In The Jazz of Physics, saxophonist Stephen Alexander takes a radical detour from the conventional modes of thinking and attempts to connect two seemingly completely separate disciplines.

An intuitively known fact is the predominance of chaos in our physical universe. A vast amount of our own existence and environment remains unexplored and unknown. Mathematical anomalies like black holes, dark matter, and the entirety of quantum mechanics haunt our desperately rational minds with uncertainty. Amidst this sea of disorder, Alexander attempts to find some meaning by identifying connections between the peculiarity of the universe and the very well understood, comfortable medium of music. After all, they both are entirely comprised of vibrational energy.

One interesting correlation is that of vibrational ratios. Compare the ratio of string length of our modern chromatic scale to those of planetary distances from the sun, and you will find eerie mathematical similarities. Jazz musicians in the past, most notably John Coltrane, have even used mathematical information from quantum studies in the formulation of their songs.

Additionally, Alexander cited many famous physicists, including himself, who employed music in their scientific practice. Einstein would often break from his study to improvise on the piano, often resulting in epiphanic bouts of new understanding and ideas. The nature of music is intricately mathematical, however that part of it remains subconscious. When you engage that part of your brain, you are able unlock new conscious modes of understanding and problem solving.

Through a vast number of anecdotes, mathematical connections, and literary examples, Alexander is able to connect two wholly different disciplines and offer an insightful new way of viewing the universe and the music within it.