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Jazz Perspectives
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A Historical and Fractal Perspective on the Life and Saxophone Solos of John Coltrane
Christine Charyton , John G. Holden , Richard J. Jagacinski & John O. Elliott Published online: 30 Jul 2013.

To cite this article: Christine Charyton , John G. Holden , Richard J. Jagacinski & John O. Elliott (2012) A Historical and Fractal Perspective on the Life and Saxophone Solos of John Coltrane, Jazz Perspectives, 6:3, 311-335, DOI: 10.1080/17494060.2013.806031 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17494060.2013.806031

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Jazz Perspectives, 2012 Vol. 6, No. 3, 311335, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17494060.2013.806031

A Historical and Fractal Perspective on the Life and Saxophone Solos of John Coltrane
Christine Charyton, John G. Holden, Richard J. Jagacinski and John O. Elliott
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John Coltrane was a dedicated student of many disciplines beyond music religion, astrology, astronomy, and other sciences. The books he left behind more than suggest it: he was denitely into mathematics and an esoteric application of numbers to music. So I thought about those cells as pure numbers and saw how they dene ratios known as the Golden Mean, also called the divine proportion. These ratios are found in proportions of the human body and in nature: in seashells, when trees begin branching. Its also an established theory of aesthetic perfection: how buildings or portraits are arranged, or when events occur in Mozart sonatasRavi Coltrane, John Coltranes son, in liner notes to A Love Supreme, Deluxe Edition, 2002.1

John Coltranes approach to style remains elusive, even though the saxophonist is the subject of thousands of books and articles, and his solos have been rendered in over 700 transcriptions by one disciple alone, Andrew White.2 Yet, the comment by Coltranes son Ravi may provide a richer understanding of Coltranes technique. The established theory of aesthetic perfection Ravi Coltrane points to in the liner note comment is related to the mathematics of fractal geometry. Fractal objects (Benoit Mandelbrot coined the term fractal in 19753) are comprised of smaller, nested copies of the whole object. These kinds of structures turn up in a surprising range of natural objects and processes such as fern leaves, the silhouettes of mountainous landscapes, and the boundaries of cumulus clouds. Relationships between nature, mathematics, and beauty have fascinated theorists since antiquity; Aristotle, Euclid, Sir Isaac Newton, and Edwin Abbott, for example, were interested in the philosophy of mathematics, geometry, science, nature and aesthetics.4 Beyond understanding spatial
Ravi Coltrane (liner notes) in John Coltrane, A Love Supreme: Deluxe Edition, Universal Distribution/Impulse! Records 5899452 (2002 [1964]): 2324. 2 One catalog (Libraries Worldwide) lists 2610 books and articles on Coltrane, whether historical/biographical or analytical. See The Andrew White Comprehensive Catalogue of over 2000 Self-Produced Products, September 23, 2005 2006 Edition (Washington, DC: Andrews Music, 2006). 3 Benoit Mandlebrot, Stochastic Models for the Earths Relief, the Shape and the Fractal Dimension of the Coastlines, and the Number-Area Rule for Islands, Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences, vol. 72, no. 10 (1975), 38253828, 4 Edwin Abbott, Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions (New York: Dover Publications, 1992 [1884]); Aristotle, Aristotles Psychology, trans. by Edwin Wallace (London: Cambridge University Press, 1882); Euclid (trans. and ed. # 2012 Taylor & Francis
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structures (the commonplace application of geometry) fractal geometry can be applied to patterns that unfold in time. Application of fractal geometry to temporal sequences has, itself, a long intellectual pedigree. Jean Baptiste Fourier, Robert Brown and Benoit Mandelbrot all shared an interest in identifying patterns of motion.5 Whether describing the fractal structure of a solid object or a pattern developing over time, the pattern most commonly referred to is 1/f scaling (pronounced one-over-ef) or more precisely 1/f , where is a scaling exponent. Similarly, temporal fractal patterns can be perceived as patterns of occurrence over time that can be revealed by applying the analytic techniques developed by Fourier. Turning to a selection of John Coltranes solos, the fractal structure we describe is a characteristic of the melody that unfolds in each piece. Our study concerns relationships across the successive notes or pitches in the pieces. The patterns we identify in the sequences successive pitches illustrate fractal structure across time. We demonstrate that self-similar fractal patterns are apparent in the temporal pattern of pitches in Coltranes solo pieces. Fractal Analysis of Coltranes Solo Pieces Several quantitative and descriptive studies of Coltranes music have been reported.6 However, the present analysis is the rst to apply methods rooted in fractal geometry to Coltranes solo saxophone performances in order to better understand the complexity of his technique. There were two main goals of our fractal analysis. First, we wanted to examine how fractal geometry could provide a more accurate and quantitative analysis of Coltranes style. We wanted to potentially offer another analysis tool for musicians since our mathematical analysis has strong potential for being less culturally biased by Western traditions. Second, we also sought to evaluate Birkhoffs Theory of Aesthetic Value (1933) in relation to quantitative fractal analyses of other classical and jazz performances and compare these analyses to our investigation of the improvised solos of one specic performer, namely, John Coltrane. Previously, 1/f analyses
by Robert Simson, M. D.), The Elements of Euclid, the First Six Books Together with the 11th and 12th, the Errors, by Which Heon, or Others, Have Long Ago Vitiated These Books, Are Corrected, and Some of Euclids Demonstrations Are Restored. Also, the Book of Euclids Data in the Like Manner Corrected, (Philadelphia: Homas and George Palmer for Conrad and Co., 1803); Sir Isaac Newton, (trans. by Mr. Raphson, and rev. and corrected by Mr. Cunn), Universal Arithmetick: Or, a Treatise of Arithmetical Composition and Resolution. To Which Is Added, Dr. Halleys Method of Finding the Roots of Equations Arithmetically (London: J. Senex; W. Taylor, T. Warner, and J. Osborn, 1720). 5 Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier, The Analytical Theory of Heat (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1878); Robert Brown, A Brief Account of Microscopical Observations Made in the Months of June, July and August, 1827, on the Particles Contained in the Pollen of Plants; and on the General Existence of Active Molecules in Organic and Inorganic Bodies (The Philosophical Magazine and Annals of Philosophy [New Series], Sept., 1828. [reprint; orig. pamphlet self-published, 1827]), Taylor & Francis online, http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/ 14786442808674769, accessed 25 April 2013; Benoit B. Mandelbrot, Multifractals and 1/f noise (New York: Springer-Verlag, 1998). 6 For examples of quantitative analysis of Coltranes music, see Paul Aitken, Unity and Form in Miles Davis Blue in Green, McMaster [University] Music Analysis Colloquium, vol. 4 (2005): 111; Jeff Bair, Cyclic Patterns in John Coltranes Melodic Vocabulary as Inuenced by Nicolas Slonimskys Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns: An Analysis of Selected Improvisations, DMA diss. (University of North Texas, 2003); Walt Weiskopf and Ramon Ricker, Coltrane: A Players Guide To His Harmony (New Albany, IN: J. Aebersold, 1991).

