George Russell
Encyclopedia
George Allen Russell was an American jazz
pianist, composer and theorist. He is considered one of the first jazz musicians to contribute to general music theory
with a theory of harmony based on Jazz rather than European music, in his book, The Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization
(1953).
, the adopted only child of a nurse and a chef on the B & O Railroad
, Bessie and Joseph Russell. Young Russell sang in the choir of the African Methodist Episcopal Church
and listened to the Kentucky Riverboat music of Fate Marable
. He made his stage debut at age seven, singing "Moon Over Miami" with Fats Waller
.
Surrounded by the music of the black church and the big bands which played on the Ohio Riverboats, and with a father who was a music educator at Oberlin College
, he started playing drums with the Boy Scouts
, receiving a scholarship to Wilberforce University
, where he joined the Collegians, a band noted as a breeding ground for great jazz musicians including Ben Webster
, Coleman Hawkins
, and Benny Carter
. Russell served in that band at the same time as another noted jazz composer, Ernie Wilkins
. When called up for the draft at the beginning of World War II
, he was quickly hospitalized with tuberculosis
, where he was taught the fundamentals of music theory by a fellow patient.
, who replaced him in the orchestra. Inspired by hearing Thelonious Monk
's "'Round Midnight
", Russell moved to New York in the early 1940s, where he became a member of a coterie of young innovators who frequented the 55th Street
apartment of Gil Evans
, a clique which included Miles Davis
, Charlie Parker
, Gerry Mulligan
, and John Lewis
, later involved with the Modern Jazz Quartet
.
In 1945-46, Russell was again hospitalized for tuberculosis for 16 months. Forced to turn down work as Charlie Parker
's drummer, during that time he worked out the basic tenets of what was to become his Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization
, a theory encompassing all of equal-tempered music which has been influential well beyond the boundaries of jazz. The first edition of his book was published by Russell in 1953, while he worked as a salesclerk at Macy's
. At that time, Russell's ideas were a crucial step into the modal music of John Coltrane
and Miles Davis
on his classic recording, Kind of Blue
, and served as a beacon for other modernists such as Eric Dolphy
and Art Farmer
.
While working on the theory, Russell was also applying its principles to composition. His first famous composition was for the Dizzy Gillespie
Orchestra, the two-part "Cubano Be, Cubano Bop" (1947) and part of that band's pioneering experiments in fusing bebop
and Cuban jazz elements; "A Bird in Igor's Yard" (a tribute to both Charlie Parker
and Igor Stravinsky
) was recorded in a session led by Buddy DeFranco
the next year. Also, a lesser known but pivotal work of Russell's was recorded in January 1950 by Artie Shaw
entitled "Similau" that employed techniques of both the works done for Gillespie and DeFranco.
Russell began playing piano, leading a series of groups which included Bill Evans
, Art Farmer
, Hal McKusick
, Barry Galbraith
, Milt Hinton
, Paul Motian
, and others. Jazz Workshop was his first album as leader, and one where he played relatively little, as opposed to masterminding the events (rather like his colleague Gil Evans). He was to record a number of impressive albums over the next several years, sometimes as primary pianist.
In 1957, Russell was one of six jazz musicians commissioned by Brandeis University
to write a piece for their Festival of the Creative Arts. He wrote a suite for orchestra, All About Rosie, which featured Bill Evans among other soloists, and has been cited as one of the few convincing examples of composed polyphony
in jazz.
Members of the orchestra on his 1958 extended work, New York, N.Y.
, included Bill Evans, John Coltrane
, Art Farmer, Milt Hinton
, Bob Brookmeyer
, and Max Roach
, among others, and featured wrap-around raps by singer/lyricist Jon Hendricks
. Jazz in the Space Age
(1960) was an even more ambitious big band
album, featuring the unusual dual piano voicings of Bill Evans and Paul Bley
. Russell formed his own sextet in which he played piano. Between 1960 and 1963, the Russell Sextet featured musicians like Dave Baker and Steve Swallow
and memorable sessions with Eric Dolphy
(on Ezz-thetics
) and singer Sheila Jordan
(their bleak version of "You Are My Sunshine
" on The Outer View
(1962) is highly regarded).
for five years. Through the early 1970s, Russell did most of his work in Norway
and Sweden
. He played there with young musicians who would go on to international fame: guitarist Terje Rypdal
, saxophonist Jan Garbarek
and drummer Jon Christensen
. This Scandinavian period also provided opportunities to write for larger groupings, and Russell's larger-scale compositions of this time pursue his idea of "vertical form", which he described as "layers or strata of divergent modes of rhythmic behaviour". The Electronic Sonata for Souls Loved by Nature, commissioned by Bosse Broberg of Swedish Radio
to write for the Radio Orchestra, was first recorded in 1968, as an extended work recorded with electronic tape. It continued Russell's continuing exploration of new approaches and new instrumentation.
