Sunday, January 22, 2006

Giant Steps Goes Graphic

John Coltrane's "Giant Steps" is a just masterpiece. And now it is the inspiration for a digital animation video by Israeli grad student Michal Levy.

Levy writes

When I listen to music I see colors and shapes and when I watch visual art I hear sounds.I wanted to express my sensing of shapes colors and music in this short movie.

I have chosen a short Jazz piece, which I have known for many years of my playing the saxophone: "Giant Steps" by John Coltraine. Coltrane made a major break through with his album "Giant Steps" in the year 1959. It was the first time in the history of Jazz music that someone based his music on symmetrical patterns, which stemmed from a mathematical division of the musical scale.

The structural approach of John Coltraine to music is associated with architectural thinking. The musical theme defines a space and the musical improvisation is like someone drifting in that imaginary space.


Check it out.

What Levy decscribes sound like synaesthesia, a condition wherein one experiences stimulus in one sense in response to real stimulus in another sense.

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