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were applied to patterns of amplitude (or loudness changes) in the sound output and to wave forms of musical performances.7 In these analyses, fractal patterns are documented, based on the audio outputs of musical performances that include the sounds generated simultaneously by several musicians. Here, we focus our analysis on a single individuals solo performances that, because they need not take other players expectations or movements into account nor need they be bound to a score, are more subject to spontaneous improvisation than the orchestral performances characterized in previous studies. We employ a particular type of mathematical analysis, based on Fourier analysis, to reveal fractal structure in Coltranes solo pieces in order to better understand the complexity of this music since current musical analyses may be culturally biased in the Western classical tradition. Our mathematical analysis using fractal geometry is quantitative to reduce or eliminate any cultural biases. A Fourier analysis approximates any complex waveform as a linear composite of simple, regular sine waves spanning a range of frequencies. Pitch variation can be fully characterized by the amplitudes and phase shifts of these sinusoidal waves as a function of their frequencies of change in pitch. In this paper, our emphasis will be on the squares of the amplitudes (amplitude2) of the sinewaves, or power vs. frequency. The mean-squared value or power of a sine wave is proportional to its amplitude squared. In the present context, power takes on a second meaning as well. A power law scaling relation between two variables is a relationship in which one of the two variables is raised to some exponent or power. The analysis of musical pitch can reveal a power law relationship between the squared amplitudes, or power of the sinewaves used to approximate a pitch sequence, and the frequency of the sinewaves. More specically, power is inversely proportional to frequency f raised to some scaling exponent , or 1/f . If power is proportional to 1/f , then the logarithm of power is proportional to the logarithm of frequency multiplied by , i.e., log(power) is proportional to log( f). This linear relationship between the logarithm of power and the logarithm of frequency can be revealed by plotting power versus frequency on double logarithmic axes. The slope of the linear trend is . If is zero (power proportional to 1/f 0 = 1, or a constant), the power spectrum describes white noise. For white noise, each successive value in the time series is unrelated to the previous or subsequent values; it is random and unpredictable. In the context of musical pitches, white noise means the absence of a recognizable melody, as if each successive pitch were drawn from a hat, at random. White noise

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Jean Pierre Boon and Olivier Delcroly, Dynamical Systems Theory for Music Dynamics, Chaos, vol. 5 (1995): 501508; Jaeseung Jeong, Moo Kwang Joung,and Soo Yong Kim (1998) Quantication of Emotion by Nonlinear Analysis of the Chaotic Dynamics of Electroencephalograms during Perception of 1/f Music, Biological Cybernetics vol. 78 (1998): 217225; Gilles Peterschmitt, Emilia Gomez, and Perfecto Herra, Pitch-based Solo Location, Proceedings of MOSART Workshop on Current Research Directions in Computer Music (Barcelona, 2001): 239243; Richard F. Voss and John Clarke, 1/f Noise in Music and Speech, Nature, vol. 258 (27 November 1975): 317318; Richard F. Voss and John Clarke, 1/f Noise in Music: Music from 1/f Noise, Journal of Acoustical Society of America, vol. 63, no. 1 (1978): 258263. These analyses included classical, jazz, radio frequencies (classical, jazz and talk) and computer generated music.

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can be generated by successive tosses of 1 die with 120 sides8. The resulting series is random and irregular. A related pattern is referred to as Brownian motion. It is a stochastic process, or a time series which has independent increments and demonstrates self-similarity.9 Brownian motion was named after Scottish botanist Robert Brown. In 1827, Brown described the structure of plants from various locations around the world and sketched their aesthetic beauty.10 The term, Brownian motion was later coined in honor of his discovery. During June, July and August of that year, Brown observed that small particles of pollen from plants decomposed in an aqueous solution, visible by microscope, had an irregular motion.11 Browns examination of the Molecules from the grains of pollen adhering to the stigma particularly in Antirrhinum majus, led to his discovery (p. 479).
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Their motion consisting not only of a change of place in the uid, manifested by alterations in their relative positions, but also not unfrequently of a change of form in the particle itself; a contraction or curvature taking place repeatedly about the middle of one side, accompanied by a corresponding swelling or convexity on the opposite side of the particle. In a few instances, the particle was seen to turn on its longer axis. These motions were such as to satisfy me, after frequently repeated observation, that they arose neither from currents in the uid, but belonged to the particle itself.12

