John Coltrane, music · First recorded for Atlantic in New York and released on Giant Steps
Naima
Naima is a slow John Coltrane ballad named after his wife at the time. Coltrane built it on long held bass notes, so the chords shift slowly above them. You will hear it on Giant Steps and on records by Tyner, Flanagan, Shepp and Brecker.
▶ Plays the whole path in order, one recording after another.
How the tune works
Twenty bars in four parts: a four-bar A strain played twice, an eight-bar B strain and a last four-bar A. Coltrane described the outer strains as chords over a held E♭ and the middle strain as chords over a held B♭. In the A strain the chords start on B♭m7 over E♭, move to E♭m7, then play two maj7♯5 chords over the same E♭ and settle on A♭maj7. The B strain stays over the B♭, with Bmaj7 and B♭7♭9 trading places, then Bm(maj7), Bmaj7, A♭maj7 and Emaj7♯11. Analysts read the A strain as one long dominant chord resolving to the tonic and the B strain as one long B♭ dominant that leads back to the E♭7 of the next A. Ethan Hein describes a short ending that walks up the A♭ scale after the last A.
Each box is one bar. Read the chord, then the note after the slash, which is the bass note. The first four bars repeat, then the middle strain has eight bars, then the first strain comes back for four. Two chords in one bar share it equally.
The chords come from the line Wikipedia prints from Jamey Aebersold's Play-A-Long Volume 27, which is written over the E♭ and B♭ pedal notes Coltrane named. Ethan Hein's chart differs in places: Dmaj7/B♭ in bar 13, D♭maj7/E♭ in bar 1, E♭m9 in bar 2, Amaj7 and Gmaj7 without the ♯5 in bar 3, A♭maj7 without a slash in bar 4, and Emaj7/B♭ in bar 16. Hein writes that a surviving chart in Coltrane's own hand confirms the New Real Book version and that the Real Book chords are wrong. Neither chart here has been compared with that manuscript. Hein's walk up the A♭ scale at the end is outside the 20 bars. Compare with the chart you play from.
Source: Wikipedia: Naima (composition), chord changes from Aebersold Play-A-Long Vol. 27
Listen in this order
Play all 8 on YouTube ↗The path starts with Coltrane's 1959 studio take and a longer live one from 1963, then goes to his pianist's solo version, a piano trio, a wordless vocal, Archie Shepp's sextet and Michael Brecker's 2001 version. It ends with Coltrane's 15-minute Village Vanguard performance from 1966.
-
Step 1 · Learn the song Now playing
John Coltrane 1959
Giant Steps
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- A slow tune with a short piano solo from Kelly. Coltrane described the outer strains as chords over a held E♭ and the middle strain as chords over a held B♭.
- Try this
- Hold a low E♭ in your left hand for bars 1 to 4 and play B♭m7, E♭m7 and A♭maj7 chords over it with your right. Smaller version: hold the E♭ and play the melody you already know above it.
-
Step 2 · Hear it open up Now playing
John Coltrane Quartet 1963
Afro Blue Impressions
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Tyner on piano, Garrison on bass and Jones on drums replace the 1959 rhythm section. At 8:06 this take runs almost twice as long as the studio record.
- Try this
- Follow the chart while the track plays and count how many times the 20-bar form goes round. Smaller version: count only the first two rounds.
-
Step 3 · Hear the piano alone Now playing
McCoy Tyner 1972
Echoes of a Friend
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- One pianist covers the melody, the chords and the low notes. Compare it with Kelly's short piano solo on the 1959 take.
- Try this
- On a keyboard, play only the note after the slash in each chord of the chart: E♭ for bars 1 to 8, B♭ for bars 9 to 16, E♭ for bars 17 to 20. Then add the chords above those notes.
-
Step 4 · Hear it as a piano trio Now playing
Tommy Flanagan 1982
Giant Steps
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Piano, bass and drums with no horn. Follow the melody in the piano and listen to what the bass and drums add under it.
- Try this
- Play bars 1 to 4 of the chart two ways: the bass note alone, then the full chord above it. Smaller version: play only the bass notes.
-
Step 5 · Hear it sung Now playing
Karrin Allyson 2000
Ballads: Remembering John Coltrane
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- The voice sings the tune without words. Try to hear where each phrase starts and stops with no text to guide you.
- Try this
- Sing the melody on 'ah' while you hold E♭ in the bass for bars 1 to 4. Smaller version: sing it without playing.
-
Step 6 · Hear a horn ensemble Now playing
Archie Shepp 1964
Four for Trane
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Follow how the horns state the tune and how the bass and drums sit under them.
- Try this
- On a single-note instrument, play the melody, then play the chord tones of B♭m7 and E♭m7 in bars 1 and 2. This takes some arpeggio practice, so a smaller version is to play only the roots B♭ and E♭.
-
Step 7 · Hear it unaccompanied Now playing
Michael Brecker (Herbie Hancock, Michael Brecker and Roy Hargrove) 2001
“Naima (Live at Massey Hall / 2001)”, Directions in Music: Live at Massey Hall
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- A JazzTimes review calls this take unaccompanied, while the session credits list the whole band. Listen for whether the piano, bass or drums join the tenor saxophone.
- Try this
- Play the melody on your instrument with no backing. Then play the root of each chord at the start of its bar. Smaller version: play just the melody.
-
Step 8 · Hear the farthest version Now playing
John Coltrane 1966
“Naima (Live from Village Vanguard, 1966)”, Live at the Village Vanguard Again!
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- At about 15 minutes this is the longest version on the path. Pharoah Sanders and Alice Coltrane are in the group, where Tyner played in the earlier quartet.
- Try this
- Pick one strain from the chart, such as the eight-bar middle strain, and play it as a loop for two minutes, changing the voicing each time. Smaller version: loop the four-bar A strain.
More great versions
-
John Coltrane Quartet 1961
“Naima (Live at the Village Vanguard, November 3, 1961)”, The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings
A live Village Vanguard version from November 3, 1961, with Eric Dolphy on bass clarinet in the lineup.
-
Les Double Six 1962
Les Double Six
Les Double Six, the French vocal group founded by Mimi Perrin, sing the tune on their album Les Double Six.
-
John Coltrane 1964
“Naima (Take 1)”, Blue World
A studio quartet take from June 24, 1964 that stayed unreleased until the 2019 album Blue World.
-
Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin 1973
Love Devotion Surrender
Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin play Naima on acoustic guitar on their 1973 album Love Devotion Surrender.
-
Jon Hendricks 1975
Tell Me the Truth
Jon Hendricks sings his own lyrics to the tune on his 1975 album Tell Me the Truth.
-
John McLaughlin, Joey DeFrancesco and Elvin Jones 1994
After the Rain
A guitar, Hammond organ and drums trio led by John McLaughlin.