JOHN COLTRANE’S EQUINOX
My music is the spiritual expression of what I am: my faith, my knowledge, my being.
– John Coltrane
The reason I like to write something about Equinox is that it is a Minor Blues with a “hidden reference” to the Autumnal Equinox. I found out about that thanks to a post by Facebook friend Robert Aguirre, who shared his finding online around the 23rd of September.
But, before we look into that, first a couple of words about what an Equinox is, in case you are not familiar with that term:
An Equinox is an astronomical event in which the plane of Earth‘s equator passes through the Sun’s Ecliptic. The Sun’s Ecliptic, the Earth’s Equator and Axis all intersect.
This occurs twice each year, around 20 March (Vernal Equinox) and between 22 and 23 September (Autumnal Equinox).
Why is the 23th of September of importance?
John Coltrane was born on 23 September 1926, around 17:00 .
On the 23 rd of September 1926 the Equinox took place at 15:26:22 EDT, duration = 12 Hours, 08 Minutes and 09 Seconds. With other words: John Coltrane was born during the Autumnal Equinox!
EQUINOX (Concert Pitch – REAL BOOK version):
For the Tone-Circle visualization I have used the commonly used Real Book music sheet version in the key of C minor. The original though as recorded in the studio (and used for the embedded Youtube) is in the key of C# minor!
What we see above, is a 12-bar Minor Blues starting after the intro at [1]. In the tone circle (on the right) you see with the black lines and arrows the chord progressions and their geometric relationship.
The only non “standard” chord in this basic 3-chord (I–IV–V) Minor Blues, is the A♭9 chord in the 9th bar [9].
What the numbers 9 (bar) and 12 (bars Blues) have in common with the Autumnal Equinox, is that the Autumnal Equinox takes place in the 9th month (September) each year (12 months).
The A♭9 chord is the relative Major/Minor Substitute for the Fm7 chord (the IV, as used in Equinox at the usual places for a Minor Blues).
But why specifically the A♭9 substitute?
The reason for this (I think) can be found when we look at the melody of this composition. In bar [9] we find 3 tones, all D‘s. If we use Fm7 – the 4th degree (IV) – in the 9th bar, then the D would be the 6th of the chord (as it is in bar 10). D could also have been the 5th of the G Dominant 7/♭9 chord if that would have been the chord of choice for bar [9].
But, by using the A♭9 as substitute chord, the D in the melody of bar [9] is given a different role, not the 5th or 6th, but it becomes the Tritone of A♭.
The tones that form the Tritone interval are geometrically located on the opposite sides of the Tone Circle and divide the tone circle in two equal halves, as the Equator divides Earth into two Hemispheres.
At the moment of the Equinoxes, Earth’s Equator passes the center of the Sun’s Ecliptic. If you imagine the Tone Cirlce to be Earth and the Tritone to be the Equator, then the result of this merger you see on the right.
It looks like Coltrane intended to “accentuate” the 9th bar with the A♭9 substitute chord and with it the 9th month and the Autumnal Equinox.
FUNNY FOOTNOTE: the “standard” Blues progressions / chords of this composition (the I, IV and V‘s) are all located in the tone circle above the A♭9 – D tritone. With other words, the Blues is played above the “Equator”, in the “Northern Hemisphere” (North America, the “birthplace” of the Blues).
EQUINOX (Concert Pitch – recorded version):
Above I have used the commonly used Real Book music sheet version in the key of C minor in combination with the “Coltrane Cirle”, to visualize the “hidden references” to the Equinox both harmonically and melodically withing the composition. The original version though as recorded in the studio (and used for the embedded Youtube) is in the key of C# minor!
I have therefor modified the Coltrane Circle (transposed it a semitone up) to visualize the audio (recorded version) as well.
The following chords are used in the original (audio) version:
‖: C#m7 | C#m7 | C#m7 | C#m7 |
| F#m7 | F#m7 | C#m7 | C#m7 |
| A7 | G#7 | C#m7 | C#m7 :‖
← A version of the image above with a standard Circle of Fourths instead of the Coltrane Cirle.
This idea might seem a bit “far-fetched” at first, perhaps I’m “seeing things” there that were not “orchestrated” by Coltrane as such, but since Coltrane was intellectually and spiritually developed and interested in the “occult” this might have been the reason …
In this article I have used and referred to the “Coltrane Tone circle”. I would suggest you read the Roel’s World article “John Coltrane’s Tone Circle” (if you haven’t done so already) for more information about the “Coltrane Cirle”.
Read more about Geometry and Music by John Coltrane …
MORE COLTRANE COMPOSITIONS?
Dear visitor … If you have are aware of / come across other compositions of Coltrane with interesting geometric ‘properties’ and/or other hidden features and references, then please do feel free to contact me, so I can add your findings to this article (with a reference of course).
REFERENCES MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE:
- “Coltrane’s Way Of Seeing” by Corey Mwamba
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coltrane_changes
- https://www.learnjazzstandards.com/blog/understanding-coltrane-changes-part-1/