Russell returned to America in 1969, when Gunther Schuller
assumed the presidency of the New England Conservatory of Music
in Boston and appointed Russell to teach the Lydian Concept in the newly created jazz studies department, a position he held for many years.
for orchestra and chorus for the Norwegian Cultural Fund; Living Time
, commissioned by Bill Evans
for Columbia Records
; and Vertical Form VI
for the Swedish Radio.
With Living Time (1972), Russell reunited with Bill Evans to offer a suite of compositions which represent the stages of human life. His Live in an American Time Spiral
featured many young New York players who would go on to greatness, including Tom Harrell
and Ray Anderson
. When he was able to form an orchestra for his 1985 work The African Game
, he dubbed it the Living Time Orchestra. This 14-member ensemble toured Europe and the U.S., doing frequent weeks at the Village Vanguard
, and was praised by New York magazine
as "the most exciting orchestra to hit the city in years."
The work The African Game, a 45-minute opus for 25 musicians, was described by Robert Palmer
of The New York Times
as "one of the most important new releases of the past several decades" and earned Russell two Grammy
nominations in 1985.
Russell wrote 9 extended pieces after 1984, among them: Timeline for symphonic orchestra, jazz orchestra, chorus, klezmer
band and soloists, composed for the New England Conservatory's 125th anniversary; a re-orchestration of Living Time for Russell's orchestra and additional musicians, commissioned by the Cité de la Musique in Paris in 1994; and It's About Time, co-commissioned by The Arts Council of England
and the Swedish Concert Bureau in 1995.
in 1945 when Russell asked him his musical aim that led Russell on a quest which was to become his life's work. Davis answered that his musical aim was "to learn all the changes
." Knowing that Davis already knew how to arpeggiate
each chord, Russell reasoned that he really meant that he wanted to find a new and broader way to relate to chords.
Miles reportedly summarized the LCC succinctly by saying, "F should be where middle C is on the piano" [white notes: F-F = lydian, rather than major = C-C].
Russell's theory proposes the concept of playing jazz based on scales or a series of scales (modes
) rather than chords
or harmonies
. The Lydian Chromatic Concept explored the vertical relationship between chords and scales, and was the first codified original theory to come from jazz. Russell's ideas influenced the development of modal jazz
, notably in the album Jazz Workshop (1957, with Bill Evans
and featuring the "Concerto for Billy the Kid") as well as his writings; Evans later introduced the concepts to other members of Miles Davis
's working band, which employed them in recordings beginning with the album Kind of Blue
.
His Lydian Concept has been described as making available resources rather than imposing constrictions on the musicians.
George Russell died of complications from Alzheimer's disease
in Boston, Massachusetts on July 27, 2009, according to his publicist.
in 1989. In his career, Russell also received the 1990 National Endowment for the Arts
American Jazz Master Award, two Guggenheim Fellowship
s, and the British Jazz Award, among others. He taught throughout the world, and was a guest conductor for German, Italian, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, and Swedish radio groups.
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
pianist, composer and theorist. He is considered one of the first jazz musicians to contribute to general music theory
Music theory
Music theory is the study of how music works. It examines the language and notation of music. It seeks to identify patterns and structures in composers' techniques across or within genres, styles, or historical periods...
with a theory of harmony based on Jazz rather than European music, in his book, The Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization
Lydian chromatic concept of tonal organization
The Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization was written by George Russell and is the founding text of the Lydian Chromatic Concept , or Lydian Chromatic Theory . The work postulates that all music is based on the tonal gravity of the Lydian mode.-Deriving Lydian:Russell believed that...
(1953).
Early life
Russell was born in Cincinnati, OhioCincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
, the adopted only child of a nurse and a chef on the B & O Railroad
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was one of the oldest railroads in the United States and the first common carrier railroad. It came into being mostly because the city of Baltimore wanted to compete with the newly constructed Erie Canal and another canal being proposed by Pennsylvania, which...
, Bessie and Joseph Russell. Young Russell sang in the choir of the African Methodist Episcopal Church
African Methodist Episcopal Church
The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the A.M.E. Church, is a predominantly African American Methodist denomination based in the United States. It was founded by the Rev. Richard Allen in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1816 from several black Methodist congregations in the...
and listened to the Kentucky Riverboat music of Fate Marable
Fate Marable
Fate Marable was a jazz pianist and bandleader.Marable was born in Paducah, Kentucky, and learned piano from his mother. At age 17, he began playing on the steam boats plying the Mississippi River...
. He made his stage debut at age seven, singing "Moon Over Miami" with Fats Waller
Fats Waller
Fats Waller , born Thomas Wright Waller, was a jazz pianist, organist, composer, singer, and comedic entertainer...
.
Surrounded by the music of the black church and the big bands which played on the Ohio Riverboats, and with a father who was a music educator at Oberlin College
Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, noteworthy for having been the first American institution of higher learning to regularly admit female and black students. Connected to the college is the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the oldest continuously operating...
