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The Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization
George Russell's Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization (LCCOTO) is a groundbreaking theoretical framework for understanding composition, improvisation and analysis in all of equal-tempered music. First published in 1953 and revised through the current fourth and final edition, this monumental and magnanimous work is the culmination of 50 years of steadfast development by Maestro Russell. “The Concept” remains one of the most innovative and influential music theories of all time.
Essential Ideas of "The Concept"
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Lydian Scale
Not related to the Lydian Mode of the Ionian major scale, and unlike the conventional consonant/dissonant harmonic perspective, Russell proves that a more objective principle is revealed through the self-organized structure of the Lydian Scale: seven notes, six intervals of a perfect fifth apart. The perfect fifth - being the building block of tonal magnetism - has its origin in the overtone series. -
Tonal Gravity
Russell discovered the phenomenon that tones have an innate ability to bond in a state of receptivity to a gravitational force. This magnetic energy codifies a unified "tonal gravity field" integrating close-to-distant relationships to the center of tonal gravity: the Lydian Tonic. -
Vertical and Horizontal
The VERTICAL nature of the Lydian Scale conveys a state of being and completeness. The HORIZONTAL nature of the Major Scale - relying on functional harmony (e.g., dominant-tonic relationships) conveys a state of becoming by seeking resolution. The LCCOTO sheds light on the myriad of possibilities within the balance of these two essential forces. -
Embracing Chromatic Expansion
While the seven-tone Lydian Scale is the foundation of tonal gravity, its ultimate expression is the twelve-tone Lydian Chromatic Scale. There are a total of 12 Lydian Chromatic Scales in equal temperament (i.e. the Circle of Fifths) creating a matrix of 144 possible intervals ranging from ingoing to outgoing. -
Modal Approach to Improvisation
The Lydian Chromatic Concept and its axiom of chord/scale unity had a profound influence on jazz improvisation, ushering in the modal period of Jazz. At its core, the LCCOTO is pan-stylistic and has inspired generations of musicians from all genres.
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Listen Closely:
The first publication of LCCOTO (1953) demonstrated that there is a scale which sounds in closest unity with the harmonic genre of any traditionally definable chord. This scale is termed the PARENT SCALE of a chord.
Sound both of the following chords separately (click the play button on the audio player below to hear the two chords). Try to detect the one which sounds a greater degree of unity and finality with its tonical C major triad:
In tests performed over the years in various parts of the world, the majority of people have repeatedly chosen the second chord - the C Lydian Scale in its tertian order.
The first chord is the C major scale in its tertian order.
The Lydian Scale represents an ascending order of six intervals of a fifth. The tonic of an interval of a fifth is its lower tone. The tonic of a series of six intervals of a fifth is its lowermost tone. The lowermost tone of a ladder of six consecutive fifths is termed the LYDIAN TONIC.
The following pages from the new edition are taken out of context, and are shown solely for the purpose of offering examples of the information contained within.
The Seven Principal Scales--for scales of Lydian derivation and three auxiliary scales--are the Principal Chord-Producing Scales of the LYDIAN CHROMATIC SCALE They exist as the PRIMARY PARENT SCALES for all traditionally definable chords of Western harmony. The example below shows the ingoing-to-outgoing sequence of the Seven Principal Scales to parallel the five tonal orders of the Lydian Chromatic Scale itself. These two aspects of the Lydian Chromatic Scale exist in complete conformity. It may be said that the Seven Principal Scales are the unified products of their respective tonal orders within a Lydian Chromatic Scale, naturally inheriting the fundamental tonal color of their particular order.
In showing the Lydian Scale's ladder of fifths structure to incorporate the first seven tones of the Lydian Chromatic Scale, the above example clearly indicates the reason for the Lydian Scale's designation as the SEVEN TONE ORDER/INGOING TONAL LEVEL of the Lydian Chromatic Scale. As a UNIFIED TONAL GRAVITY FIELD, the Lydian Scale serves not only as the genesis of Tonal Gravity and the foundation of the Lydian Chromatic Scale, but also as the seminal source of chord/scale unity.
BAR ONE, beats 1-3.
The first part of bar 1 features an inverted G VI (Eminmaj7 /G Lyd aug) chord supporting a three-note melodic fragment containing the tone A#. In just these first three beats of bar 1, Ravel establishes his underlying harmonic intent as being, LC Concept terms, the establishment of a series of prevailing chordmode/parent LC Scale alliances on the Level of Vertical Tonal Gravity. In each of these VTG alliances the nine-tone order of the prevailing LC Scale is exploited harmonically and/or melodically.
Ravel's vertical consciousness in the Forlane is focused on combining the eighth and ninth tones of the nine-tone order of a LC Scale to counterbalance the Lydian Augmented and Lydian Diminished sounds which these tones respectively represent in each of a series of VTG alliances.
BAR ONE, beats 4-6 to BAR TWO, beats 1-3.
