Jazzity

Cycles & Chains

Coltrane Changes in A

John Coltrane's substitution for a ii-V-I: the music passes through three keys a major third apart, I, bVI and III, each reached by its own dominant, before arriving home.

120 BPM
Practice in all 12 keys
  1. Bm7 ii7 C7 ♭III7
  2. Fmaj7 ♭VImaj7 G♯7 VII7
  3. C♯maj7 IIImaj7 E7 V7
  4. Amaj7 Imaj7

Four-note rootless voicings in their two forms, with the 3rd or the 7th on the bottom, played over the root.

Customize each chord
Meter
4/4
Bars
4
Usual key
D

In C the chords are Dm7 Eb7, Abmaj7 B7, Emaj7 G7 and Cmaj7: the keys of C, Ab and E split the octave into equal major thirds. Coltrane used the cycle in his own compositions of the late 1950s and to reharmonize standards. Practice it slowly, arpeggiating each chord or playing a 1-2-3-5 pattern on each, until the key centres feel familiar.

Reharmonize Analyze these changes