John Coltrane, music · Named for bassist Paul Chambers · First on Giant Steps (Atlantic, 1960)
Mr. P.C.
Mr. P.C. is a twelve-bar minor blues that John Coltrane wrote in 1959, named for bassist Paul Chambers. Its twelve bars stay mostly on Cm7 and Fm7, which suits fast tempos and long solos. You will hear it on Giant Steps, in Coltrane's live sets and on records by guitarists, pianists and singers.
▶ Plays the whole path in order, one recording after another.
- 1 Learn the song John Coltrane✓
- 2 Hear it sung Lambert, Hendricks & Ross with the Ike Isaacs Trio✓
- 3 Hear it on guitar Doug Raney Quartet✓
- 4 Hear a piano trio Tommy Flanagan Trio✓
- 5 Hear it stretched live John Coltrane Quartet✓
- 6 Hear it as a duo Stéphane Grappelli and McCoy Tyner✓
- 7 Hear it on slide guitar The Derek Trucks Band✓
- 8 Hear a Coltrane pianist return McCoy Tyner with John Scofield✓
How the tune works
The tune is a twelve-bar minor blues in C minor, played in 4/4 at a fast swing. Bars 1 to 4 stay on Cm7. Bars 5 and 6 move to Fm7, and bars 7 and 8 return to Cm7. Bar 9 is A♭7 and bar 10 is G7, which pulls the chorus back to Cm7 for bars 11 and 12. Some charts add a B♭ over C in the second half of bars 3, 7 and 11. Coltrane's solo on the 1959 recording stays on plain Cm7 in those bars.
The changes under John Coltrane's solo on Giant Steps (1959), transcribed in the Weimar Jazz Database. Standard Repertoire's chart matches bar for bar.
Use the key buttons to move the chart to the key you play in.
Listen in this order
Play all 8 on YouTube ↗Eight versions, from Coltrane's own recording to a pianist from his band. On the way you hear a vocal trio singing Jon Hendricks's words, a guitar quartet, a piano trio, a long live set, a violin and piano duo and a slide guitar band.
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Step 1 · Learn the song Now playing
John Coltrane 1959
Giant Steps
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- Listen for
- Count the twelve-bar form: four bars of Cm7, two of Fm7, two of Cm7, then A♭7, G7 and two more bars of Cm7. Coltrane's solo runs sixteen choruses at a fast swing.
- Try this
- Count four beats to a bar for one chorus and tap on bar 9, where A♭7 arrives. Then play the twelve bars on guitar or piano at a slow tempo.
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Step 2 · Hear it sung Now playing
Lambert, Hendricks & Ross with the Ike Isaacs Trio 1961
“Mr. P. C.”, High Flying
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- Listen for
- Count the twelve-bar form while the voices sing it. The track is about three minutes long.
- Try this
- Tap four beats to a bar and count twelve bars, saying 'one' on the first beat of each chorus. Keep the count going for a full minute without losing the downbeat.
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Step 3 · Hear it on guitar Now playing
Doug Raney Quartet 1977
Introducing Doug Raney
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- Listen for
- Follow the twelve-bar form through each chorus. With guitar, piano, bass and drums in the quartet, listen for how each one marks the change of chord in bar 5.
- Try this
- Play the changes on guitar or piano at a slow tempo: Cm7 for four bars, Fm7 for two, Cm7 for two, then A♭7, G7 and Cm7 to close. The chords matter more than speed.
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Step 4 · Hear a piano trio Now playing
Tommy Flanagan Trio 1982
Giant Steps
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- The pianist from the 1959 recording takes the tune with only bass and drums behind him. Count the twelve bars through each chorus.
- Try this
- Play the twelve bars at the piano: Cm7 for four bars, Fm7 for two, Cm7 for two, then A♭7, G7 and Cm7. Start with only the root in your left hand and add the chord on top once the form feels steady.
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Step 5 · Hear it stretched live Now playing
John Coltrane Quartet 1962
“Mr P.C. (Live at Stefaniensall, Graz in Austria on November 28th 1962)”, The Complete Graz Concert
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- The same twelve bars carry nineteen minutes of music here. Count choruses for the first minute, then let go of the count and listen to the band.
- Try this
- Count twelve bars at a time through the first minute of the recording and tap the first bar of each chorus. If you can play the changes, try them over the quartet for two choruses.
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Step 6 · Hear it as a duo Now playing
Stéphane Grappelli and McCoy Tyner 1990
One On One
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- The duo has no bass or drums. Listen for how the two players keep the beat and the twelve-bar form between them.
- Try this
- Try the duo format with a friend: one person plays the chords, the other plays single notes over them, for three or four choruses of the twelve-bar form.
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Step 7 · Hear it on slide guitar Now playing
The Derek Trucks Band 1996
“Mr. PC”, The Derek Trucks Band
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- The band is a guitarist known for slide playing, a keyboard player, a bassist and a drummer. Compare the sound with the saxophone and piano versions earlier on the path, and keep your twelve-bar count going.
- Try this
- Play the chords on guitar with a steady four-beat strum, then try single notes on the top strings over the Cm7 bars.
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Step 8 · Hear a Coltrane pianist return Now playing
McCoy Tyner with John Scofield 2006
Guitars
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- Listen for
- Tyner played this tune in Coltrane's band in 1962. Hear him take it in 2006 with a guitarist and a rhythm section, and count the twelve bars through each chorus.
- Try this
- Set a metronome slow and play the changes on piano or guitar: Cm7, Fm7, A♭7, G7, Cm7. Raise the tempo in small steps until the recording's pace feels reachable.
More great versions
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John Coltrane Quartet 1963
“Mr. P.C. (Live In Stockholm, Sweden / 1963 / Take 4)”, The European Tour
The same quartet in Stockholm in October 1963, eleven months after Graz.
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Ryo Fukui Trio 1977
“Mr. P.C. (Live at Vidro'77)”, Live at Vidro '77
A Sapporo piano trio recorded live at Live House Vidro in June 1977, issued on CD decades later.
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Dave Holland 1993
“Mr. P. C.”, Ones All
Bassist Dave Holland plays the tune alone.
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Patrice Rushen, Darek Oleszkiewicz and Ndugu Chancler 2001
Piano, Bass and Drums
Patrice Rushen's trio with bassist Darek Oleszkiewicz and drummer Ndugu Chancler, recorded in the summer of 2001 for AIX Records' high-resolution discs.