George Russell - R.I.P.

[JPF]

Composer, theoretician, pianist George Russell passed away this evening, July 27, 2009 at approximately 9:10 pm from complications due to Alzheimer’s. He leaves his wife Alice Russell, his son Jock Millgardh and three grandchildren, Maya, Kalle and Max.

There will be no funeral, but a memorial service will be planned in the future.

[Mike Schwartz]

Bio information:



George Russell was a hugely influential, innovative figure in the
evolution of modern jazz, the music's only major theorist, one of its
most profound composers, and a trail blazer whose ideas have
transformed and inspired some of the greatest musicians of our time.



Russell was born in Cincinnati in 1923, the adopted son of a
registered nurse and a chef on the B&O Railroad. He began playing
drums with the Boy Scout Drum and Bugle Corps and eventually received a
scholarship to Wilberforce University where he joined the Collegians,
whose list of alumni include Coleman Hawkins, Benny Carter, Fletcher
Henderson, Ben Webster, Cootie Williams, Ernie Wilkins and Frank
Foster. But his most valuable musical education came in 1941, when, in
attempting to enlist in the Marines, he was diagnosed with
tuberculosis, spending 6 months in the hospital where he was taught the
fundamentals of harmony from a fellow patient. From the hospital he
sold his first work, "New World," to Benny Carter. He joined Benny
Carter's Band, but was replaced by Max Roach; after Russell heard
Roach, he decided to give up drumming. He moved to New York where he
was part of a group of musicians who gathered in the basement apartment
of Gil Evans. The circle included Miles Davis, Gerry Mulligan, Max
Roach, Johnny Carisi and on occasion, Charlie Parker. He was
commissioned to write a piece for Dizzy Gillespie's orchestra; the
result was the seminal "Cubano Be/Cubano Bop" the first fusion of
Afro-Cuban rhythms with jazz, premiered at Carnegie Hall in 1947 and
featuring Chano Pozo. Two years later his "Bird in Igor's Yard" was
recorded by Buddy DeFranco, a piece notable for its fusion of elements
from Charlie Parker and Stravinsky.



It was a remark made by Miles Davis when George asked him his musical
aim which set Russell on the course which has been his life. Miles said
he "wanted to learn all the changes." Since Miles obviously knew all
the changes, Russell surmised that what he meant was he wanted to learn
a new way to relate to chords. This began a quest for Russell, and
again hospitalized for 16 months, he began to develop his "Lydian
Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization." First published in 1953, the
Lydian Concept is credited with opening the way into modal music, as
demonstrated by Miles in his seminal "Kind of Blue" recording. Using
the Lydian Scale as the PRIMARY SCALE of Western music, the Lydian
Chromatic Concept introduced the idea of chord/scale unity. It was the
first theory to explore the vertical relationship between chords and
scales, and was the only original theory to come from jazz. Throughout
the 1950's and 60's, Russell continued to work on developing the
Concept and leading bands under his direction. In the mid-fifties, a
superb sextet, including Bill Evans and Art Farmer recorded under his
direction, producing "The Jazz Workshop," an album of astonishing
originality; the often dense textures and rhythms anticipated the
jazz-rock movement of the 1970's.
During this time, he was also working odd jobs as a counterman in a
lunch spot and selling toys at Macy's at Christmas; the release of “The
Jazz Workshop” put an end to Russell’s jobs outside of music. He was
one of a group to be commissioned to write for the first annual
Brandeis Jazz Festival in 1957--"All About Rosie" was based on an
Alabama children's song. "New York, New York," with poetry by Jon
Hendricks and featuring Bill Evans, Max Roach, John Coltrane, Milt
Hinton, Bob Brookmeyer, Art Farmer and a Who's Who of the New York jazz
scene is striking in it evocation of the New York of the late fifties.
>From 1960, Russell began leading his own sextets around the New York
area and at festivals; he also toured throughout the Midwest and Europe
with his sextet. One of the important albums of this time was
"Ezz-Thetic," which featured Eric Dolphy, Don Ellis and Steve Swallow.



Disillusioned by his lack of recognition and the meager work
opportunities in America, he arrived in a wheel chair in Scandinavia in
1964, but returned five years later in spiritual health. In Sweden and
Norway he found support for both himself and his music. All his works
were recorded by radio and TV, and he was championed by Bosse Broberg,
the adventurous Director of Swedish Radio, an organization with which
Russell maintains a close association and admiration. While there, he
heard and recorded a young Jan Garbarek, Terje Rypdal, and Jon
Christensen.



