I recently received a telephone call from a jazz musician, Michael Roach. He explained to me that he and the other members of the trio TEN27 have created seven original compositions inspired by astronomy and cosmology. As it turns out, a news article I wrote about the galaxy I Zwicky 18 for the February 2008 issue inspired one of their songs.
The trio is holding an event this week called "The Black Book Project." It is a multimedia-live performance combining original jazz compositions with images of the cosmos from the Hubble Space Telescope. The performance takes place Saturday, November 1 at 7:30 p.m. at The Egg, Empire State Plaza, in Albany, New York.
Other astronomy-inspired compositions in the program include:
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"Oh Vera," honoring the work of astrophysicist Vera Rubin.
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"4-9-6," in reference to the ratio of the three types of stuff that make up the universe — 4 percent normal “baryonic” matter, 96 percent dark matter/dark energy.
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"Eta Carinae," a star that is about to go supernova.
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"Nebulous," celebrating the “flowers of the universe.”
Our mysterious universe has inspired many works of art — from van Gogh’s painting Starry Night to Gustav Holst’s orchestral suite The Planets. It’s gratifying to know that something we published offered a few atoms of inspiration to the starry-eyed musicians in Ten27.
Mr. Roach kindly provided us with a recording of I Zwicky 18 for you to hear. If you’re in the Albany area, please consider giving these fine musicians your support.