The Jazz of Physics

The Secret Link Between Music and the Structure of the Universe

By: Stephon Alexander

Narrated by: Don Hagen

More than 50 years ago, John Coltrane drew the 12 musical notes in a circle and connected them with straight lines, forming a five-pointed star. Inspired by Einstein, Coltrane had put physics and geometry at the core of his music. Physicist and jazz musician Stephon Alexander returns the favor, using jazz to answer physics' most vexing questions about the past and future of the universe.

Following the great minds that first drew the links between music and physics - a list including Pythagoras, Kepler, Newton, Einstein, and Rakim - The Jazz of Physics revisits the ancient realm where music, physics, and the cosmos were one. This cosmological journey accompanies Alexander's own tale of struggling to reconcile his passion for music and physics, from taking music lessons as a boy in the Bronx to studying theoretical physics at Imperial College, London's inner sanctum of string theory. Playing the saxophone and improvising with equations, Alexander uncovered the connection between the fundamental waves that make up sound and the fundamental waves that make up everything else. As he reveals, the ancient poetic idea of the "music of the spheres", taken seriously, clarifies confounding issues in physics.

Whether you are more familiar with Brian Greene or Brian Eno, John Coltrane or John Wheeler, the Five Percent Nation or why the universe is less than 5 percent visible, there is a new discovery every minute. Covering the entire history of the universe from its birth to its fate, its structure on the smallest and largest scales, The Jazz of Physics will fascinate and inspire anyone interested in the mysteries of our universe, music, and life itself.

©2016 Stephon Alexander (P)2016 Gildan Media LLC

Critic reviews

"Music lovers are at high risk of being inspired by this exploration of the connections between music and physics.... Alexander elegantly charts the progress of science from the ancients through Copernicus and Kepler to Einstein (a piano-player) and beyond, making it clear that what we call genius has a lot to do with convention-challenging courage, a trait shared by each age's great musicians as well." (Keith Blanchard, Wall Street Journal)

More jazz and physics, less namedropping

If you could sum up The Jazz of Physics in three words, what would they be?

Mind-bending, name-dropping, disjointed

Would you be willing to try another book from Stephon Alexander? Why or why not?

Yes, I hope the author might write a sequel that starts with the amazing final chapter of this book, and then focuses more on the jazz and physics and less on the author's encounters with more or less famous people and their effect on him.

Multidimensional jazz

He reviewed many concepts in physics, talked about music in all its aspects and provided insights into the web of sound that makes the cosmic web.

Listen to this book

I’m not a formally trained musician, nor am I a physicist. However I frequently find myself reading papers on particle collisions at 4am after running musical experiments all day.

This book gave me the sense that I’m not (fully) insane.

About to purchase a hard copy to send to a friend.

Loved this book!

While I have limited knowledge of physics, I love jazz. The Jazz of Physics has inspired me to learn more about Physics and pick up my saxophone again. I will have to re listen to this book as I study more about physics and cosmology .

Wonderful Analogy of Physics and Music

If you are interested in Physics and music this is a wonderful book. Learned a lot about both physics and jazz. The spoken equations are a bit hard to follow.

While the narrator is good, I can't help but wonder if Stephon Alexander (author) would have been better since he is a public speaker and teacher.

Imagination and Inspiration

I have long appreciated some of the math and physics that helps people understand music and music theory. Alexander makes the case that music, especially Jazz, also helps one understand physics. It is, in parts, dense with theory (music and physics) but the dense parts are linked by stories that are accessible to all. It would be awesome if the audio book was interspersed with music. But since it does not include music I found it useful to put down the book occasionally to listen to a few Coltrane tunes.

Brilliant and Inspiring

Alexander builds a compelling case for a musical view of the universe drawing from theorists and improvisers of legendary fame. It’s combustible fuel for the imaginative mind.

Brain candy for theoretical types

I don't understand music or physics or the universe, but I wanted to learn the language of music. None of the music theory books made sense to me so I started trying to put the theory into my own visual paradigm. After I did that, I somehow knew (I think the universe told me) I could conceptualize music theory through a familiarziation with physics concepts. This book has inspired me to keep walking this theoretical path...and to add Coltrane to my studies.

Phenomenal

The authors journey in becoming a physicist is incredibly inspiring. Music has always been known to invoke incredible physiological mechanisms that can lead to great moments of creativity and discoveries of inner genius. Dr. Alexander gives great insight to these potential mechanisms and how sound waves may be whispering profound truths about the cosmos.

Interesting explanation of physics.

I enjoyed the explanation of the physics and mathematics describing the complexities and structure of the universe. Perhaps the links to jazz could have been stronger. If a central purpose of the book was to show how jazz theory at a very deep level correlates to complex and perhaps abstract physical concepts, the jazz theory seems to get much less attention as compared to the physics. Still it is an intriguing book well suited for the adept but non-professional musician or cosmologist.