Probably 2 or 3 times a week, I get the meloday of John Coltrane’s "Giant Steps" caught in my head and it becomes the running theme for the next couple hours. I always loved that album. It was one of 2 tapes I listened to over and over for 6 weeks while I trekked through Australia alone in the fall of 1990*. And maybe because that was such a good time in my life, I keep remembering it. But, then again, it might be because its both a ditone and a quadratone progression between B, G and Eb. Or something like that. Check out this explanation of the melody in the song.

* the other was a mixed-tape given to me by my old friend Michelle. I listened to it every night when I went to sleep, trying to come up with the secret meaning behind the song choices, since we all know, every hand-made mixed tape (at least back in the pre-MP3 days) had a secret meaning when one friend gave it to another.