In 1969, he returned to the States at the request of his old friend,
Gunther Schuller to teach at the newly created Jazz Department at the
New England Conservatory where Schuller was President. He continued to
develop the Lydian Concept and toured with his own groups. He played
Carnegie Hall, the Village Vanguard, the Bottom Line, Newport,
Wolftrap, The Smithsonian, Sweet Basil, the West Coast, the Southwest,
and Europe with his 14 member orchestra. He continued to compose
extended works which defined jazz composition. His 1985 recording, "The
African Game,"one of the first in the revived Blue Note label, received
2 Grammy nominations. Russell has taught throughout the world, and has
been guest conductor for Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, Danish, German
and Italian radio.



In 1986, he was invited by the Contemporary Music Network of the
British Council to tour with an orchestra of American and British
musicians, which resulted in The International Living Time Orchestra,
which has been touring and performing since that time. Among the
soloists of stature are Stanton Davis, Dave Bargeron, Brad Hatfield,
Steve Lodder, Tiger Okoshi, and Andy Sheppard. The musicians have
developed a rare understanding of the music, astonishing audiences with
fiery music both complex and challenging, but added to the dynamism and
electric power of funk and rock. Russell himself is a tremendously
visual leader, dancing and forming architectural structures with his
hands.



The Living Time Orchestra has toured all over the world. Most recent
projects included a performance at the Barbican Centre in London and
the Cite de la Musique in Paris, augmented with string players from the
U.K. and France, the Theatre Champs-Elyse¥es for the Festival D'automne
in Paris, the Glasgow International Festival, Queen Elizabeth Hall,
Tokyo Music Joy, the Library of Congress, Festivals of Umbria, Verona,
Lisbon, Milano, Pori, Bath, Huddersfield, Ravenna, Catania, North Sea,
and many more.



Russell has received the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, the National
Endowment for the Arts American Jazz Master, been elected a Foreign
Member of the Royal Swedish Academy, two Guggenheim Fellowships, the
Oscar du Disque de Jazz, the Guardian Award, six NEA Music Fellowships,
the American Music Award, and numerous others.

[Ron Thorne]

July 28, 2009

Jazz Composer George Russell Dies at 86

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 1:57 a.m. ET

BOSTON (AP) -- Jazz composer George Russell, a MacArthur fellow whose theories influenced the modal music of Miles Davis and John Coltrane, has died.

His publicist says Russell, who taught at the New England Conservatory, died Monday at age 86 of complications from Alzheimer's.

Russell was born in Cincinnati in 1923 and attended Wilberforce University.

He played drums in Benny Parker's band and later wrote ''Cubano Be/Cubano Bop'' for Dizzy Gillespie's orchestra. It premiered at Carnegie Hall in 1947 and was the first fusion of Afro-Cuban rhythms with jazz.

Russell developed the Lydian concept in 1953. It's credited as the first theoretical contribution from jazz.

Russell is survived by his wife, his son and three grandchildren. A release says a memorial service will be planned.

_________________________________

George Russell's website

Stratusphunk on YouTube

[CraigP]

Sad to hear of his passing-he was a giant of jazz, although not well known to some. His "Live at Beethoven Hall" is one of my all-time favorites.

[Jesse]

RIP
I saw him here more than 20 years ago, touring the African Game composition, with the stand out soloist George Garzone.

[Uli]

RIP, Sir!

[walto]

Great composer.

[Brian Olewnick]

Ah, crap. One of my first jazz albums was the one that came out under Bill Evans' name, "Living Time" but was really a Russell record. Shortly found Electronic Sonata, the great Live at Beethoven Hall sets, etc. A couple of weeks ago, I was in the car, turned on KCR--always loved how you could recognize a Russell piece in a flash, even if you'd never heard it before.

Thanks for all the beautiful music, Mr. Russell.

[bigtiny]

I was a great fan of 'Electronic Sonata For Souls Loved By Nature'....

Russell used to live in my neighborhood. I would see him and his wife around at restaurants, on the street, etc. I never approached him because I'd never been introduced to him and didn't want to impose on him.

One New Year's eve in the late '80s (can't remember exactly which year) I was in my local Video store which is a basement. As I came up to street level, there, unchaining his bicycle in the snow, stood Russell, who had apparently just visited the same store.

I decided to abandon my usual 'non imposition' policy and approached him, complemented him on his work, and handed him my card, instructing him to call me if he ever needed a trumpet player. And no, I didn't really expect the phone to ring, but at least I tried! =:-)

bigtiny

[me wag]

2 of my favorite albums, ever. A great architect of jazz/music.

[Gentle Giant]

Big fan of that Living Time album, as I've posted here a number of times over the years. You talk about jazz guy having chops, hands, whatever. Russell was the brain, the great mind of jazz. Not just because of his concepts and theories, but because of his broad applications of those ideas, the value of which generations of jazzers have proven. He lifted up an old train and put it on a new track. Only a giant can do that.

RIP, GR.