This observation led to quantitative data13 and further scientic understanding in applied mathematics, physics, engineering and other sciences. Brownian motion or Brown noise can be generated by a series from 1 die with 3 sides (+1, 0, 1), in which each new toss of the die is added to the sum of the previous tosses14. The increments are thus independent and random. However, the overall series is more predictable than white noise, with less opportunity for randomization and large sudden changes. Brown noise has a spectral slope of 2 (scaling exponent = 2, power proportional to 1/f 2), and corresponds to a higher degree of consistency of structure from pitch to pitch. Successive pitch values are only small random increments or decrements away from previously played notes. The reason such a sequence is referred to as a motion is because previous pitches serve as the origin for new pitches. The music may sound like a clear pattern of order but with unpredictability demonstrated by uctuations between pitch increments. Boon and Delcroly have used the term red noise to refer to the 1/f 2 spectrum that others describe as Brown noise15.
Jeong, Joung, and Kim, Quantication of Emotion. Yuh-Dauh Lyuu, Financial Engineering and Computation: Principles, Mathematics, Algorithms, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002). 10 Robert Brown, A Brief Account of Microscopical Observations (1827). 11 Joseph Honerkamp (trans. by Katja Linderberg), Stochastic Dynamical Systems: Concepts, Numerical Methods, Data Analysis (New York: VCH Publishers, 1994). 12 Brown, A Brief Account of Microscopical Observations, pp. 466467. 13 Albert Einstein and Leopold Infeld, The Evolution of Physics: From Early Concepts to Relativity and Quanta (New York: NY A Touchstone Book, 1938). 14 Jeong, Joung, and Kim, Quantication of Emotion. 15 On red noise, see Boon and Delcroly, Dynamical Systems Theory (1995). On Brown noise, see Jeong, Joung, and Kim, Quantication of Emotion (1998) and Manfred R. Schroeder, Fractals, Chaos, Power Laws: Minutes from an Innite Universe (New York: W. H. Freeman and Company, 1990).
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Poised in between white noise and Brown noise is pink noise, which has a spectral slope that is approximately 1 (scaling exponent = 1, power proportional to 1/f 1 = 1/f ). Pink noise has been described as a key feature of the Theory of Aesthetic Value advanced by George D. Birkhoff because pink noise power spectra have been considered more pleasing and interesting than either white or Brown noise.16 Pink noise is complex in the sense that it is self-similar and entails some predictability. However, pink noise is not as predictable as Brown noise nor is it excessively and strictly random. Pink noise is structured with persistent, long-term uctuations. These uctuations can be across extensive series, such as unfolding across runs of hundreds of notes, within which are nested even smaller coherent patterns of uctuations that are correlated. Pink noise is statistically self-similar and has a fractal structure in time. Pink noise can be generated from a series of tosses of a randomly chosen subset of 7 dice from a larger set of 20 dice, each with 6 sides. The sum of the 20 dice determines the next value in the series. Music that resembles pink noise may sound more complex with greater randomness than music that resembles Brown noise. According to Jeong, Joung and Kim, the variability of a pink series is neither as unpredictable as white noise nor as predictable as Brown noise.17 White noise, Brown noise, and pink noise are all examples of self-similar fractal structures with power law relationships having different slopes or scaling exponents. Previously, Richard Voss and John Clarke examined the spectral density of audio power uctuations in musical pieces such as Scott Joplin piano rags, classical music, rock music and news and talk radio broadcasts.18 In each case, they identied a power-law scaling relation consistent with pink noise. Voss and Clarke dene 1/f noise with a range from 0.5 < < 1.5 as pink noise,19 a denition that is consistent with other literature describing pink noise.20 Subsequently, Voss and Clarke (1978) demonstrated that additional pieces such as Mario Davidovskys Synchronism I, II and III and Karlheinz Stockenhausens Momente demonstrated approximately 1/f 1 spectral densities, while Milton Babbitts String Quartet No. 3, Betsy Jolas Quatuor III and Elliott Carters Piano Concerto in Two Movements showed decreasing correlations at times longer than several seconds, yet were still demonstrating pink noise.21 George Birkhoff, writing in 1933, emphasized the importance of sequential
George D. Birkhoff, Aesthetic Measure, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1933). See also Schroeder, Fractals, Chaos, Power Laws, as well as Voss and Clarke, 1975 and 1978. Schroeder explains: Birkhoffs theory, in a nutshell, says that for a work to be pleasing and interesting it should be neither too predictable nor pack too many surprises. Translated to mathematical functions, this might be interpreted as meaning that the power spectrum of the function should function neither as a boring Brown noise, with a frequency dependence of f -2, nor like an unpredictable white noise, with a frequency dependence of f 0 (Schroeder 1990, 109). 17 Jeong, Joung, and Kim, Quantication of Emotion. 18 Richard F. Voss and John Clarke, 1/f Noise in Music: Music from 1/f Noise, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol. 63, no. 1 (1978): 258263. 19 Richard F. Voss and John Clarke, 1/f Noise in Music and Speech, Nature, vol. 258 (27 November 1975): 317318. 20 See, for example Eric-Jan Wagenmakers, Simon Farrell, and Roger Ratcliff, Estimation and Interpretation of 1/f Noise in Human Cognition, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, vol. 11, no. 4 (2004): 579615. 21 Richard F. Voss and John Clarke, 1/f Noise in Music: Music from 1/f Noise, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol. 63 no. 1 (1978): 258263.
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order and complexity for aesthetically pleasing music. Citing Voss and Clark, Manfred Schroeder suggested that Birkhoffs aesthetic value corresponded to 1/f spectra with scaling exponent between 0 and 2 and falling right near the middle of this range, which can be interpreted as being close to a scaling exponent of 1.22 Since then, others have investigated spectral densities from analyses of computer generated music,23 simulated music,24 pitch shift,25 classical music,26 musical output from a jazz ensemble,27 and classical ensembles.28 Boon and Delcroly analyzed the pitch changes from a musician who played a synthesizer connected to a computer.29 They found that Mozarts String Trio KV 266 and String Trio KV 563 (Divertimento) along with Bachs Second Suite for Cello, Fugue BWV 870 and Musical Offering had spectral slopes very close to 2 (scaling exponent = 2, power proportional to 1/f 2), demonstrating Brownian motion. Additionally, Thelonious Monks Epistrophy, Bill Evans Two Lonely People and Billy Strayhorns Lush Life also had spectral slopes very close to 2, demonstrating Brownian motion.30 These values are not consistent with the range of aesthetically pleasing values suggested by Voss and Clark or Schroeder. They call into question whether or not pink noise is a common and required characteristic of aesthetically pleasing music. The present examination of Coltranes transcribed solos is directed at identifying scaling relations between frequency and power in successive pitches through a power spectral analysis. Of interest is the range of values of the scaling exponent for Coltranes music and its relation to the Theory of Aesthetic Value. Namely, we are interested in comparing the scaling exponents from Coltranes earlier improvisations that may be more aesthetically pleasing to many people with Coltranes later work that was more controversial and considered less aesthetically pleasing. We would like to systematically and numerically compare Coltranes scaling exponents with Birkhoffs Theory of Aesthetic Value and its various interpretations (.5 < < 1.5). Do the
Schroeder, Fractals, Chaos, Power Laws, 109. Greg Aloupis, Thomas Fevens, Stefan Langerman, Tomomi Matsui, Antonio Mesa, Yurai Nuez, David Rappaport and Godfried Toussaint, Algorithms for Computing Geometric Measures of Melodic Similarity, Computer Music Journal, 30 (2006): 6776; Jeong, Joung & Kim, Quantication of Emotion (1998); and Jeff Pressing, Novelty, Progress and Research Method in Computer Music Composition, Proceedings of the 1994 International Computer Music Conference-Aarhus, (San Francisco: ICMA, 1994): 2730. 24 Ricardo Chacn, Yolanda Batres, and Francisco Cuadros, Teaching Deterministic Chaos through Music, Physics Education, vol. 27, no. 3 (1992): 151154. 25 Julyan H. E. Cartwright, Diego L. Gonzlez, and Oreste Piro, Nonlinear Dynamics of the Perceived Pitch of Complex Sounds, Physical Review Letters, vol. 82, (1999) : 53895392. 26 Kenneth J. Hsu, with Andrew Hsu, Fractal Geometry of Music: Physics of Melody, Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences, vol. 87 (February 1990): 938941; Kenneth J. Hsu and Andrew Hsu, Self Similarity of the 1/f Noise Called Music, Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences, vol. 88 (April 1991): 35073509; John R. Hughes, Yaman Daaboul, John J. Fino, and Gordon L. Shaw, The Mozart Effect on Epileptiform Activity, Clinical Electroencephalography, vol. 29 (July 1998): 109119. 27 Gilles Peterschmitt, Emilia Gomez, and Perfecto Herra, Pitch-based Solo Location, Proceedings of MOSART Workshop on Current Research Directions in Computer Music (Barcelona, 2001): 239243. 28 Yu Shi, Scalings of Pitches in Music, (1995) Eprint arXiv:adap-org/9509001. Retrieved 30 July 2012 from http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/adap-org/pdf/9509/9509001v1.pdf . 29 Boon and Delcroly, Dynamical Systems Theory. 30 Ibid.
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scaling exponents of Coltranes solos suggest other relations between fractal structure and aesthetics? Namely, if is outside of the range .5 < < 1.5, that would indicate a shortcoming of existing interpretations of Birkhoffs theory. Method Selection and Transcription Two pieces from each year between 1959 and 1967 were selected based on communication with Lewis Porter, an expert on the life and work of John Coltrane. According to Andrew White, who has transcribed some 700 of Coltranes recorded performances,31 Coltranes stylistic periods during this time of his solo career include the second period (from June 1957 through August 1960) when he was practicing technique, the third period (from September 1960 through August 1965) when Coltrane was primarily playing without prearranged chord structure, and the fourth period (September 1965 through July 1967) when Coltrane was inuenced by the avant-garde.32 Coltranes saxophone solos have been transcribed by Andrew White and Carl Coan,33 and we manually inputted notes of the solos directly from the sheet music and solo transcriptions into Humdrum, a freeware music analysis program available on line at: http:// music-cog.ohio-state.edu/Humdrum.34 We then converted the resulting text le from kern (a numeric representation of time signature, key, pitch, rhythm, duration, and phrasing) to semits (a numeric representation of absolute pitch in semitones, e.g. middle C is 0, C# is 1, etc.). The Humdrum program was modied to output the data in the timebase and format required to conduct a Fourier analysis. The result was a temporal series of pitches that represented the successive notes in each piece. Rests and grace notes were omitted from each series.35 Coltrane also used multiple notes and ghost notes sparingly at times to accent his solo. When more than one note was performed at the same time, the mean of the pitches in semitones was calculated and substituted for the original multiple notes, because Fourier analysis requires a single pitch value at each point in time, to establish a well-dened pitch trajectory. We needed to perform the analysis in this manner in order to gain a clearer picture of the
Lewis Porter, personal communication, May 25, 2006. See also Andrew White, The Works of John Coltrane, Vols. 1 through 14, (Washington, DC: Andrews Music, 19732006). 32 For discussions of Coltranes stylistic periods, Andrew White, Trane n Me (A Semi-Autobiography): A Treatise on the Music of John Coltrane (Washington, D.C.: Andrew Musical Enterprises, Inc., 1981). 33 White, Trane n Me (1995); Carl Coan, John Coltranes Solos [transcriptions, with commentary by Ronnie Schiff and Ravi Coltrane] (Milwaukee, WI: Hal Leonard Publications, 1995). 34 David Huron, Music Information Processing Using the Humdrum Toolkit: Concepts, Examples, and Lessons, Computer Music Journal, vol. 26 no. 2 (July 2002): 1126. According to the Humdrum web site, the kern (after the German word for core) representation scheme can be used to represent basic or core information for periodof-common-practice Western music. The kern scheme allows the encoding of pitch and duration, as well as accidentals, articulation, ornamentation, ties, slurs, phrasing, glissandi, barlines, stem-direction and beaming as syntactical, rather than an orthographic, information, and so is appropriate for our fractal analysis. David Huron, The Humdrum Toolkit: Software for Music Research (Ohio State University School of Music, 1999): http://music-cog.ohio-state.edu/ Humdrum/index.html, accessed 1 August 2012. 35 For a rationale for omitting grace notes and rests, see Yu Shi, Correlations of Pitches in Music, Fractals, vol. 4, no. 4 (1996): 547553.
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more pervasive fractal patterns in Coltranes solos. For the spectral analysis, each note was represented as an equivalent sequence of sixty-fourth notes, the smallest unit of sound that Coltrane played in his solos. For example, a quarter note was represented as a sequence of 16 sixty-fourth notes. Subtracting the average pitch from each series and dividing by its standard deviation yielded 18 normalized relative pitch series suitable for a power spectral analysis. Results Except for one unusually short piece, Lush Life, the series ranged in length from 306 to 1,162 successive pitches from Coltranes solos, which corresponded to equivalent series of sixty-fourth notes ranging in length from 2,640 to 9,232 (M = 4,842, SD = 2,513). All series were padded with zeros to bring the length to the nearest higher integer power of 2 for the Fast Fourier algorithm used to calculate the spectra. To obtain reliable estimates, the spectral analysis used the Welch method of decomposing the overall sequence for each musical piece into subsets of length 1,024, with 50% overlap between successive subsets of sixty-fourth notes. The power spectra for these subsets were averaged for each musical piece. This technique of spectral analyses conducted on overlapping subsets of the data produces more reliable estimates than conducting a single spectral analysis over all of the data at once. The advantage of this method is statistical. This method averages separate spectra derived from successive blocks of the entire note sequence and better separates the low spectrum frequencies.36 For Lush Life, the overall sequence of 238 pitches was equivalent to 1,006 sixty-fourth notes. The subsets used in this spectral analysis were 256 notes in length with a 50% overlap between successive subsets of sixty-fourth notes. The resulting power spectra, for all pieces except Lush Life, contained 511 frequencies ranging from approximately 2 sixty-fourth notes per cycle (or 0.5 cycles/sixty-fourth note) to a single cycle of 1,024 sixty-fourth notes (or .00098 cycles/sixty-fourth note). On a log10 scale, these frequencies correspond to 0.3 and 3.0, respectively (horizontal axes in Figures 16). The power spectrum for Lush Life contained 127 frequencies ranging from approximately 0.5 cycles/sixtyfourth note to .0039 cycles/sixty-fourth note. On a log10 scale, these frequencies correspond to 0.3 and 2.4. Spectral Scaling Analyses. The spectral plot for each musical piece is shown on the right side of Figures 1 6 for each of John Coltranes saxophone solos from 1959 1967 in successive order. Each point represents power, which can be interpreted as a measure of relative change from the average pitch. Log power is proportional to the log frequency, i.e., log(). Thus, as in all fractals, the ratio that captures this relation stays constant across changes of power amplitude and frequency, which is illustrated by the constant slope of the lines in Figures 16.
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For a rationale of the Welsh method, see Harold Ynedstad, Stationary Temperature Cycles in the Barents Sea: Cause of Causes, ICES Annual Science Conference Island (1996): 15.

