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 .

The latest in physics from the perspective of Jazz

This highly accessible book on Quantum Physics, String Theory, etc., is mediated by the author's advanced degrees in Physics, a career of research, and all of this balanced by being a professional Jazz Sax player. He brings these two avocations together brilliantly. So well, in fact, that I'm writing this before I've quite finished, more to come when I update this review. In any case, this book is highly recommended