In the second half of bar 1, Ravel sounds an inverted C augmented major triad in the bass clef to accompany the melody's D#, again combining the eighth and ninth (augmented and diminished) tones of the C CL Scale's nine-tone order. This is completely realized in the first half of bar 2 when the interval of a fifth (A to E), sounding in the bass clef under the tones held over from bar 1, creates an A minmaj7 chord.
George Russell's book, The Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization, first published in 1953, was the first theoretical contribution to come from jazz, and was responsible for introducing modal improvisation which resulted in the seminal recording of Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue."
Since it's publication, there have been scores of books on the market which have "borrowed" bits of the Concept's information, but there is only one original.
"[The Concept] was the great path-breaker for Miles Davis and John Coltrane's modality."
- Joachim Berendt, The Jazz Book.
GEORGE RUSSELL'S LYDIAN CHROMATIC CONCEPT OF TONAL ORGANIZATION,
first described in a self-published pamphlet in 1953, marks a radical expansion of the harmonic language for both composition and analysis and also marks an abandonment of the major-minor system which dominated Western music for over 350 years. Radical as it may be, the theory is more than one person's eccentricity, having considerable precedent in the work of Ravel, Scriabin, Debussy and in some of the learned works of Bach. The word "Lydian" is here derived from one of the classical Greek scale modes. Russell's root scale follows the natural overtone series and runs from C to C with F sharp, rather than the customary F natural of the major scale.
For searchers like Miles and Coltrane and Bill Evans, and many in the generations that followed them, Russell's theory provided a harmonic background and a path for further exploration. It also gave rise to the "modal" jazz movement that enjoyed great popularity in the 70's and 80's for better and for worse. We should not underestimate the extent of Russell's enterprise. His work stands head-to-head with Arnold Schoenberg's "liberation" of the twelve-tone scale, the polytonal work of Stravinsky, and the ethnic scale explorations of Bartok and Kodaly. If you've listened to jazz during the last fifty years, you've heard a good deal of George Russell's ideas; he is one of the 20th century's great originals and one of its bravest innovators.
Having finished this work, Russell is completing another volume on related elements which he has been simultaneously developing over the last several decades.
The Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization was expanded several times over the years, and has grown greatly since its first appearance in 1953. It is with pride and pleasure that we present this fourth and final edition.
"When you get a whole band to play like that, it's some of the most beautiful music you can have in the world. If you could sit down and write stuff like that out...well, some people do, like George Russell. He wrote stuff like that and it was incredible."
Rashied Ali, Modern Drummer, January, 2003.
“The Lydian Chromatic Concept is one of the two most splendid books about music; the other is My Musical Language by Messiaen. Though I’m considered a contemporary music composer, if I dare categorize myself as an artist, I've been strongly influenced by the Lydian Concept, which is not simply a musical method--we might call it a philosophy of music, or we might call it poetry.”
Toru Takemitsu, Swing Journal interview, Tokyo.
“The simple melody was an experiment inspired by an evening Miles had spent with...George Russell who at the time was working on his...Lydian Chromatic Concept...Miles was fascinated by Russell’s approach. Here was a means for breaking free from tonal cliches while maintaining some amount of restraint. Shortly after his evening with Russell, Miles recorded his new composition demonstrating Russell’s basic principles.”
Round About Midnight: A Portrait of Miles Davis by Eric Nisenson, Dial Press, New York.
“Consider the circumstances. Miles took his musicians into the studio for the first of two sessions for Kind of Blue in March, 1959. At the time modal jazz...was not an entirely new idea...Originally, the idea for this kind of playing with the concept of composer George Russell.”
Liner notes for Kind of Blue by Robert Palmer, Columbia 1355.
“Russell is responsible for what remains the most significant single theoretical treatise written about the music.”
Morton and Cook, The Penguin Guide to Jazz, Penguin Books. London.
“Surpasses any musical knowledge I’ve been exposed to.”
Ornette Coleman
“Gives you so much more to work with.”
Eric Dolphy
postcard from Eric Dolphy
“George enlightened me about a different way of playing music, an analytical way which enabled me to go on learning about music on my own.”
Jan Garbarek
“The foremost theoretical contribution of our time---destined to become the most influential philosophy of the future.”
David Baker
“Far ahead of any book in the field.”
Gil Evans
“The past, the present, the future, all in one. A must for the serious musician.”
Art Farmer
“Miles Davis became the first major jazz musician to be influenced by Russell’s ideas, and in 1958 he composed...Milestones, which was based on two modes...He recorded Milestones with Coltrane on April 3, 1958, and both men felt liberated by the new harmonic philosophy. Davis continued to work on Russell’s concepts, and...he created five selections for the first all-modal album, Kind of Blue.”
Stan Getz: A Life in Jazz by Donald Maggin, William Morrow, New York.
“It is indeed quite possible that much of the jazz rock of the seventies would not have existed if it weren’t for Russell’s pioneering work.”
Eric Nisenson, Music and Sound Output.
“The first work deriving a theory of jazz from the immanent laws of jazz, not from the laws of European music. The Concept was the great path-breaker for Miles Davis’ and John Coltrane’s modality.”
The Jazz Book by Joachim Berendt, Lawrence Hill Books, Chicago.
