The Beautiful Relationship Between Physics and Jazz

(saxophone music)

[Stephon] I find that both conceptually

and in terms of style

that there are lots of interesting parallels

between jazz improvisation

and how theoretical physicists,

which is what I do for a living,

how we actually come up with new ideas,

come up with new physics.

The one connection is the mysterious way

that quantum particles actually move.

A quantum particle actually,

according to the rules of quantum mechanics,

as it moves from point A to point B

will actually traverse all possible paths.

When you think about this particle as an improvisation,

as the way a jazz soloist might actually improvise

from a starting note to a finishing note,

the jazz musician, a very skilled one,

will consider many possible notes

that could be compatible with the melodic line,

similar to how a quantum particle

will consider all these possible paths

from point A to point B.

There are times when I'm playing and I'm improvising

that I might actually as a device,

as an improvisational device,

I might think about a physics idea,

because what that will do

is it will get me from thinking

to intellectually about what notes I'm playing.

Cause the name of the game, as Charlie Parker says,

is to practice but when you're up there playing,

you throw it all away.

(saxophone playing)