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Figure 1 Mutual information and spectral plot, respectively, for songs from 19591960.

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Figure 2 Mutual information and spectral plot, respectively, for songs from 19601961.

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Figure 3 Mutual information and spectral plot, respectively, for songs from 19621963.

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Figure 4 Mutual information and spectral plot, respectively, for songs from 19631964.

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Figure 5 Mutual information and spectral plot, respectively, for songs from 19651966.

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Figure 6 Mutual information and spectral plot, respectively, for songs from 19661967.

Jazz Perspectives Table 1.

Time Period 2nd 2nd 3rd 3rd 3rd 3rd 3rd 3rd 3rd 3rd 3rd 3rd 3rd 4th 4th 4th 4th 4th

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Note Count 777 556 867 664 946 1,162 532 420 238 396 995 602 649 306 529 716 782 621 623.29 212.98 Scaling Exponent 1.76 1.77 1.77 1.67 1.74 1.68 1.69 1.70 1.75 1.76 1.72 1.64 1.74 1.75 1.71 1.66 1.65 1.65 1.71 0.05

Year 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 Mean SD

Song Giant Steps Some Other Blues My Favorite Things Equinox Impressions Spiritual Tunji Nancy Lush Life Alabama Acknowledgement Crescent Ascent Welcome Naima Crescent Jupiter Expression

Album Giant Steps Coltrane Jazz My Favorite Things Coltranes Sound Impressions Live at the Village Vanguard Coltrane Ballads John Coltrane, Johnny Hartman Live at Birdland A Love Supreme Crescent Sun Ship Kulu Se Mama Live at the Village Vanguard Again! Live in Japan Interstellar Space Expression

r 0.96 0.95 0.98 0.96 0.93 0.97 0.97 0.94 0.98 0.96 0.96 0.95 0.95 0.94 0.93 0.95 0.88 0.94 0.95 0.02

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Notes: Since f = 1/f , the scaling exponent is the absolute value of the spectral slope given by tting a regression line on a double logarithmic plot of the power spectrum; r is the correlation coefcient between the frequency and power in logarithmic units. The pieces in bold have a series of regularly spaced peaks in their mutual information graphs in Figures 16.

