Giant Steps is a composition by John Coltrane, and is well known amongst jazz musicians for its difficult and rapid progression of chord changes that progress through several keys. On Coltrane''s original 1960 Giant Steps recording, it can be heard that even Tommy Flanagan, a prominent piano player at that time, was having a tough time keeping up with the changes (it was still an amazing solo though, especially considering Flanagan was playing it for the first time!). To be able to play through the Giant Steps changes is often considered a milestone achievement in a Jazz musician's growth.

This video is my attempt to play the Giant Steps changes on my new Akai EWI4000S Electronic Wind Controller . Playing it on the EWI is an added challenge because the touch sensor keys require much more disciplined finger techniques to make the note transitions clearly, which I am still working hard to develop. At this point my weakest link is the left hand''s 4th and 5th fingers, which are lacking in strength. I am glad that I bought the EWI because so far it has revealed many flaws in my finger techniques which I wouldn''t have discovered otherwise.

This is a short demo with 4 choruses of solo. In the first 2 choruses I only play against the drums to demonstrate the outlining of the changes. I still have much to work on though, such as increasing the speed and extending and further developing the solo. Back to more practicing!

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