John Coltrane was a Physicist

Music is the aesthetics of mathematics as it relates to the physiology of the human brain. A mournful song is mathematically resonant as sad based on the circuitry of the brain. Certainly some of it sociological, based on our cultural context. But, as eloquently argued in "This is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession" by Daniel J. Levitin, it's also a neurologically structural effect. In this way, musicians are just playing with the brain effects of sound.  It makes perfect sense to me that John Coltrane was well aware of Einstein's work and spoke of him often. 

A sketch of the circle of fifths by John Coltrane