These graphs clearly demonstrate a linear trend on double logarithmic axes. The spectral slopes ranged from 1.64 to 1.77 (scaling exponent between 1.64 and 1.77), which is characteristic of an anti-persistent fractional Brownian motion.37 Namely, the successive notes are less predictable than prototypical Brown noise ( = 2), but more predictable than prototypical pink noise ( = 1). Unlike prototypical Brownian motion ( = 2), the successive, generally small changes in pitch are negatively correlated, or anti-persistent. The note progression tends to reverse relatively often. Table 1 lists the absolute values of the slopes, the scaling exponents, and the correlation coefcients for these linear patterns. The correlation coefcient r ranged from .88 to .98, which indicates strong linear relationships. These linear trends indicate a fractal or self-similar structure in the succession of pitches. However, for many of the pieces there is also evidence for a succession of distinct peaks or resonances at
Andras Eke, Peter Herman, James B. Bassingthwaighte, Gary M. Raymond, Don B. Percival, Michael Cannon, Istvan Balla, and Cornelia Ikrnyi, Physiological Time Series: Distinguishing Fractal Noises from Motions, European Journal of Physiology, vol. 439, no. 4 (2000): 403415, (DOI) 10.1007/s004249900135.
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the highest frequencies. In order to address these peaks we conducted another type of analysis using a mutual information measure. Average Mutual Information Analyses. The left side of Figures 1 6 depicts the logarithm of average mutual information between the pitches at different delays ranging from 1 sixty-fourth note to 128 sixty-fourth notes. Average mutual information can be considered a nominal measure of correlation.38 Thus, the higher the mutual information, the more predictable one pitch is from a preceding pitch. One difference between a mutual information analysis and an auto-correlation analysis or spectral analysis is that the mutual information analysis can detect both linear and nonlinear patterns of association. There is an overall declining trend in the plot of mutual information versus delay, indicating that the prediction of more distant pitches is more uncertain. This pattern is a direct consequence of the fractal nature of the pitch sequences. If depicted on double-logarithmic axes, the relation between mutual information and delay is linear and a statistic akin to the spectral slope can be derived from the slope of the mutual information plot. What is notable about these plots is that several musical pieces have a regularly spaced series of relative peaks in the mutual information measure, which can be interpreted as dominant rhythmic intervals. If eighth notes constitute the dominant rhythmic interval, this would be consistent with relative peaks in mutual information separated by delays of 8 sixty-fourth notes. For example, in Figure 1Giant Steps (1959) showed consistent peaks at delays which are multiples of 8 sixty-fourth notes, illustrating that the rhythmic pattern of the eighth-notes was emphasized as a dominant theme. Note that the presence of a regular dominant rhythm is contrary to the notion of self-similarity, in that a particular time scale is characteristic of the music. The fractal trend in the power spectra and the dominant rhythm revealed by the mutual information measure in some pieces may therefore create a particular kind of complexity in the music. For some pieces, the peaks in the mutual information measure occurred at irregular intervals and in some cases there were no apparent peaks (Figures 16). Both of these tendencies indicate that the sequence of pitches is less predictable. In contrast, some pieces, such as Giant Steps, have relatively pronounced dominant rhythms with larger (more negative) spectral slopes. In these cases, the mutual information measure, in conjunction with the spectral slope, indicates that the music is more predictable. Other pieces from Coltranes later third and fourth periods, Jupiter (1967) and Crescent (1964), have dominant rhythms, but lower (less predictable) power spectral slopes.39 For Giant Steps, the average mutual information measure shows a consistent peaked pattern at eighth-note intervals that are indicative of the structural chord
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Henry D. I. Abarbanel, Analysis of Observed Chaotic Data (New York: Springer, 1996). John Coltrane, Giant Steps, Giant Steps, Rhino/Atlantic A2 1311 (2007 [1959]). John Coltrane, Jupiter, Interstellar Space, Impulse! ASD 9277 (2000 [1967]). John Coltrane, Crescent, Crescent, Impulse! 1764902 (2008 [1964]).