, he started playing drums with the Boy Scouts
Scouting in Ohio
Scouting in Ohio has a long history, from the 1910s to the present day, serving thousands of youth in programs that suit the environment in which they live.-Recent history :...
, receiving a scholarship to Wilberforce University
Wilberforce University
Wilberforce University is a private, coed, liberal arts historically black university located in Wilberforce, Ohio. Affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal Church, it was the first college to be owned and operated by African Americans...
, where he joined the Collegians, a band noted as a breeding ground for great jazz musicians including Ben Webster
Ben Webster
Benjamin Francis Webster , a.k.a. "The Brute" or "Frog," was an influential American jazz tenor saxophonist. Webster, born in Kansas City, Missouri, was considered one of the three most important "swing tenors" along with Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young...
, Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Randolph Hawkins was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Hawkins was one of the first prominent jazz musicians on his instrument. As Joachim E. Berendt explained, "there were some tenor players before him, but the instrument was not an acknowledged jazz horn"...
, and Benny Carter
Benny Carter
Bennett Lester Carter was an American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. He was a major figure in jazz from the 1930s to the 1990s, and was recognized as such by other jazz musicians who called him King...
. Russell served in that band at the same time as another noted jazz composer, Ernie Wilkins
Ernie Wilkins
Ernest Brooks Wilkins Jr. was a jazz arranger and writer who also played tenor saxophone. He might be best known for his work with Count Basie. He also wrote for Tommy Dorsey, Harry James, and Dizzy Gillespie...
. When called up for the draft at the beginning of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he was quickly hospitalized with tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
, where he was taught the fundamentals of music theory by a fellow patient.
Early career
After his release from the hospital, he played drums with Benny Carter's band, but decided to give up drumming as a vocation after hearing Max RoachMax Roach
Maxwell Lemuel "Max" Roach was an American jazz percussionist, drummer, and composer.A pioneer of bebop, Roach went on to work in many other styles of music, and is generally considered alongside the most important drummers in history...
, who replaced him in the orchestra. Inspired by hearing Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer considered "one of the giants of American music". Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epistrophy", "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser"...
's "'Round Midnight
'Round Midnight (song)
Round Midnight" is a 1944 jazz standard by pianist Thelonious Monk. Jazz artists Cootie Williams, Dizzy Gillespie, Art Pepper, and Miles Davis have further embellished the song, with songwriter Bernie Hanighen adding lyrics...
", Russell moved to New York in the early 1940s, where he became a member of a coterie of young innovators who frequented the 55th Street
55th Street (Manhattan)
55th Street is a two-mile-long, one-way street traveling east to west across Midtown Manhattan.-Sutton Place South:*The route officially begins at Sutton Place South which is on a hill overlooking FDR Drive....
apartment of Gil Evans
Gil Evans
Gil Evans was a jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader, active in the United States...
, a clique which included Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
, Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
, Gerry Mulligan
Gerry Mulligan
Gerald Joseph "Gerry" Mulligan was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, composer and arranger. Though Mulligan is primarily known as one of the leading baritone saxophonists in jazz history – playing the instrument with a light and airy tone in the era of cool jazz – he was also...
, and John Lewis
John Lewis (pianist)
John Aaron Lewis was an American jazz pianist and composer best known as the musical director of the Modern Jazz Quartet.- Early life:...
, later involved with the Modern Jazz Quartet
Modern Jazz Quartet
The Modern Jazz Quartet was established in 1952 by Milt Jackson , John Lewis , Percy Heath , and Kenny Clarke . Connie Kay replaced Clarke in 1955...
.
In 1945-46, Russell was again hospitalized for tuberculosis for 16 months. Forced to turn down work as Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
's drummer, during that time he worked out the basic tenets of what was to become his Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization
Lydian chromatic concept of tonal organization
The Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization was written by George Russell and is the founding text of the Lydian Chromatic Concept , or Lydian Chromatic Theory . The work postulates that all music is based on the tonal gravity of the Lydian mode.-Deriving Lydian:Russell believed that...
, a theory encompassing all of equal-tempered music which has been influential well beyond the boundaries of jazz. The first edition of his book was published by Russell in 1953, while he worked as a salesclerk at Macy's
Macy's
Macy's is a U.S. chain of mid-to-high range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States...
. At that time, Russell's ideas were a crucial step into the modal music of John Coltrane
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
and Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
on his classic recording, Kind of Blue
Kind of Blue
Kind of Blue is a studio album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released August 17, 1959, on Columbia Records in the United States. Recording sessions for the album took place at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York City on March 2 and April 22, 1959...
