Talk:George Russell (composer)

Book availability
This article - or maybe one on the book itself linked to it - should point out the odd and sad situation surrounding the "Lydian Concept..." book. Not available in shops or from any retailer - only direct from the site. It costs a fortune ($125.00 & $20 to uk!!) Almost no public libraries buy it and so a seminal work in contemporary music history is inaccesible for most people. Never seen it on Ebay and have neevr seen a 2nd hand copy for less than the RRP. Is there some contract written in blood when you buy a copy? lol Can anyone add info to the article on how this came about? What is going on? And why do I feel like the only one puzzled by this. Seems rather elitist.

Lydian
"The Lydian Chromatic concept was the first theory to explore the vertical relationship between chords and scales,..." This seems silly. It makes it sound like Russell invented harmony and counterpoint singlehandedly. I'm deleting it.--Bcrowell 00:30, 26 Jun 2005 (UTC)

"It is important to note that in spite of its name the Lydian Chromatic Concept is not related to the Lydian mode". not so. the lydian mode is the basis of the concept, since it is the scale that is formed by moving in fifths from the tonic.

Kind of Blue
Good page about George Russell and I won't get into the precise description of his 1953 book as I'm not an academic (and I haven't read the book!). To augment the section on Kind of Blue, I would like to see Bill Evans name mentioned as his modal piano playing became legendary in the years that followed. Incidentally I'm sure that yuo already know that without Bill Evans' interpretation (of Russell's ideas) and co-composition Kind of Blue would never have been such a seminal work. See Ashley Khan's excellent book of the same name published in 2001 (which I have read). --Jppigott 06:17, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

Not the brother of actress Gail Russell
Although Gail Russell did have a brother named George, he is not the famed jazz musician. Gail Russell's parents lived in Chicago, Illinois throughout the early 1920s, where her father was an insurance agent. Her older brother George Jr. was born in February, 1919. The musician George Russell, however, was born in 1923 in Cincinnati, Ohio, the adopted son of a railway worker. This information all comes from the 1920 census and from musician George Russell's personal homepage. Monkeyzpop (talk) 22:44, 5 January 2008 (UTC)


 * Additionally, I have an email today from Russell's wife, stating that he was an only child. Monkeyzpop (talk) 02:05, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Similau
Here goes,

I added to the Russell "early career"

I personally had discussions with Russell in New York at an IAJE conference and a follow up on the phone. He was still lucid at the time and we did talk about Similau (also talked to his wife some). The score did not exist and I had to transcribe it off the record. It is on several re-issues and is a very important piece and does use the techniques in his book...the piece is lesser known but is important, not another one like it from him. The Afro Latin nanigo style is not in another work of his at the time, the mix of pan tonality and the techniques from the lydian chromatic concept are self evident (I made a full analysis of it, as I do "A Bird In Igor's Yard"). I know his music quite well. I am a full time prof of jazz studies at the U of Memphis and a composer and music "theorist" (so to speak). I have recorded both "A Bird..." and "Similau" with my college groups and know the works very well. Both are phenomenal pieces that redirect the way jazz composition is going to be in the future.

Jcooper1 (talk) 03:11, 21 June 2011 (UTC)
 * A very interesting piece that I knew nothing of. It wasn't mentioned in Max Harrison's 1983 article in The Wire which was my guide when I became interested in Russell at that time. I've added a 3rd party reference to the Shaw recording. AllyD (talk) 19:10, 21 June 2011 (UTC)

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