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changes within the piece and the upbeat tempo. In Giant Steps, the rapid harmonic changes are more predictable, and these changes represent the second period of Coltranes style (from June, 1957 through August, 1960), a period, Coltrane acknowledged, when Thelonious Monk exerted a major inuence on his playing.40 During this period, Coltrane worked to develop his creative technique. Giant Steps, his most famous piece of this period, remains a jazz standard that demonstrates virtuosity and technical expertise. For Coltrane, the pattern may be more predictable than his fourth period. Impressions (1961), and less predominately Ascent (1965), also have a similar eighth-note rhythmic pattern with stylist chord changes. Impressions is stylistic of Coltranes third period with the classic quartet (from September, 1960 through August, 1965), which was inuenced by music without prearranged chord progressions.41 At this time, Coltrane collaborated with Eric Dolphy and was inuenced by Ornette Coleman, both of whom were embracing non-progressive harmonies. Another early piece with a steep spectral slope (scaling exponent = 1.77) is Some Other Blues.42 The mutual information also shows a consistent peaked pattern at eighth-note intervals that is indicative of the structural chord variations within the piece. Its upbeat tempo is less robust and pronounced than Giant Steps and Impressions. Some Other Blues, My Favorite Things, Acknowledgement and Ascent also sound like the eighth-note rhythmic pattern is accented, yet within them, there is also a smooth melodic line that is present. This eighth-note pattern is not accentuated as robustly as Giant Steps and Impressions. Instead, these temporal sequences are more subtle and smooth. Furthermore, Acknowledgement and My Favorite Things have average mutual information that is less robustly peaked than Some Other Blues.43 Other pieces have shallower, less predictable spectral slopes (scaling exponent closer to 1.6) and an absence of regularly spaced peaks in the mutual information measure. Such pieces include Tunji, Spiritual, Equinox, Crescent (Live in Japan version), and Expression.44 The average mutual information for Spiritual and Equinox is smoother than the other pieces mentioned above, despite these pieces being indicative of Coltranes early third stylistic period. These two pieces display relatively smoother average mutual information patterns, indicating less of an emphasis on the rhythmic pattern. These pieces are reective of Coltranes third period where many songs were modal in style, without the constraints of prearranged chord patterns.45 These two pieces have a slower tempo with lyrical melodies.
Lewis Porter, John Coltrane and His Music (1983); Andrew White, Trane n Me (1981). Lewis Porter, John Coltrane and His Music (1983); Andrew White, Trane n Me (1981). 42 John Coltrane, Some Other Blues, Coltrane Jazz, Rhino/Atlantic 1354 (2008 [1959]). John Coltrane, My Favorite Things, My Favorite Things, Atlantic 1361 (1990 [1960]). John Coltrane, Acknowledgment, A Love Supreme, Impulse! GRD 155 (2003 [1964]). 43 Coltrane, My Favorite Things (1990 [1960]); Coltrane, Acknowledgment (2003 [1964]). 44 John Coltrane, Tunji, Coltrane, Impulse! 215 (2002 [1962]). John Coltrane, Spiritual, Live at the Village Vanguard, Impulse! A-10 (1998 [1961]). John Coltrane, Equinox, Coltranes Sound, Atlantic SD 1419 (1999 [1960]). 45 Andrew White, Trane n Me.
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The average mutual information pattern is inconsistent for Naima, Crescent (Live in Japan) and Expression; the pattern has some eighth-note changes yet is inconsistent.46 This version of Naima was recorded during the Live at the Village Vanguard Again! sessions, some seven years after the original studio version. Naima, along with this version of Crescent (Live in Japan) and Expression are a part of Coltranes fourth period (September, 1965 through July, 1967) during which he played with his second wife, Alice McCloud Coltrane (piano), Rashied Ali (drums), Pharoah Sanders (saxophone), and Jimmy Garrison (bass).47 Although these songs still displayed a pattern consistent with 1/f scaling, Crescent (Live in Japan) and Expression have slopes that indicate less predictability than the earlier pieces in his second period. The rhythmic patterns and improvisation during Coltranes fourth period tended to be more free-form, with less structural constraints. However, the version of Crescent from the 1964 studio album, during Coltranes third period, demonstrated more structure.48 The mutual information for Crescent (1964) showed peaks at sixteenth note intervals, yet Crescent (Live in Japan) did not. The 1964 version of Crescent has a very melodic and lyrical introduction and then builds into a solo that emphasizes the sixteenth-notes, while the Live in Japan version is more avant-garde and builds up with several runs that are quick and aggressive. However, the dominant theme and variations are slower and passionate, leading to aggressive shrieking, thus being more irregular or unpredictable. The mutual information for Welcome is irregular. The scaling exponent is more consistent with some of the earlier periods, yet Welcome stems from the beginning of Coltranes stylistic fourth period.49 Jupiter is also part of Coltranes fourth stylistic period, yet may be more characteristic of the end of that period, in that the spectral slope is shallower ( is further from 2); the piece is less predictable.50 Furthermore, the mutual information emphasizes 3 eighth-note sequences (delays of 24 sixtyfourth notes), which is characteristic of Jupiter. Jupiter has many fast runs. As we listen to Coltranes music, we think we know where he is going with his style, yet, as is characteristic in the fourth period, he switches the pattern of his playing which results in surprising the listener, with less predictability, greater randomization and greater variation. Both the third and fourth periods have distinct features that allow experienced listeners to identify Coltranes voice. Nancy (with the Laughing Face) and Tunji also had slopes in the middle of the range and displayed relatively constant mutual information at long delays, which may represent a combination of smooth melodic playing with some distinct rhythmic patterns that vary within the piece.51 However,
John Coltrane, Naima, Live at the Village Vanguard Again!, Impulse!/Universal Distribution 001582702 (2011 [1966]); John Coltrane, Crescent, Live in Japan, Impulse! 4102 (1991 [1966]); John Coltrane, Expression, Expression, Impulse! 131 (1993 [1967]). 47 Lewis Porter, John Coltrane and His Music, 1983; Andrew White, Trane n Me, 1981. 48 Hereafter, Crescent (1964). See John Coltrane, Crescent, Impulse! 1764902 (2008 [1964]). 49 John Coltrane, Welcome, Kulu S Mama, Impulse! A-9106 (1967 [1965]). 50 John Coltrane, Jupiter, Interstellar Space, Impulse! ASD 9277 (2000 [1967]). 51 John Coltrane, Nancy (with the Laughing Face) Ballads, Impulse! A32 (2008 [1962]); Coltrane, Tunji (2002 [1962]).
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the peaks in the average mutual information graph are not very regular, demonstrating that there is not a dominant rhythmic pattern. These compositions were recorded in 1962 as part of Coltranes stylistic third period. The consistent lack of a dominant rhythmic pattern may be a stylistic feature of Coltranes lyrically expressive solos, which is especially true for ballads. Alabama is also a lyrically expressive solo.52 The sound is smooth yet with an impressive message. Alabama is irregular in its mutual information despite the steeper (more predictable) spectral slope closer to 2, (scaling exponent = 1.76, power proportional to 1/f 1.76). The complexity of Coltranes music during his third and fourth periods would suggest that novice listeners would be less likely to appreciate the later work due to greater variation and less predictability. The irregularity in rhythm may be a feature that Coltrane developed in the third and fourth period, whereas the earlier second and third period pieces tended to emphasize the eighth-note metric unit more, which may be more typical of straightforward jazz. However, as Coltrane developed his technique, he concurrently developed his style. The fourth period is when Coltrane learned to create his own rules, rather than to follow if also to bend conventions of melodic contour, phrasing, harmony, and rhythm, as in his stylistic second period. Coltrane also did not conform to a specic dominant rhythmic pattern in much of his later work, but also uctuated between dominant and non-dominant rhythmic patterns, beginning with his third stylistic period. Lush Life is a much shorter piece, so the statistical estimate of the power spectral slope and average mutual information may be limited by greater statistical uncertainty than the other pieces.53 Lush Life also has a similar slope to Giant Steps, Some Other Blues, and Impressions; yet the mutual information may suggest a somewhat more irregular rhythmic pattern for this ballad.54 Perhaps this is more stylistic of Coltrane, being that he tended to be lyrically expressive and melodic. Coltrane is also expressive on other ballads including Alabama, not rigidly conforming to a standardized rhythmic pattern and performing with rubato.55 This rhythmic variation from slowing and speeding in lyrical phrasing could diminish the peaks in the average mutual information analysis.

Discussion All eighteen solos from 1959 through 1967 during Coltranes second, third and fourth period styles display fractal scaling. Our ndings suggest that Coltranes second period was a time with greater predictability and rhythmic emphasis on the eighth-note, while later work, especially during the end of Coltranes fourth period, was less predictable and demonstrated more irregular rhythmic structures. The present examination of
John Coltrane, Alabama, Live at Birdland, Impulse! MCAD 42001 (2008 [1963]). John Coltrane, Lush Life, John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman, GRP/Impulse! A40 (1995 [1963]). 54 John Coltrane, Giant Steps, Giant Steps, Rhino/Atlantic A2 1311 (2007 [1959]). John Coltrane, Some Other Blues (2008 [1959]). John Coltrane, Impressions, Impressions, Impulse!/Universal Distribution 1764899 (2008 [19611963, issued 1963]). 55 John Coltrane, Alabama, Live at Birdland, Impulse! MCAD 42001 (2008 [1963]).
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Coltranes actual transcribed solos is directed at identifying scaling relations between frequency and power in the pitch sequences represented as numerical semitones. Coltranes style tends to display 1/f series that have scaling exponents in the approximate range from 1.6 < < 1.8. These results cannot readily be compared with previous analyses of musical power spectra because of the large methodological differences, e.g., pitch sequences in notated solos vs. the audio power of music played by multiple instruments. Other classical and jazz music not using transcribed solos, but using performances by a musician using a synthesizer connected to a computer, had spectral slope scaling exponents in the approximate range from 1.8 < < 2.2 (Boon & Delcroly, 1995). Further research is needed to compare the solos of Coltrane with the solos of other composers and performers using our method. In this study, we quantitatively assessed the direct creative product of the improvised performances of John Coltrane through a series of fractal analyses and average mutual information analyses in relation to the qualitative musical performances of Coltranes three stylistic periods from 1959 through 1967. Coltrane expressed his own personal interest in mathematics, the sciences and aesthetics, an interest that integrated music and other disciplines beyond music. Fractal analysis offers a quantitative approach to characterizing patterns of temporal and spatial (pitch) intervals which are components of music. We chose to analyze Coltranes saxophone solos for their spatio-temporal properties in order to better understand his technique with a non-culturally biased mathematical approach. Coltrane developed his abilities as a musician by learning songs from scores, by mastering typical scales and their permutations, and through learning tunes by ear all standard jazz pedagogical practices. Coltrane had also taken an interest in many styles of music, which was reected through his interest in Stravinskys Rite of Spring (Le Sacre du Printemps), Concerto in E-at for Chamber Orchestra (Dumbarton Oaks), and Firebird Suite and Ravels Daphnis et Chlo.56 He also chose rare books of scales to expand his knowledge and command of the instrument.57 Coltrane used advanced harmonizing techniques as seen in nonatonic systems (having 9 of 12 pitch classes in a chromatic division of the octave) in Giant Steps, 26-2, and Countdown; he also used exotic scales from different ethnic cultures to create his own scales, such as those used in India, Africa and Ol.58

