CREDIT: ANDRE SOUROUJON
COUNT THOSE BEATS. Modern jazz can be as complex as an exotic mathematical problem. But saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa's music is inspired by math itself.
The New York-based jazz composer's latest album, Codebook, conveys elements of number theory and cryptography in musical form. In some pieces, concepts such as the Fibonacci sequence--an infinite set of integers created by adding the last two numbers in the series--serve as the basis of the rhythm and melodies. In others, mathematical ideas dictate the evolution of the score. Encoded throughout the music are the names of the band members and famous jazz melodies.
"Math has always been at the core of what I do," says Mahanthappa, 35, who has been fascinated by math from an early age. He has made a name for himself by blending jazz with the complex rhythms of Indian classical music. Adding a mathematical component was an even bigger challenge. "Translating an idea from number theory or cryptography to music doesn't automatically yield anything that's playable or that sounds good," says Mahanthappa.
"He proves, by using musical notes, what mathematicians have always believed: that math is beautiful," says Princeton University mathematician Manjul Barghava, himself an acclaimed player of the tabla, an Indian percussion instrument. Codebook will be available from Pi Recordings on 26 September.
