Posts Tagged ‘John Coltrane’
“All musicians are subconsciously mathematicians”*…
Physicist and saxophonist Stephon Alexander has argued in his many public lectures and his book The Jazz of Physics that Albert Einstein and John Coltrane had quite a lot in common. Alexander in particular draws our attention to the so-called “Coltrane circle,” which resembles what any musician will recognize as the “Circle of Fifths,” but incorporates Coltrane’s own innovations. Coltrane gave the drawing to saxophonist and professor Yusef Lateef in 1967, who included it in his seminal text, Repository of Scales and Melodic Patterns. Where Lateef, as he writes in his autobiography, sees Coltrane’s music as a “spiritual journey” that “embraced the concerns of a rich tradition of autophysiopsychic music,” Alexander sees “the same geometric principle that motivated Einstein’s” quantum theory…
Explore the connection at “John Coltrane Draws a Picture Illustrating the Mathematics of Music.”
* Thelonious Monk
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As we square the circle, we might recall that it was on this date in 1786, at the Burgtheater in Vienna, that Mozart’s glorious Le nozze di Figaro— The Marriage of Figaro— premiered. Based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro (“The Mad Day, or The Marriage of Figaro”), which was first performed two years early, Mozart’s comedic masterpiece has become a staple of opera repertoire, appearing consistently among the top ten in the Operabase list of most frequently performed operas.
Early 19th-century engraving depicting Count Almaviva and Susanna in act 3
Going out gracefully…
Twenty-four more valedictions at Buzzfeed’s “The Last Words Of 25 Famous Dead Writers.” And many more parting shots– like Oscar Wilde’s “My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or the other of us has to go”– at Wikiquote’s Famous Last Words.
As we rehearse our final scenes, we might spare a tuneful thought for trumpeter, bandleader, and composer Miles Dewey Davis III; he died on this date in 1991. Davis was a pioneer of a number of jazz forms– bebop, cool jazz, hard bop, modal jazz, and jazz fusion, among others– but was perhaps even more influential for the musicians he launched in his bands (an extraordinary roster that includes Bill Evans, Gerry Mulligan, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, Elvin Jones, and Jack DeJohnette) and for the bands and musicians he influenced (and equally amazing list that includes Lalo Schifrin, Tangerine Dream, King Crimson, Steely Dan, Frank Zappa, Duane Allman, Radiohead, The Flaming Lips, Lydia Lunch, Jerry Garcia, and Prince).
Hear that Coltrane comin’…
John Coltrane moved from be-bop through hard bop to free jazz, and delighted at every step. One has no trouble hearing his magical tenor sax; Coltrane recorded over 50 albums. But now one can hear– and see– his signature tune, “Giant Steps,” unfold on its transcription:
As we tap our toes, we might also click our heels three times, as (though she said “I was born at the age of 12 on a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer lot”), Frances Ethel Gumm– later known as Judy Garland– was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on this date in 1922.
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