For discussions of Coltranes attraction to these and other pieces, see for example John Fraim, Spirit Catcher: The Life and Art of John Coltrane,(West Liberty, OH: Great House Co., 1996), and Ben Ratliff, Coltrane: The Story of a Sound (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007). 57 Coltranes intensive study of Nicolas Slonimskys Thesaurus of Musical Scales and Patterns (New York: Charles Scribners Sons, 1947), for example, is discussed in Lewis Porter, John Coltrane: His Life and Music (1998). 58 John Coltrane, Countdown, Giant Steps, Rhino/Atlantic A2 1311 (2007 [1959]); John Coltrane, 26-2, Coltranes Sound, Atlantic SD 1419 (1999 [1960]); John Coltrane, Africa, Africa/Brass, Impulse! Verve/Impulse! 1748622 (2008 [1961]); John Coltrane, Ol, Ol, Warner Jazz 8122736992 (2011 [Atlantic 1961, issued 1962]). For harmonic analysis of Countdown, 26-2, and Giant Steps, see Matthew Santa, Nonatonic Progressions in the Music of John Coltrane, Annual Review of Jazz Studies, vol. 13 (2003): 1325. For discussions of Coltranes use of exotic scales, see Lewis Porter, John Coltrane: His Life and Music (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1998).
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Coltrane endures as one of the most respected jazz musicians by numerous contemporary jazz and rock musicians59; fractal geometry offers additional insight regarding the dimensionality and complexity of his music. In the short span of Coltranes career and musical output, he recorded hundreds of compositions and released 35 albums as leader or co-leader; many are considered jazz standards.60 Some albums, although less accepted at the time, such as Giant Steps and My Favorite Things, are now acclaimed as classics. Yet, Coltranes music may be perceived as contradicting fractal, mathematical interpretations of Birkhoffs Theory of Aesthetic Value through exhibiting Brown noise rather than pink noise. He also developed novel techniques such as multiphonics (playing more than one note at the same time). His multitonic changes (rapid harmonic changes) created polypentatonic possibilities (improvisations in the pentatonic scales) in compositions such as Giant Steps,61 now considered a masterwork, but which was described by critics of the time, Ben Ratliff reports, as suffering from rhythmic stiffness and melodic tameness.62 Our analysis of Giant Steps did indicate that the rhythm was more predictable than much of his later work. During his second period Coltrane was focused on developing a technical expertise and his performances were more predictable. However, Coltranes improvisations did not t with the typical conventions and were not judged as aesthetically pleasing, but rather were harshly criticized as antijazz as early as 1961.63 Coltrane began emphasizing more rhythmic irregularity than the eighth-note rhythm characteristic of his second period, yet he uctuated between eighth-note rhythmic patterns and rhythmic irregularity during his third period, and this rhythmic irregularity became more characteristic during his fourth period. It is well known that Stravinskys Rite of Spring, a challenging piece of music with strong dissonant qualities, caused a riot in its rst performance. Performances in the later years of Coltranes life were described as angry, blaringly abrasive, and harsh, at, querulous and at times, vindictive.64 A session at New Yorks Village Theater (later Bill Grahams Fillmore East) in December of 1966 caused a number of persons in the audience to walk out, yet others were enthusiastically shouting.65 His later work (19641967), however, continues to be misunderstood and criticized todayeven among jazz acionados.
See, for example, Frank Kofsky, John Coltrane and the Jazz Revolution of the 1960s (Atlanta, GA: Pathnder, 1998); Eric Nisenson, Ascension: John Coltrane and His Quest (1st Da Capo Press ed.), (New York: Da Capo Press, 1995 [New York: St. Martins Press, 1993]); Lewis Porter, John Coltrane and His Music (1998). Coltrane has been lionized and even made a canonical gure since his death: see, for example, (no byline), John Coltrane As a Saint at The Church of John Coltrane, The Hufngton Post (12 March 2011, http://www.hufngtonpost.com/ 2011/03/11/john-coltrane-as-a-saint-_n_833744.html, accessed 2 August 2012). 60 Yasuhiro Fujioka, with Lewis Porter and Yoh-Ichi Hamada (eds.), John Coltrane: A Discography and Musical Biography (Newark, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1995). 61 Masaya Yamaguchi (Jay Sweet, ed.), A Creative Approach To Multi-Tonic Changes:Beyond Coltranes Harmonic Formula, Annual Review of Jazz Studies, vol. 12 (2002): 147167. 62 Ratliff, Coltrane: The Story of a Sound, 130. 63 Nisenson, Ascension: John Coltrane and His Quest, 119. 64 Ratliff, Coltrane: The Story of a Sound, 131; Nisenson, Ascension: John Coltrane and His Quest, 203; Fraim, Spirit Catcher, 64. 65 Fraim, Spirit Catcher.
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Our fractal analysis supports the notion, advanced by Lewis Porter, that What seems to be chaotic [in Coltranes later work] is just the opposite.66 Coltranes work during his fourth period still displays fractal qualities. The fractals of this later work are often even less predictable than his early work, yet are still robustly fractal. Before his death at age 40, Coltrane strove to have no boundaries or limitations to constrain his improvisations. Coltrane constantly challenged himself to expand upon his technique throughout his career even when he was already an accomplished musician. A long-standing speculation is that 1/f scaling in music arises as a consequence of the inherent aesthetics of music itself. Some patterns are thought to be intrinsically more pleasing to the human ear than others. Jeong, Joung and Kim, for example, suggested that most listeners prefer 1/f 1 music to music with an uncorrelated white noise (1/f 0) structure or highly correlated Brown noise (1/f 2) structure.67 In fact, the form of 1/f 1 scaling that comprises pink noise represents a compromise between complete randomness (white noise) and highly constrained Brownian patterns of variability. Essentially the Theory of Aesthetic Value, described by George Birkhoff, and similar hypotheses suggest that interesting pieces of art somehow strike balances between the expected and the unexpected, between repetition and contrast.68 Various ranges of the scaling exponent, , have been interpreted as being consistent with Birkhoffs theory. Manfred Schroeder suggested that scaling exponents between 0 and 2 fall into the Theory of Aesthetic Value, yet he suggested that the middle, closer to 1, may be more aesthetically pleasing.69 Voss and Clarke suggested that listeners aesthetically prefer pink noise (0.5 < < 1.5) over Brown and white noise.70 Both Schroeder and Voss and Clarke may have interpreted Birkhoff differently regarding the Theory of Aesthetic Value. Based on our analysis of Coltranes solo improvisations, we propose that the numerical range for the Theory of Aesthetic Value also include anti-persistent fractional Brownian motion. Coltranes earlier improvisations were even more Brownian than his later improvisations, which were closer to the pink range already interpreted as the Theory of Aesthetic Value by Voss and Clarke. However, it is also important to note that the music that they analyzed lasted for hours and had more variability (and noise) than the solos from one single musician. There is merit to Birkhoffs Theory of Aesthetic Value perspective and to Schroeders suggestion that this theory may be quantied in terms of spectral slopes or scaling exponents. However, none of Coltranes solos display pink noise. Instead, we have demonstrated that they are best characterized as fractional Brownian Motion,71 which was also found to characterize classical and jazz music, but using different pitch encoding than in the present study. Yet Coltranes solos still display order and
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Lewis Porter, John Coltrane: His Life and Music (1998): 270. Jeong, Joung, and Kim, Quantication of Emotion. 68 Birkhoff, Aesthetic Measure; Yu Shi, Correlations of Pitches in Music, 547553. 69 Schroeder, Fractals, Chaos, Power Laws. 70 Richard Voss and John Clarke, 1/f Noise in Music and Speech, (1975); and 1/f Noise in Music: Music from 1/f Noise (1978). 71 Eke et al., Physiological Time Series.