, and served as a beacon for other modernists such as Eric Dolphy
Eric Dolphy
Eric Allan Dolphy was an American jazz alto saxophonist, flutist, and bass clarinetist. On a few occasions he also played the clarinet and baritone saxophone. Dolphy was one of several multi-instrumentalists to gain prominence in the 1960s...
and Art Farmer
Art Farmer
Arthur Stewart "Art" Farmer was an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhorn player. He also played flumpet, a trumpet/flugelhorn combination designed for him by David Monette. His identical twin brother, Addison Farmer Arthur Stewart "Art" Farmer (August 21, 1928, Council Bluffs, Iowa –...
.
While working on the theory, Russell was also applying its principles to composition. His first famous composition was for the Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...
Orchestra, the two-part "Cubano Be, Cubano Bop" (1947) and part of that band's pioneering experiments in fusing bebop
Bebop
Bebop differed drastically from the straightforward compositions of the swing era, and was instead characterized by fast tempos, asymmetrical phrasing, intricate melodies, and rhythm sections that expanded on their role as tempo-keepers...
and Cuban jazz elements; "A Bird in Igor's Yard" (a tribute to both Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
and Igor Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
) was recorded in a session led by Buddy DeFranco
Buddy DeFranco
Boniface Ferdinand Leonard "Buddy" DeFranco is an American jazz clarinet player.-Biography:DeFranco began his professional career just as swing music and big bands — many of which were led by clarinetists like Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman and Woody Herman — were fading in popularity...
the next year. Also, a lesser known but pivotal work of Russell's was recorded in January 1950 by Artie Shaw
Artie Shaw
Arthur Jacob Arshawsky , better known as Artie Shaw, was an American jazz clarinetist, composer, and bandleader. He was also the author of both fiction and non-fiction writings....
entitled "Similau" that employed techniques of both the works done for Gillespie and DeFranco.
Russell began playing piano, leading a series of groups which included Bill Evans
Bill Evans
William John Evans, known as Bill Evans was an American jazz pianist. His use of impressionist harmony, inventive interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines influenced a generation of pianists including: Chick Corea, Herbie...
, Art Farmer
Art Farmer
Arthur Stewart "Art" Farmer was an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhorn player. He also played flumpet, a trumpet/flugelhorn combination designed for him by David Monette. His identical twin brother, Addison Farmer Arthur Stewart "Art" Farmer (August 21, 1928, Council Bluffs, Iowa –...
, Hal McKusick
Hal McKusick
Hal McKusick is an American-born jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist and flautist, most notable for his work with Boyd Raeburn from 1944 to 1945 and Claude Thornhill from 1948 to 1949.-Biography:...
, Barry Galbraith
Barry Galbraith
Joseph Barry Galbraith was an American jazz guitarist.Galbraith moved to New York City from Vermont early in the 1940s and found work playing with Babe Russin, Art Tatum, Red Norvo, Hal McIntyre, and Teddy Powell...
, Milt Hinton
Milt Hinton
Milton John "Milt" Hinton , "the dean of jazz bass players," was an American jazz double bassist and photographer. He was nicknamed "The Judge".-Biography:...
, Paul Motian
Paul Motian
Stephen Paul Motian was an American jazz drummer, percussionist and composer of Armenian extraction.He first came to prominence in the late 1950s in the piano trio of Bill Evans, and later led several groups...
, and others. Jazz Workshop was his first album as leader, and one where he played relatively little, as opposed to masterminding the events (rather like his colleague Gil Evans). He was to record a number of impressive albums over the next several years, sometimes as primary pianist.
In 1957, Russell was one of six jazz musicians commissioned by Brandeis University
Brandeis University
Brandeis University is an American private research university with a liberal arts focus. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, Massachusetts, nine miles west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students. In 2011, it...
to write a piece for their Festival of the Creative Arts. He wrote a suite for orchestra, All About Rosie, which featured Bill Evans among other soloists, and has been cited as one of the few convincing examples of composed polyphony
Polyphony
In music, polyphony is a texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ....
in jazz.
Members of the orchestra on his 1958 extended work, New York, N.Y.
New York, N.Y. (album)
New York, N.Y. is an album by George Russell originally released on Decca in 1959. The album contains tracks conducted and arranged by Russell performed by Art Farmer, Doc Severinson, Ernie Royal, Bob Brookmeyer, Frank Rehak, Tom Mitchell, Hal McKusick, John Coltrane, Sol Schlinger, Bill Evans,...
, included Bill Evans, John Coltrane
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
, Art Farmer, Milt Hinton
Milt Hinton
Milton John "Milt" Hinton , "the dean of jazz bass players," was an American jazz double bassist and photographer. He was nicknamed "The Judge".-Biography:...
, Bob Brookmeyer
Bob Brookmeyer
Robert Brookmeyer is an American jazz valve trombonist, pianist, arranger, and composer.-Biography:Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Brookmeyer first gained widespread public attention as a member of Gerry Mulligan's quartet from 1954 to 1957. He later worked with Jimmy Giuffre...