[stevebop]

A decade ago George was presented a "Jazz Achievement Award" by
The New England Foundation for The Arts. As a part of that award,
I got to co-produce a half hour radio documentary about him.
It's all George, talking about his life and career in music and samples
of the music he is talking about.
A fascinating first person account of a brilliant career.
The program is available on the WGBH website. Simply go to:

www.wgbh.org/jazz

Look for the photo of Yusef Lateef (another recipient of that same Award).
Scroll down until you see George's picture.

Enjoy listening.

Thank you George!

[Steve Reynolds]

"Lydiot" form the Ezz-thetics album (pictured above) remains just about my favorite track in the hsitory of this music.


priceless piano solo by someone who really isn't a player - but it is almost Monkian in it's greatness

The other hornmen (besides Dolphy) play beyond themselves

Dolphy always played beyond almost anything or anyone - although who know why he played that solo on Round Midnight on a George Russell album

That whole recording still brings tears of joy every time I listen to it.


and of course - the opening vamp of Electronic Sonata is beyond brilliant - as is the whol thing



RIP, Mr. Russell

[Gentle Giant]

Originally Posted by stevebop

A decade ago George was presented a "Jazz Achievement Award" by
The New England Foundation for The Arts. As a part of that award,
I got to co-produce a half hour radio documentary about him.
It's all George, talking about his life and career in music and samples
of the music he is talking about.
A fascinating first person account of a brilliant career.
The program is available on the WGBH website. Simply go to:

www.wgbh.org/jazz

Look for the photo of Yusef Lateef (another recipient of that same Award).
Scroll down until you see George's picture.

Enjoy listening.

Thank you George!

Thanks, Steve. Love your docs.

[Dennis Gonzalez]

I didn't understand what was different in a lot of European jazz from American jazz that attracted my attention, until I read that many of those European (especially Norwegian) musicians had studied with George Russell, and had absorbed his Lydian Concept.

Much of my approach to listening and playing is based on his work.

The Heavenly Choir is all of a sudden sounding really different!

[clinthopson]

A half-century later, Russell's music still sounds fresh.

[Brian L]

Originally Posted by bigtiny

I was a great fan of 'Electronic Sonata For Souls Loved By Nature'....

For those who would like to hear "Electronic Sonata," it is available for download at Amazon for $1.78.

[Bill Barton]

Oh, man, sad, sad news.

Mr. Russell was such a brilliant musician, writer, theorist, teacher and mentor that the mind boggles when attempting to assess his influence. A true Master, an Elder...

R.I.P., George Russell.

[Chris D]

His compositions always turn the head.

[Rob Damen]

Really loved his early small group discs.

This is really sad to read.

[Ron Thorne]

From 1958 ...

The Future of Jazz: Billy Taylor/George Russell/Bill Evans

[Gentle Giant]

This is a nice piece from the Globe with a local angle and good quotes not found in other obits I've seen.

George Russell, 86; composer, theoretician led giants of jazz to fertile new lands
By Bryan Marquard and Michael Bailey, Globe Staff | July 29, 2009

Speaking of his jazz composition “New York, New York Suite,’’ George Russell stepped off the stage, metaphorically speaking, and plopped down into one of the paying seats.

Even when he led an ensemble of 20 musicians, he told the Globe in 1975, it was “as if I were sitting out in the audience listening, and I don’t want to listen to anything that bores me.’’

Boredom was possibly the furthest thing from the minds of those around him during Mr. Russell’s decades-long career as a performer, composer, teacher, and writer. One of his 1947 compositions helped launch the fusion of Latin rhythms and jazz, and his theoretical musings helped musicians such as trumpeter Miles Davis to stretch the boundaries of improvisation.

A distinguished artist-in-residence emeritus at New England Conservatory, where he came to teach 40 years ago, Mr. Russell had lived in Cambridge and for many years in Jamaica Plain. He died of complications of Alzheimer’s disease Monday at Sherrill House skilled nursing center, a short walk from his residence. Mr. Russell was 86.

Unlike most towering figures in jazz, Mr. Russell had a reputation that rested on compositions and intellect, rather than performing. He was a drummer early in his career, then a pianist, but he believed his greatest contribution was his 1953 book, formidably titled: “Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization.’’

“The thing I don’t like about being a composer is that if you ask yourself why you are a composer, basically it has to get down to your ego,’’ he told the Boston Phoenix in 1999. “That’s why I’m glad I have something that I feel, in a way, is more important than composing.’’

Conceived while Mr. Russell was recuperating from a bout with tuberculosis, the book he referred to simply as “the Concept’’ threw open doors for jazz soloists who felt boxed in by improvising in a single key as chord progressions formed a foundation below.

Abandoning Western music’s traditional use of major and minor keys, he argued for developing jazz around modes, or scales, that offered soloists more freedom to explore the melody of a piece. (Lydian refers to the ancient kingdom of Lydia in Anatolia and was derived from ancient Greek modals).

For Mr. Russell, it was more than just an intellectual and artistic exercise.

