Giant Steps, one of the all time great jazz records recorded by the heavyweight of the saxophone John Coltrane, is only on sale for an unbelievable $1.99 in MP3 format right now, which has to stand as not only the Deal of the Day, but maybe of the year! This deal is only good for today and tomorrow.

Giant Steps, originally released in 1960 on Atlantic Records, has its place in jazz and music history on the same levels as Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue. It remains a record that gave the cool medium to the masses, much in the way that Miles’ record did (which Coltrane was also a part of). By this release, his 5th album as a leader, Coltrane plays with a surefooted approach on his instrument over arrangements that have almost become standard blueprints for adventurous and complex jazz to the trained ear, and easily accessible and highly listenable to the layman.

Both parties benefit greatly from the aural sounds included within Giant Steps, the title track has become a jazz standard, while other great standout tracks include “Countdown” and “Cousin Mary,” both showcases for the great upright bass work from the late Paul Chambers (another key figure in mid 20th century jazz, who even has the track Mr. P.C. named in his honor here on Giant Steps). But on every track of course, especially the haunting and beautiful ballad “Naima” written for Coltrane’s wife at the time, Coltrane’s presence looms wonderfully and lifts the ensemble to a level unattainable by a more mediocre saxophonist.

There are plenty of John Coltrane releases one should own, in fact, all of them are in their own right outstanding and rich with musical adventurism. But Giant Steps, along with Blue Train and A Love Supreme, stand out as the albums which broke Coltrane through the cult of jazz and into the popular stratosphere.

This MP3 album deal will last through the weekend — if you want the CD, it’s currently only $7.79. You can also browse several albums on sale this week for only $2.99 each and the 100 albums on sale this month for only $5 each.

Track Listing

1. Giant Steps
2. Cousin Mary
3. Countdown
4. Spiral
5. Syeeda’s Song Flute
6. Naima
7. Mr P.C.

Note – when you purchase MP3s through Amazon, it stores your purchases to Amazon’s Cloud Drive; from there you can stream the music right from their online player. Also, if you have a Kindle Fire, your MP3 purchases will automatically be available for you to stream on your device. All your purchases are backed up and available for you to download at any time. You can download the files to your computer to load to an MP3 device and to your iTunes account if you have one. If you’d like to gift these MP3 purchases, you can – just click the “Give album or song as gift” button on the right on the product page. From there you enter the recipient’s email address and then select either specific songs to gift or the entire album.