The website trainjazz.com creates jazz using the live locations of New York City subway trains.
Transcript
AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Joshua Wolk is a design engineer and amateur musician in New York City, with a love for jazz and datasets.
JOSHUA WOLK: So when I discovered that New York shows the location of every train always, I realized that I had to do something with it.
RASCOE: He built trainjazz.com, which creates a jazz combo based on where every New York subway train is located at any given moment.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
RASCOE: On a late night visit to the site like 2:00 a.m. on the weekend, when there are only about 400 trains running, you’ll hear a quieter band.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
RASCOE: But rush hour – now we’re talking about 1,000 trains. It’ll sound more like this.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
WOLK: What makes it so perfect is jazz is never the same thing twice. The solos and the walking lines, they always change. That just really syncs perfectly with the trains because no two trains are ever in the same spot at once.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
WOLK: So the website treats every line as a measure and the train’s current position as a note along that measure. And then every 15 seconds, the measure loops, but the trains are really never in the same place at the same time, so it’s different each loop.
RASCOE: Wolk assigned each line its own instrument based on the history of jazz and trains in the city.
(SOUNDBITE OF CLOSED HIGH HAT PLAYING)
WOLK: I take the L train everywhere, and it’s the only fully automated line. So I thought that, like, a closed high hat would be the perfect instrument just ’cause it’s so mechanical.
(SOUNDBITE OF UPRIGHT BASS PLAYING)
WOLK: The 1, 2 and 3 are the original lines of New York. So I gave them an upright bass just ’cause I feel like that’s the foundational instrument that brings jazz together.
(SOUNDBITE OF UPRIGHT BASS PLAYING)
WOLK: And then the A train…
(SOUNDBITE OF TROMBONE PLAYING)
WOLK: …Is a jazz trombone in tribute to Duke Ellington’s “Take The A Train.”
(SOUNDBITE OF DUKE ELLINGTON SONG, “TAKE THE A TRAIN”)
RASCOE: Wolk can often be found in downtown Manhattan at the jazz venues, Smalls and KGB Bar. But at home, sometimes he’ll kick back to his own website.
WOLK: My rule for making Train Jazz was, is this something I could listen to for 3 hours straight without finding it super annoying? And when I finally got to that point, it did become something that I would listen to.
RASCOE: Joshua Wolk – you can tune in at trainjazz.com.
(SOUNDBITE OF DUKE ELLINGTON SONG, “TAKE THE A TRAIN”)
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