.

Kernfeld, Barry, ed. The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz. New York: Macmillan
Publishers Ltd.

Levine, Mark. The Jazz Theory Book. Petaluma: Sher Music Co.

Lockett, Mornington. Interview by author, Winter 2008.

Lockett, Mornington, “The Online Sax Lesson”

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/morningtonlockett/iso/isosaxlesson.html, (18th June 2009)

Mcneal, Charles. "Transcriptions." Charles Mcneal. www.charlesmcneal.com

(accessed June 19, 2009).

Weiskopf, Walt, and Ramon Ricker. The Augmented Scale, New Albany: Jamey
Aebersold Jazz, Inc, 1993.

Weiskopf, Walt, and Ramon Ricker. Giant Steps: A Player’s Guide to Coltrane’s
Harmony, New Albany: Jamey Aebersold Jazz, Inc, 1994.
Jim Gold 25

Discography

Coltrane, John. Blue Train. Blue Note Records B000005H40 . CD. 1990.

Coltrane, John. Giant Steps. Atlantic / Wea B000003489 . CD. 1989.

Coltrane, John. My Favourite Songs. Fabulous (USA) PID 763237 . CD. 2003.

Coltrane, John. One Down, One Up: Live at the Half Note. Universal Classics
B000B0QOJA . CD. 2005.

Steps Ahead. Steps Ahead. Wea Int'l B000007443 . CD. 1996.