One of the all-time examples of jazz greatness, for me, is John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps.” An extremely difficult chord progression, coupled with Coltrane’s virtuosic solos, makes for exciting listening nearly a half-century after the eponymous album’s initial release.

Years ago, someone somewhere transcribed Coltrane’s solo (no small task).  Some motivated soul has taken it a step further, animating the entire work in Flash and posting it to the Interwebs for those who want to (try and) follow along at home:

And an even more patient soul built a robot with “fingers” and an air blower, who can hammer out the solo on a real saxophone at full speed (or slightly faster). It obviously lacks soul, but impressive for the technical expertise needed to make it happen. Video after the jump: