Lydia in Oz
Pierre-Emmanuel Seguin · Jazz Research Journal · 2015
With the recent publication of studies about Miles Davis’s recordings by Richard Williams and Keith Waters, George Russell’s Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization (LCCOTO) has been re-instated as a core influence in the evolution of jazz in the 1960s. Unfortunately, Russell’s achievements are narrowed by the prism of the celebrity of Kind of Blue to a systematization of the relationship between chords and scales. By shifting our attention towards what is probably the earliest example of music influenced by Russell’s Concept outside of the USA, that of Australian pianist Bryce Rohde, I propose a different reading of Russell’s influence, which is less concerned with modes than with providing a coherent field for the blooming of a chromatic approach to improvisation and composition. This article begins with an overview of the reception of Russell’s musical and theoretical work in 1960s Australia, which is followed by a musical analysis of key works by Bryce Rohde, showing the variety of approaches, the structural complexity and chromaticism allowed by the LCCOTO. In a final part we will see that Rohde’s band members continued to pursue Russell’s Concept: one explored foreign scales and Eastern influences while another developed further approaches to structures and harmony. Studying Australian jazz in the 1960s has provided evidence of the extensive influence of Russell and affords a re-evaluation of usual conceptions of the evolution of jazz harmony. This article also opens up general lines of enquiry as to how exactly Russell’s ideas fit into the broader history of jazz innovation.