America’s First Black Superstars

Physicist and saxophonist Stephon in The Jazz of Physics that Albert Einstein and John Coltrane had a lot in common. Alexander in particular draws our attention to the so-called “Coltrane circle,” which resembles what any musician will recognize as the “Circle of Fifths,” but incorporates Coltrane’s own innovations. Coltrane gave the drawing to saxophonist and professor Yusef Lateef in 1967, who…