Theory & Impro george russel "the lydian chromatic concept...'

[JohnB]

Hi all. It has been awhile since i last posted and just wanted to bring somethig up with everyone to see what they thought.

I have read the book in question recently and am planing to re-read it all. very interesting...
Has anyone read this and have you any thoughts on it.

John

 

[Pete Thomas]

Brave man. 😉

 

[JohnB]

tis a daunting task but 'chart A' seems to be the way forward.

ezz-thetics is a brilliant album by george russell which displays the workings of this book very well. apparently...

 

[Simon]

Yes, i have read it a few times, in small chunks at a time. A guy called Mike Fitzgerald had this to say, if you're not sure what it's about. I have to re-read his explanation a few times too...

"George Russell's Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization is a systematic method that categorizes tensions in gradations.

When one encounters a C7 chord, there are several possible sets of notes (scales) that can be drawn from to build a melodic line on top of that chord. The Lydian Chromatic Concept establishes the second degree of a Lydian scale as being the primary location for dominant seventh chords. So the scales will all have C as their second degree.

Bb Lydian (Bb, C, D, E, F, G, A, Bb)
Bb Lydian Augmented (Bb, C, D, E, F#, G, A, Bb)
Bb Lydian Diminished (Bb, C, Db, E, F, G, A, Bb)
Bb Auxiliary Diminished (Bb, C, Db, Eb, E, F#, G, A, Bb)
Bb Auxiliary Augmented (Bb, C, D, E, F#, G#, Bb)

There are other locations where a dominant seventh chord can be found, and therefore other possible scales, but lets stop here.

Each scale has a color or degree of tension and one varies the tension by which set of notes is chosen to accompany each chord.

Many others have borrowed the chord/scale relationships but apply them in an almost random manner. There is a reason why the scales aren't F major or C mixolydian, G melodic minor, or whatever. Every scale listed above contains the tritone - the most important interval of the concept - between the I and #IV degrees."

I've found that if you've done some time with Aebersold and worked melodic & harmonic minor modes (esp lydian variations), you'll already be aware of most of the possibilities GR covers. But some argue that the LCC isn't about matching scales to chords at all, and that it's the deeper ideas behind why the lydian derivatives work - eg if you stack 7 perfect 5th intervals (considered to be the most stable sound), you end up with the lydian mode (C-G-D-A-E-B-F# = C Lydian)

It's when you go 'way out' into the final graduations of his scheme, that you can discover some really unusual stuff u may not have heard before.

Simon

PS I remember coming up with this after reading LCC at jazz school (and getting red pen mark and 0 points for this answer):

over a minor 2-5-1 : chromatically descending harmonic major scales starting on the 5th, each one contains a tritone interval, so:

Dm7b5->G7b9->Cm would be A Har. Maj -> Ab H Maj-> G Har. Maj

 

[Flipper2008]

Im terrible at music theory, terrible at reading too , but having looked into this its something I already use in my improvising, I guess Ive just absorbed the concept over thirty odd years of playing lead guitar. Ive found that if you are playing over a Major chord eg. A major , then playing a major scale a tone above works great, in this case BMajor.plus the original root note ie.A. For A7 I would play G Lydian and for a minor chord I would play the Lydian scale off the note that makes the chord minor ie C Lydian.

Hope this makes sense

Flipp

ps if you are playing a over minor chord , playing the major scale of the tone below fits too.

 

[Simon]

Yep, these are good ways of emphasising the colourful notes of the chord - eg 9th, #11th and 13th (the B Major over A Major).

Did you get this from the LCC ?

Simon

 

[Flipper2008]

Yep Simon, now that Ive actually seen this written down I can identify exactly what Ive been using as part of my for solo improv over the years , interesting stuff indeed.

Flipp