“Countdown to Coltrane”
As the Space Race heated up in the late 1950s, the U.S. responded to Soviet superiority by developing the most technologically advanced machines in our country’s history up to that point. Very soon after that, John Coltrane composed “Countdown,” which was the most technically difficult sax solo a musician had ever attempted.
The cut appears on the iconic “Giant Steps,” released in 1960. It was the first album to include Coltrane’s compositions from start to finish. He had just finished work on another album you may know, “Kind of Blue.” The man was obsessed with harmony. He took all the notes in a chord and found every inversion and substitution that was remotely relevant. And he stuffed all of those permutations into a single phrase. I wouldn’t really care if it didn’t pack such an emotional wallop as well. The piano provides steady, gentle yet strangely intense propulsion to the proceedings. There is no single jazz piano part I fantasize about being able to play more than this. On the one hand, it’s “only” a supporting role, but on the other hand, imagine being able to sit on a piano bench, providing intense propulsion while watching Coltrane play bebop to the 99th power and thrash his way into history.
And speaking of Coltrane’s role in Countdown…the man is responsible for a forest fire of changes. He spews smoldering chunks of musical thoughts, each note connected to the next, each phrase connected to the next. You quickly realize the man does not “noodle” — there are notes he intends to hit and he hits every one of them. He speaks this musical language accurately, cogently, and so quickly that it sounds inhuman, it sounds insane. Every note is expressed with hair-raising accuracy, power, and emotion. It briefly slows down (sort of) towards the very end, just long enough for us to rise up from our seats and yell “Bravo!” to the only person who could pull this off, John Coltrane.
Countdown is all of two minutes and 21 seconds long, and that includes an opening drum solo that acts as a warning — you cross this bridge at your own peril. Composed during the early days of the Space Age, it eerily predicted the future of a world where we are forced to think faster, act faster, multi-task, and express even emotions in the most efficient manner possible given the competing pressures, and possibilities, our lives hold. Countdown is as relevant today as it ever was. And in an odd way, the chart gets my competitive juices flowing. I want to go out after hearing it and work that hard. Not to beat the Soviets (for one, there is no more Soviet Union), but to master my craft. To do what I’m doing with the same precision, the same insanely high standards, and the same passion, that Coltrane brought to Countdown. Get that opening drum solo cued…
