Tuesday, January 13, 2009

The Robot Vs. John Coltrane - Playing Giant Steps

This is a video of a robot in Japan playing John Coltrane's amazing "Giant Steps." To hear John Coltrane play the same tune, see the post immediately below this one (or, go here). The robotic version, is of course, rote and totally lacking in the dynamics and variety--and maybe, especially, the insane energy--of 'Trane's incredible solo. Clearly, they used the notation from Trane's solo, and it is more or less in the same rhythmic time, It shows both how great John Coltrane actually was, and how far automated music still has to go.




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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Total programmer that I am, I can't help thinking that this is the wrong approach. Don't use a real saxophone, just model it and free those virtual fingers to fly with nuance and expression.

Still, wouldn't look as cool!