, and Max Roach
Max Roach
Maxwell Lemuel "Max" Roach was an American jazz percussionist, drummer, and composer.A pioneer of bebop, Roach went on to work in many other styles of music, and is generally considered alongside the most important drummers in history...
, among others, and featured wrap-around raps by singer/lyricist Jon Hendricks
Jon Hendricks
Jon Hendricks is an American jazz lyricist and singer. He is considered one of the originators of vocalese, which adds lyrics to existing instrumental songs and replaces many instruments with vocalists...
. Jazz in the Space Age
Jazz in the Space Age
Jazz in the Space Age is an album by George Russell originally released on Decca in 1960. The album contains tracks conducted and arranged by Russell performed by Ernie Royal, Bob Brookmeyer, Frank Rehak, Al Kiger, Marky Markowitz, David Baker, Jimmy Buffington, Hal McKusick, Dave Young, Sol...
(1960) was an even more ambitious big band
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
album, featuring the unusual dual piano voicings of Bill Evans and Paul Bley
Paul Bley
Paul Bley, CM is a pianist known for his contributions to the free jazz movement of the 1960s as well as his innovations and influence on trio playing.-Biography:...
. Russell formed his own sextet in which he played piano. Between 1960 and 1963, the Russell Sextet featured musicians like Dave Baker and Steve Swallow
Steve Swallow
Steve Swallow is a jazz double bass and bass guitarist and composer born in Fair Lawn, New Jersey.One of the leading bassists in jazz, Swallow is noted for collaborations with Jimmy Giuffre, Gary Burton and Carla Bley...
and memorable sessions with Eric Dolphy
Eric Dolphy
Eric Allan Dolphy was an American jazz alto saxophonist, flutist, and bass clarinetist. On a few occasions he also played the clarinet and baritone saxophone. Dolphy was one of several multi-instrumentalists to gain prominence in the 1960s...
(on Ezz-thetics
Ezz-thetics
Ezz-thetics is an album by a sextet led by the jazz composer and music theorist George Russell. It features a re-reading of Russell's title composition and a radical reworking of Thelonious Monk's standard "Round Midnight" with an extended solo by Eric Dolphy. The title song, "Ezzthetic", was...
) and singer Sheila Jordan
Sheila Jordan
Sheila Jordan is an American jazz singer and songwriter. Jordan has recorded as a session musician with an array of critically acclaimed artists in addition to a notable solo career....
(their bleak version of "You Are My Sunshine
You Are My Sunshine
"You Are My Sunshine" is a popular song first recorded in 1939. It has been declared one of the state songs of Louisiana as a result of its association with former state governor and country music singer Jimmie Davis. The song is copyright 1940 Peer International Corporation, words and music by...
" on The Outer View
The Outer View
The Outer View is an album by George Russell originally released on Riverside in 1962. The album contains performances by Russell with Garnett Brown, Paul Plummer, Don Ellis, Steve Swallow and Joe Hunt and features the recording debut of vocalist Sheila Jordan on one track...
(1962) is highly regarded).
Sojourn in Europe
In 1964, Russell toured Europe with his sextet and lived in ScandinaviaScandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
for five years. Through the early 1970s, Russell did most of his work in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
and Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. He played there with young musicians who would go on to international fame: guitarist Terje Rypdal
Terje Rypdal
Terje Rypdal is a Norwegian guitarist and composer. Most of his music has been released on albums of the German record label ECM. Rypdal has collaborated both as a guitarist and as a composer with other ECM artists such as Ketil Bjørnstad and David Darling...
, saxophonist Jan Garbarek
Jan Garbarek
Jan Garbarek is a Norwegian tenor and soprano saxophonist, active in the jazz, classical, and world music genres. Garbarek was born in Mysen, Norway, the only child of a former Polish prisoner of war Czesław Garbarek and a Norwegian farmer's daughter...
and drummer Jon Christensen
Jon Christensen
Jon Christensen is a Norwegian jazz percussionist.In the late 1960s he played alongside Jan Garbarek on several recordings by the composer George Russell....
. This Scandinavian period also provided opportunities to write for larger groupings, and Russell's larger-scale compositions of this time pursue his idea of "vertical form", which he described as "layers or strata of divergent modes of rhythmic behaviour". The Electronic Sonata for Souls Loved by Nature, commissioned by Bosse Broberg of Swedish Radio
Sveriges Radio
Sveriges Radio AB – Swedish Radio Ltd – is Sweden's national publicly funded radio broadcaster. The Swedish public-broadcasting system is in many respects modelled after the one used in the United Kingdom, and Sveriges Radio - like Sveriges Television - shares many characteristics with...
to write for the Radio Orchestra, was first recorded in 1968, as an extended work recorded with electronic tape. It continued Russell's continuing exploration of new approaches and new instrumentation.