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complexity that is aesthetically pleasing. Although the comparison of audience reactions to music is complicated by the evolution of cultural aesthetics over time, some of Coltranes pieces have been called dissonant or avant-garde sounding to the novice listener, while others, such as Giant Steps, are quite pleasing to the listener, even though earlier on some critics did not accept this music. Yet both display a Brownian trajectory in their pitch sequences. Within these spectra, Giant Steps has greater predictability and to the novice listener is more pleasing to the ear. In contrast, the later work of Jupiter and Crescent (Live in Japan) demonstrate less predictability and may sound like there is less order to the average ear. The average ear may be frustrated since the motion in the piece is less predictable. However, these pieces display Brownian motion, which involves both order and unpredictability between successive notes. What can be learned from the qualitative patterns that unfold in John Coltranes, or any individuals, life experience? Proposing easily testable hypotheses in this realm is difcult. Nevertheless, suppose one transfers the metaphorical concept of metastable dynamics to the qualitative realm of an individuals life experience. It is possible to frame creativity, intelligence, and especially development in a manner that is qualitatively consistent. Robert Sternberg observed in 2001 that many descriptions of intelligence share an emphasis on adaptation, the ability to effectively mesh with ones surrounding environment.72 He described wisdom as balancing the forces of change implied by creativity with the stability or inertia of an existing adaptive state implied by intelligence. For Sternberg, the continuous interplay of intelligence, creativity, and wisdom form a dialectic spiral. Clearly, Sternbergs hypothesis emphasized interactive relationships. More broadly, contemporary developmental scientists describe the outcomes of development as a probabilistic bi-directional interplay between the constraints supplied by genetic and neural activity, behavior, and the physical, social and cultural environment.73 Previous analyses that found pink noise in musical performances focused primarily on the patterns of oscillation in the relative volume (loudness) of the pieces, and did not assess the patterns of the played notes, as we have done here. This outcome leads us to speculate that aesthetic value may reside in the quantitative patterns that emerge in artistic performances. However, aesthetic value is often judged in the context of the milieu of human and artistic culture, and analyses such as those in the present study may inuence judgment and acceptance of creative works. In conclusion, Coltranes improvised solos are comprised of fractal patterns that appear to contradict those predicted by the pink noise identied in classical, jazz and blues music compositions.74 Instead, our ndings conrm that Coltranes work, including his later avant-garde improvisations, displays similar numeric complexity
Robert J. Sternberg, What Is the Common Thread of Creativity: Its Dialectical Relation To Intelligence and Wisdom, American Psychologist, vol. 56 (2001): 360362. 73 See, for example, Gilbert Gottlieb, Normally Occurring Environmental and Behavioral Inuences on Gene Activity: from Central Dogma to Probabilistic Epigenesist, Psychological Review, vol. 105 no. 4 (October 1998): 792802. 74 See Kenneth J. Hsu and Andrew Hsu, Fractal Geometry of Music: Physics of Melody (1990), and Self Similarity of the 1/f Noise Called Music, (1991). See also Hughes et al., The Mozart Effect on Epileptiform Activity (1998); Richard Voss and John Clarke, 1/f Noise in Music and Speech, (1975), and 1/f Noise in Music: Music from 1/f Noise (1978).
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and order75with spectral slopes close to 2, or more specically scaling exponents in the average range between 1.6 < < 1.8. Although Jean Pierre Boon and Olivier Delcroly analyzed performances by a musician using a synthesizer connected to a computer to encode pitch, which is different from the present study, they also found that the spectral slopes for pieces by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johann Sebastian Bach, Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans and other classical and jazz musicians were even closer to 2 (approximate range of the scaling exponents in between 1.8 < < 2.2).76 In comparison with his earlier work, Coltranes later fourth period illustrates greater complexity, unpredictability and aesthetic value that may be misunderstood by the average listener. In essence, Coltrane continually developed his self-expressions on the saxophone that are evident from his early work during his second period and especially through his later work during his fourth stylistic period. Through exploring the spatio-temporal properties and stochasticity of Coltranes music,77 we see evidence of eminent creativity. Some researchers suggest that specic conditions such as ow (creating in the moment), intrinsic motivation, tolerance for ambiguity and risk taking lead to high levels of creativity within individuals.78 John Coltrane was able to take his music to another spatio-temporal level. As a result Coltrane was able to withstand the constraints of time by sounding absolutely current in any era for multiple generations of listeners. Perhaps this is the reason why Coltrane will continue to be considered one of the most innovative musicians in jazz and music generally. Acknowledgements We thank Andrew White, Lewis Porter, Shane Ruland, Sean Ferguson, Ted McDaniel, David Huron and Glenn Elliott for tools, assistance, and advice in this analysis of John Coltranes music. We also thank Paul Jones for technical consultation and Alex Charyton for his constructive feedback and support. Last, we thank Steven Pond for his attention to detail, Robert Weisberg for suggesting the concept of a case study, and John Taggart for introducing us to the work of John Coltrane. May we inspire others regarding the complexity of music as well as understanding the complexity of the music by John Coltrane. Abstract John Coltranes relevant biographical events are discussed along with a fractal analysis examining the sequential structure of pitches in his saxophone solos. Eighteen solos
Birkhoff, Aesthetic Measure. Boon and Delcroly, Dynamical Systems Theory. 77 Peter Schuster (ed.), Stochastic Phenomena and Chaotic Behaviour in Complex Systems: Proceedings of the Fourth Meeting of the UNESCSO Working Group on Systems Analysis, Flarrnitz, Karnten, Australia, June 610, 1983 (Berlin, Germany: Springer-Verlag, 1983). 78 Milhaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (New York: Harper Collins, 1990); Dean K. Simonton, Genius, Creativity, and Leadership: Historiometric Inquiries (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1984); Robert J. Sternberg (ed.), Handbook of Creativity (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1999); John L. Sherry, Flow and Media Enjoyment, Communication Theory, vol. 14 no. 4 (November 2004): 328347. Howard Gardner, Creating Minds: An anatomy of creativity as seen through the lives of Freud, Einstein, Picasso, Stravinsky, Eliot, Graham and Gandhi (New York: NY: HarperCollins, 1993).
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were examined, two songs on two different album releases for each year from 1959 1967. Saxophone solos were transcribed from sheet music into a format that represents an absolute pitch numerically. The pitch sequences were examined using power spectral analysis. Results indicate that all 18 Coltrane saxophone solos display sequences of successive pitches that are consistent with anti-persistent fractional Brownian motion having 1/f power spectra with scaling exponent between 1.6 and 1.8. Brownian motion is a type of statistical pattern that is symptomatic of self-similar or fractal patterning across time. In addition, average mutual information analyses revealed various dominant regular rhythmic patterns in several of the pieces. Eighth-note patterns were dominant in Coltranes earlier work while greater irregularity was present in rhythmic patterns of his later work. Thus, Coltranes improvised solos, including his later avantgarde compositions, are comprised of Brownian fractal patterns, which others using different pitch encoding techniques have previously identied in performances of both classical and jazz music. These fractal patterns quantify the concepts of order and complexity addressed in the Theory of Aesthetic Value.