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I fouThe Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization


Hjalmar

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I found out about this book called "The Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization" written by George Russell.

Has anybody read it???

If so, was it good???

 

It seemed pretty deep:cool:

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I have never read it but...

It started out as a pamphlet, of minimal size but had substance (as far as a few great players of the time go). Beyond that it turned into a huge book and concept as the studies furthered.

Because of this larger "my concept covers all" idea, the book kind of fell to the side and only has credibility with certain people it seems. But, from what I have read the pamphlet had the stuff that clicked for more people.

In essence, from what I've about it, it places the Lydian at the top of the heap instead of the Major scale with the idea the Lydian had more 'unity' to it.

Many say it's where 'chord scales' became popular as well as where the I6 chord ended up becoming the Imaj7 in popular jazz at the time.

I'd like to get my hands on the pamphlet sometimes to see what the hubbub is all about. But since there are so many records since it came out, I just use those as a guide instead.

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The book was originally written for classical composers, not jazz musicians.

 

Vic Juris on another forum recommends books by Ted Dunbar (another guitarist) and David Baker as educational materials that are more accessible to jazzers and would-be jazzers - both of those guys were heavily into LCC and Baker of course went on to fame as a jazz educator.

 

I suppose you could get the book if you really, really want it and can afford it, if you are already comfortable with the basics of whatever music you want to play and are looking for ideas. It's not really for beginners.

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I remember the LCC being referenced by Mick Goodrick in "The Advancing Guitarist" and have read about it elsewhere that it is what it is because of the natural overtone series that occurs when a string is halved... You end up getting a Lydian b7 scale, if I am not mistaken...

Regardless, George Russell wrote some KICK ASS TUNES!! Influenced by the LCC and the growing popularity of quartal harmony and melody.

My FAVORITE minor blues, as a matter of fact, is a tune by him called "Minor League". To hear a RIDICULOUS version of it, please listen to the Grant Green album "Solid". It's track #1. It has Elvin Jones on drums, McCoy Tyner on Piano, Charlie Rouse and Joe Henderson on horns and I wanna say Richard Davis on bass, but I could be wrong. Regardless, a great slew of musicians.. and track #2 is also by George Russell on that album, called "Ezzthetics".

Great great stuff... Inspired writing.

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Once upon a time in a Jazz Improv class I was required to take, we learned about the Tetra Chord system (still have that hand-out somewhere...)

And what the person teaching the class said stuck with me. It went something like this - "There are so many different ways of looking at this stuff. They're all the same thing from a different point of view. While it's good to understand theoretical ideas from many different perspectives, ultimately, pick one that makes sense for you, and keep the whole issue as simple as possible."

I still stand behind this idea because it has worked for me.

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Once upon a time in a Jazz Improv class I was required to take, we learned about the Tetra Chord system (still have that hand-out somewhere...)


And what the person teaching the class said stuck with me. It went something like this - "There are so many different ways of looking at this stuff. They're all the same thing from a different point of view. While it's good to understand theoretical ideas from many different perspectives, ultimately, pick one that makes sense for you, and keep the whole issue as simple as possible."


I still stand behind this idea because it has worked for me.

 

 

Tetra chords are the glue to so much. If I recall right, I did a tutorial on them here in the LL some time ago. They are also very much a part of LCC. At least that's how it's explained in one of Miles Davis books.

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it's a good book. a completely new concept which makes sense especially in terms of the harmonic series. i studied with his son, who was one of the funniest professors i ever had in my life.

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it's a good book. a completely new concept which makes sense especially in terms of the harmonic series. i studied with his son, who was one of the funniest professors i ever had in my life.

 

 

What was the part that clicked in the book for you?

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Tetra chords are the glue to so much. If I recall right, I did a tutorial on them here in the LL some time ago. They are also very much a part of LCC. At least that's how it's explained in one of Miles Davis books.

 

 

Right, and agreed. Yet the big idea is that ultimately we're dealing with the organization of 12 notes. And there are many different ways to understand all of this "theory" or organization of musical concepts and tendencies.

 

I studied with a guy who understood everything as a permutation of the major scale. On the other hand, I worked in a band with a keyboard player who thought of everything as subtractions and permutations of the chromatic scale.

Probably makes sense to a keyboardist, but it was way to "top heavy" for me.

 

Doesn't really how any of us understand it as long as we can make it work for us.

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