Russell returned to America in 1969, when Gunther Schuller
Gunther Schuller
Gunther Schuller is an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, and jazz musician.- Biography and works :...
assumed the presidency of the New England Conservatory of Music
New England Conservatory of Music
The New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, is the oldest independent school of music in the United States.The conservatory is home each year to 750 students pursuing undergraduate and graduate studies along with 1400 more in its Preparatory School as well as the School of...
in Boston and appointed Russell to teach the Lydian Concept in the newly created jazz studies department, a position he held for many years.
Later works
In the 1970s Russell was commissioned to write and record 3 major works: Listen to the Silence, a massMass (liturgy)
"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...
for orchestra and chorus for the Norwegian Cultural Fund; Living Time
Living Time
Living Time is an album by the Bill Evans George Russell Orchestra recorded in 1972 and released on the Columbia label, featuring performances by Evans with an orchestra conducted by Russell. The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 2 stars and stated "The music on this set...
, commissioned by Bill Evans
Bill Evans
William John Evans, known as Bill Evans was an American jazz pianist. His use of impressionist harmony, inventive interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines influenced a generation of pianists including: Chick Corea, Herbie...
for Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
; and Vertical Form VI
Vertical Form VI
Vertical Form VI is a live album by George Russell originally recorded in 1977 and released on the Italian Soul Note label in 1981, featuring a performance by Russell with The Swedish Radio Jazz Orchestra...
for the Swedish Radio.
With Living Time (1972), Russell reunited with Bill Evans to offer a suite of compositions which represent the stages of human life. His Live in an American Time Spiral
Live in an American Time Spiral
Live in an American Time Spiral is a live album by George Russell released on the Italian Soul Note label in 1983, featuring performances by Russell with his New York Band recorded in 1982. The Allmusic review awarded the album 3 stars....
featured many young New York players who would go on to greatness, including Tom Harrell
Tom Harrell
Tom Harrell is a renowned American post-bop jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist, composer and arranger.-Biography:Tom Harrell was born in Urbana, Illinois but moved to the San Francisco Bay Area at the age of five. He started playing trumpet at eight and within five years, started playing gigs with...
and Ray Anderson
Ray Anderson (musician)
Ray Anderson is an independent jazz trombone and trumpet player. Anderson is a boisterous trombonist who is masterful at multiphonics. Trained by the Chicago Symphony trombonists, he is regarded as pushing the limits of the instrument. He is a contemporary and colleague of trombonist/composer...
. When he was able to form an orchestra for his 1985 work The African Game
The African Game
The African Game is a live album by George Russell released on the Blue Note label in 1984, featuring performances by Russell with his Living Time Orchestra recorded in 1983 in Boston. The Allmusic review by Richard S...
, he dubbed it the Living Time Orchestra. This 14-member ensemble toured Europe and the U.S., doing frequent weeks at the Village Vanguard
Village Vanguard
The Village Vanguard is a jazz club located at in Greenwich Village, New York City. The club was opened on February 22, 1935, by Max Gordon. At first, it also featured other forms of music such as folk music and beat poetry, but it switched to an all-jazz format in 1957.-History:Over 100 jazz...
, and was praised by New York magazine
New York (magazine)
New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
as "the most exciting orchestra to hit the city in years."
The work The African Game, a 45-minute opus for 25 musicians, was described by Robert Palmer
Robert Palmer (author/producer)
Robert Franklin Palmer Jr. was a 20th century American writer, musicologist, clarinetist, saxophonist, and blues producer...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
as "one of the most important new releases of the past several decades" and earned Russell two Grammy
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
nominations in 1985.
Russell wrote 9 extended pieces after 1984, among them: Timeline for symphonic orchestra, jazz orchestra, chorus, klezmer
Klezmer
Klezmer is a musical tradition of the Ashkenazic Jews of Eastern Europe. Played by professional musicians called klezmorim, the genre originally consisted largely of dance tunes and instrumental display pieces for weddings and other celebrations...
band and soloists, composed for the New England Conservatory's 125th anniversary; a re-orchestration of Living Time for Russell's orchestra and additional musicians, commissioned by the Cité de la Musique in Paris in 1994; and It's About Time, co-commissioned by The Arts Council of England
Arts Council England
Arts Council England was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three separate bodies for England, Scotland and Wales. It is a non-departmental public body of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport...
and the Swedish Concert Bureau in 1995.
Work with music theory
It was a remark made by Miles DavisMiles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
in 1945 when Russell asked him his musical aim that led Russell on a quest which was to become his life's work. Davis answered that his musical aim was "to learn all the changes
Chord progression
A chord progression is a series of musical chords, or chord changes that "aims for a definite goal" of establishing a tonality founded on a key, root or tonic chord. In other words, the succession of root relationships...
." Knowing that Davis already knew how to arpeggiate
Arpeggio
An arpeggio is a musical technique where notes in a chord are played or sung in sequence, one after the other, rather than ringing out simultaneously...
each chord, Russell reasoned that he really meant that he wanted to find a new and broader way to relate to chords.
