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Topic: rip george russell |
ebb
From:
nj
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Rick Schmidt
From:
Prescott AZ, USA
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Posted 29 Jul 2009 6:25 am |
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| He was a great one! His book was a very important part of my growing up as a musician. RIP Maestro Russell. |
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robert kramer
From:
Nashville TN
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Russ Wever
From:
Kansas City
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Posted 30 Jul 2009 9:06 am
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I recall Paul Franklin studying
Russells works back in the '70's.
Sure didn't hurt his style.
~Russ |
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Don Drummer
From:
West Virginia, USA
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Posted 31 Jul 2009 7:31 am Lydian chromatic theory of improvisation
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| I had a borrowed copy of Russell's first publication and found it difficult to understand but my immpression, right or wrong, was his theory replaced the ionic mode or the major scale with the Lydian mode. From there seven modes were created with various alterations. All with the intention of creating, for lack of a better term, a Jazz Method of improvising. Am I close to understanding? PS. It is also very comforting to read this quote from George Russell: " The whole fight is to put the sentenses together so that other people understand them. Sometimes, when I read them back, I don't undrestand them" Don D. |
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Rick Schmidt
From:
Prescott AZ, USA
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Posted 31 Jul 2009 10:04 pm
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| Don...Back when I first got the LCC in the early 70's, I started at page one and just couldn't get into it. It was only when I read the "Theoretical Foundation" in the very middle of the book that I had my Ah Ha moment. |
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Don Drummer
From:
West Virginia, USA
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Posted 1 Aug 2009 1:16 pm
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| Rick, I must not have ventured far enough. What was your "Ah Ha" moment? Perhaps if you have the time you could explain it. Thanks in advance. Don D. |
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Rick Schmidt
From:
Prescott AZ, USA
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Posted 2 Aug 2009 2:20 pm
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Don...for me what happened is that Mr. Russell showed the possibility that music can be thought of as more symmetrical and truly more of a natural phenomena than Major Scale based harmony reveals. He theorized that the C Major Scale actually divides the 12 chromatic notes into two tonalities, C & F, whereas by raising the 4th scale degree a half step (now a Lydian scale), all of the 12 notes can be thought of as more directly relative to the tonic. He goes on to show that with the Lydian scale you can build every chord that the major scale can, plus the Maj #11 chords too.
All of a sudden, I started to see the cycle of 5ths as a kind of (Yin-Yang) scenario, where "tonal gravity" became a very natural and easy to see force of nature. Of course the Yin-Yang thing was my take, not Mr. Russell's.
Of course I still think in terms of traditional harmony most of the time, especially in country music etc., but there's something about the overview that Mr. Russell's book gave me at that time in my musical development that still takes some of the confusion away when I'm improvising. |
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Gerald Menke
From:
Stormville NY, USA
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Posted 4 Aug 2009 6:07 am
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Wow a copy of his book will set you back 200 bucks on Amazon, sure would love to see a copy someday, it's interesting that the guy who inspired some of the real giants of jazz was pretty unknown.
Thanks for posting this, I had to stop buying the paper everyday when it went up to 2 dollars.
Gerald |
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Matt Berg
From:
Pennsylvania, USA
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Posted 6 Aug 2009 1:02 pm This Makes More Sense
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Than the NYT obit's attempt to explain music theory.
In essence, Mr Russell taught us that the flatted fifth was really a raised 4th.
Scales, not chords. I wish my playing was organized along the lines of this thinking, but it's not. Sigh. |
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Don Drummer
From:
West Virginia, USA
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Posted 8 Aug 2009 9:30 am Lydian
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| Rick.. Thanks for the reply. I get what your saying. The Ionian mode has two leading tones that resolve on the 4th degree and the 8th. The lydian concept creates a pallete of tones for use with Be Bop and modern Jazz. In a sense this is exactly what characterises the difference between Jazz and country where the Ionian mode rules. Don D. |
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