September 7, 2017 9:01 pm

Friday, Neil deGrasse Tyson Explores Jazz with Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, and More

This Friday, StarTalk Radio explores creativity and the smooth sounds of jazz music when our host Neil deGrasse Tyson sits down with two legendary jazz musicians: saxophonist Wayne Shorter and pianist/keyboardist Herbie Hancock. They tell Neil about their early beginnings in music, the creative process, and how they would describe jazz to an alien.

Meanwhile, back in the Hall of the Universe in the American Museum of Natural History, Neil is joined in his exploration the art and science of jazz by comic co-host Chuck Nice, musician and “bad-ass science groupie” Sean Ono Lennon, and his own brother, artist and jazz enthusiast Stephen Tyson.

One conversation I particularly liked is when Wayne and Herbie discuss seeing resistance for what it is: a necessary mechanism for creativity. Sean then talks about the relationship between rules and creativity and how some of Bach’s most famous pieces are very constrained.

Later in the episode, Charles Limb, a neuroscientist, surgeon, and jazz musician, drops in to explain what playing jazz looks like inside the brain, and Mona Chalabi shares some data on the connection between math and music. Plus, we get an impromptu Jazz recital by the students of the Columbia University Jazz House, and musical representations of photons.

I’ve always enjoyed jazz, and sometimes it gets a bad reputation. I think we can blame things like elevator music for that and, as Sean points out, sometimes people are uncomfortable with the unpredictability of the art form. However, jazz is something meant to be seen live, because of its improvisational nature. Being able to watch the creative process reveal itself in real time is fascinating to see and when it’s done well, it elevates to art.

This episode is packed with great conversation, insight, and information on a branch of music that I think is underappreciated – and when you have two legends like Wayne and Herbie on the show, how can you not tune in?

Listen in tomorrow night for Cosmic Jazz, with Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock at 7pm EDT right here on our website, as well as on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, SoundCloud, Stitcher, and TuneIn. And if you’re an All-Access subscriber, you can listen to this episode ad-free at 7pm, too. You can also

That’s it for now. Keep Looking Up!
–Ian Mullen