Russell codified the modal approach to harmony...inspired by a casual remark the eighteen-year-old Miles Davis made to him in 1944: Miles said he wanted to learn all the changes and I reasoned he might try to find the closest scale for every chord...Davis popularised those liberating ideas in recordings like Kind of Blue, undermining the entire harmonic foundation of bop that had inspired him and Russell in the first place.
Miles reportedly summarized the LCC succinctly by saying, "F should be where middle C is on the piano" [white notes: F-F = lydian, rather than major = C-C].
Russell's theory proposes the concept of playing jazz based on scales or a series of scales (modes
Musical mode
In the theory of Western music since the ninth century, mode generally refers to a type of scale. This usage, still the most common in recent years, reflects a tradition dating to the middle ages, itself inspired by the theory of ancient Greek music.The word encompasses several additional...
) rather than chords
Chord (music)
A chord in music is any harmonic set of two–three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together: arpeggios and broken chords may for many practical and theoretical purposes be understood as chords...
or harmonies
Harmony
In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...
. The Lydian Chromatic Concept explored the vertical relationship between chords and scales, and was the first codified original theory to come from jazz. Russell's ideas influenced the development of modal jazz
Modal jazz
Modal jazz is jazz that uses musical modes rather than chord progressions as a harmonic framework. Originating in the late 1950s and 1960s, modal jazz is characterized by Miles Davis's "Milestones" Kind of Blue and John Coltrane's classic quartet from 1960–64. Other important performers include...
, notably in the album Jazz Workshop (1957, with Bill Evans
Bill Evans
William John Evans, known as Bill Evans was an American jazz pianist. His use of impressionist harmony, inventive interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines influenced a generation of pianists including: Chick Corea, Herbie...
and featuring the "Concerto for Billy the Kid") as well as his writings; Evans later introduced the concepts to other members of Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
's working band, which employed them in recordings beginning with the album Kind of Blue
Kind of Blue
Kind of Blue is a studio album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released August 17, 1959, on Columbia Records in the United States. Recording sessions for the album took place at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York City on March 2 and April 22, 1959...
.
His Lydian Concept has been described as making available resources rather than imposing constrictions on the musicians.
The major scale probably emerged as the predominating scale of Western music, because within its seven tones lies the most fundamental harmonic progression of the classical era....thus, the major scale resolves to its tonic major chord. The Lydian scale is the sound of its tonic major chord.
George Russell died of complications from Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
in Boston, Massachusetts on July 27, 2009, according to his publicist.
Awards
He received a MacArthur Foundation "genius" grantMacArthur Fellows Program
The MacArthur Fellows Program or MacArthur Fellowship is an award given by the John D. and Catherine T...
in 1989. In his career, Russell also received the 1990 National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
American Jazz Master Award, two Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
s, and the British Jazz Award, among others. He taught throughout the world, and was a guest conductor for German, Italian, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, and Swedish radio groups.
Discography
- 1956: The Jazz Workshop
- 1959: New York, N.Y.New York, N.Y. (album)New York, N.Y. is an album by George Russell originally released on Decca in 1959. The album contains tracks conducted and arranged by Russell performed by Art Farmer, Doc Severinson, Ernie Royal, Bob Brookmeyer, Frank Rehak, Tom Mitchell, Hal McKusick, John Coltrane, Sol Schlinger, Bill Evans,...
- 1960: Jazz in the Space AgeJazz in the Space AgeJazz in the Space Age is an album by George Russell originally released on Decca in 1960. The album contains tracks conducted and arranged by Russell performed by Ernie Royal, Bob Brookmeyer, Frank Rehak, Al Kiger, Marky Markowitz, David Baker, Jimmy Buffington, Hal McKusick, Dave Young, Sol...
- 1960: George Russell Sextet at the Five SpotGeorge Russell Sextet at the Five SpotGeorge Russell Sextet at the Five Spot is an album by George Russell originally released on Decca in 1960. The album contains performances by Russell with Al Kiger, David Baker, Dave Young, Chuck Israels and Joe Hunt. The Allmusic review by Ken Dryden states that "Although Russell plays more of a...
- 1960: StratusphunkStratusphunkStratusphunk is an album by George Russell originally released on Riverside in 1960. The album contains performances by Russell with Al Kiger, David Baker, Dave Young, Chuck Israels and Joe Hunt...
- 1961: George Russell Sextet in K.C.George Russell Sextet in K.C.George Russell Sextet in K.C. is an album by George Russell recorded in a New York studio and originally released on Decca in 1961. The album contains performances by Russell with Don Ellis, David Baker, Dave Young, Chuck Israels and Joe Hunt...
