Attack of the Jazz Robots

About ten years ago I drew up rough plans for a mechanical horn machine. Since horn players are rare (and horn players who understand that not every song requires a trombone solo are rarer), I thought I could put together a device that handled some orchestral parts, or at least made some funny noises. It never materialized, mostly because I forgot about it until I saw this video.

Enter the Japanese jazz robot. This is not what I was going to build, but it's a hell of a lot more functional. There's a reason they picked this song to demonstrate the jazz robot - it's probably the pinnacle of jazz saxophone improvisation. In other words, there's a reason people attend Saint John Coltrane Church.

I've listened to Giant Steps maybe 10,000 times. I think it was the only album I had in my car from 1994 through 1998. I have transcriptions of it. I know every note. It's my ringtone, for crying out loud. Let me say - they did a hell of a job. It's awfully stiff, and I don't think any musician would really mistake it for a human, but it's still absolutely brilliant. I'm sure this was just an academic exercise and the technology will inevitably end up in boring non-musical areas (aka robot prune-pickers), but I still dream about that horn section in a box.