- 1961: Ezz-theticsEzz-theticsEzz-thetics is an album by a sextet led by the jazz composer and music theorist George Russell. It features a re-reading of Russell's title composition and a radical reworking of Thelonious Monk's standard "Round Midnight" with an extended solo by Eric Dolphy. The title song, "Ezzthetic", was...
- 1962: The Stratus SeekersThe Stratus SeekersThe Stratus Seekers is an album by George Russell originally released on Riverside in 1962. The album contains performances by Russell with John Pierce, David Baker, Paul Plummer, Don Ellis, Steve Swallow and Joe Hunt...
- 1962: The Outer ViewThe Outer ViewThe Outer View is an album by George Russell originally released on Riverside in 1962. The album contains performances by Russell with Garnett Brown, Paul Plummer, Don Ellis, Steve Swallow and Joe Hunt and features the recording debut of vocalist Sheila Jordan on one track...
- 1964: George Russell Sextet Live in Breman and Paris 1964
- 1965: George Russell Sextet at Beethoven HallGeorge Russell Sextet at Beethoven HallGeorge Russell Sextet at Beethoven Hall is a 1965 live album by George Russell originally released in two volumes on the MPS label and featuring a performance by Russell with Don Cherry, Bertil Lövgren, Brian Trentham, Ray Pitts, Cameron Brown, and Albert Heath...
- 1967: The Essence of George RussellThe Essence of George RussellThe Essence of George Russell is an album by George Russell originally released on the Norwegian Sonet label in 1971, and subsequently remastered and released on the Italian Black Saint label in 1983, featuring performances by Russell with Stanton Davis, Jan Garbarek, Terje Rypdal, Arild Andersen,...
- 1968: Othello Ballet Suite/Electronic Organ Sonata No. 1
- 1969: Electronic Sonata for Souls Loved by NatureElectronic Sonata for Souls Loved by NatureElectronic Sonata for Souls Loved by Nature is a work by jazz arranger George Russell originally written in 1968 and first recorded in concert in Norway on April 28, 1969 and released on the Flying Dutchman label...
- 1970: Trip to PrillarguriTrip to PrillarguriTrip to Prillarguri is a live album by George Russell originally recorded in 1970 and subsequently released on the Italian Soul Note label in 1982, featuring a performance by Russell with Stanton Davis, Jan Garbarek, Terje Rypdal, Arild Andersen, and Jon Christensen...
- 1971: Listen to the Silence
- 1972: Living TimeLiving TimeLiving Time is an album by the Bill Evans George Russell Orchestra recorded in 1972 and released on the Columbia label, featuring performances by Evans with an orchestra conducted by Russell. The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 2 stars and stated "The music on this set...
with Bill EvansBill EvansWilliam John Evans, known as Bill Evans was an American jazz pianist. His use of impressionist harmony, inventive interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines influenced a generation of pianists including: Chick Corea, Herbie... - 1976: Vertical Form VIVertical Form VIVertical Form VI is a live album by George Russell originally recorded in 1977 and released on the Italian Soul Note label in 1981, featuring a performance by Russell with The Swedish Radio Jazz Orchestra...
- 1978: New York Big BandNew York Big BandNew York Big Band is a live album by George Russell released on the Italian Soul Note label in 1982, featuring performances by Russell with his New York Big Band recorded in 1978 and one track with The Swedish Radio Jazz Orchestra recorded in 1977 at the same concert that produced Vertical Form VI...
- 1982: Live in an American Time SpiralLive in an American Time SpiralLive in an American Time Spiral is a live album by George Russell released on the Italian Soul Note label in 1983, featuring performances by Russell with his New York Band recorded in 1982. The Allmusic review awarded the album 3 stars....
- 1983: The African GameThe African GameThe African Game is a live album by George Russell released on the Blue Note label in 1984, featuring performances by Russell with his Living Time Orchestra recorded in 1983 in Boston. The Allmusic review by Richard S...
- 1983: So WhatSo What (George Russell album)So What is a live album by George Russell released on the Blue Note label in 1987, featuring performances by Russell with his Living Time Orchestra recorded in 1983 in Boston. The Allmusic review by Richard S...
- 1988: New York
- 1989: The London ConcertThe London Concert (George Russell album)The London Concert is a live album by George Russell released on the French Label Bleu label in 1990, featuring performances by Russell with his Living Time Orchestra recorded at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in 1989...
- 1996: It's About Time
- 2003: The 80th Birthday ConcertThe 80th Birthday ConcertThe 80th Birthday Concert is a live album by George Russell released on the Concept label in 2005, featuring a performance by Russell with his Living Time Orchestra recorded in 2003. The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 3½ stars and states "The 80th Birthday Concert, a two-CD set,...
External links
- Katsui Sudo's George Russell discography
- George Russell
- Lydian Chromatic Concept
- ModalJazz.com
- George Russell music
- Jazz Portraits from the WGBH Archives: George Russell a radio documentary from WGBH Radio Boston
- George Russell - Daily Telegraph obituary