“In George’s mind, the ‘Lydian Chromatic Concept’ was not so much a theoretical system as it was an approach to life,’’ Hankus Netsky, who chairs the contemporary improvisation department at New England Conservatory, wrote in an e-mail. “It wasn’t in any way a jazz thing, but a way to appreciate the laws of tension and release, a way of understanding Bach, Ravel, and Stravinsky - and seeing Coltrane, Monk, and Miles Davis as musicians who were part of the same continuum.’’

A conversation with Davis, when the two were part of New York City’s jazz scene in the 1940s, planted the seed that would become “the Concept.’’

“Miles and I used to play together in this one-room apartment he had, a place uptown with a piano,’’ Mr. Russell told the Phoenix. “I asked him one time what his aim was in this music, and he said he wanted to learn all the changes. I thought: ‘He doesn’t realize it, but he already knows all the changes. He must mean that he wants to find a new way to relate to the chords.’ Later, when I showed him the work I’d done on modes, the lights went on inside. He took it and wrote ‘Milestones,’ his first modal piece.’’

On his album “Kind of Blue,’’ Davis kept exploring Mr. Russell’s theories, as did saxophonist John Coltrane in such albums as “A Love Supreme.’’

Modal jazz, Davis told jazz writer Nat Hentoff, “gives you a lot more freedom and space to hear things. When you go this way, you can go on forever. You don’t have to worry about changes and you can do more with the [melody] line. It becomes a challenge to see how melodically innovative you can be.’’

A decade ago, Globe critic Bob Blumenthal called Mr. Russell’s book “the most influential theoretical statement to emerge from the jazz world.’’

Yet, Mr. Russell believed he was merely the conduit for a theory that was floating out there, waiting to be grasped.

“The ‘Lydian Concept’ guided his life and the way he lived,’’ said Mr. Russell’s wife, Alice, “and he felt that it came from somewhere else, that he was just the messenger.’’

In his childhood days in Cincinnati, Mr. Russell first drew inspiration from the African-American music that floated out church windows each Sunday.

“I used to go and lie outside the sanctified church services and feel that little frame house where they were held just shake with the rhythm,’’ he told The New York Times in 1984.

He sang in the choir of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and dreamed of becoming a jazz drummer. After attending Wilberforce University in Ohio, he left in 1943 to play with jazz great Benny Carter, who eventually replaced Mr. Russell with the great drummer Max Roach.

That, in turn, “gave me a kick in the pants to do what I had been thinking about, which was writing music,’’ Mr. Russell told the Globe in 1999.

In New York City during the 1940s, he listened nightly to saxophonist Charlie Parker, the bebop pioneer. Mr. Russell also met trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and a group of Cuban musicians whose work led him to compose “Cubano Be/Cubano Bop,’’ which premiered at Carnegie Hall in 1947.

While Davis may have put Mr. Russell’s modal jazz on the musical map, the use of modals subsequently was expanded by musicians such as pianist Herbie Hancock and can be heard in settings as diverse as the theme to “The Simpsons’’ television show, songs by U2, and extended solos by Frank Zappa.

Mr. Russell took his own work into other musical arenas, such as electronica and ethnic traditions. After abandoning drumming, he learned to play the piano and led a series of groups in the 1950s whose musicians included Coltrane, trumpeter Art Farmer, and drummer Paul Motian. Several albums, including “Ezz-thetics,’’ “Stratusphunk,’’ and “Jazz in the Space Age’’ were influential in the early 1960s.

His music was often more appreciated far from home, however, and he moved to Scandinavia in the mid-1960s, only to return in 1969 at the invitation of his old friend Gunther Schuller, then president of New England Conservatory, who wanted Mr. Russell to teach in the newly formed jazz department.

Over the years, he was awarded a MacArthur Foundation “genius’’ grant in 1989 and two Guggenheim fellowships, along with nearly every other jazz award. For years, he performed many of his pieces around the world with his Living Time Orchestra.

In the classroom and in his own compositions, meanwhile, he kept true to his adage never to be boring.

“What was really great about him was that as he got older, and the students were always young, he took back from them,’’ said Netsky, who was a student of Mr. Russell’s.

“His music was never stuck. Just like Miles Davis, he continued to update himself as times changed, so the students never felt like they were working with an old guy. When music got funky, he got funky. When music got electric, he got electric. He never closed himself down to the newest innovations.’’

In addition to his wife, Mr. Russell leaves a son, Jock Millgardh of Stockholm and Los Angeles, and three grandchildren.

A service will be announced.

[hornplayer]

Thanks for posting that article, Jason. It seems to be the most "complete."

I had the pleasure of meeting and working with him in the 70's when I was band director at Boston Tech High School. He took several of my students under his wing and literally GAVE them private lessons in modality. All of them are still playing today.

A great musician and a lovely person.

[walto]

I'm on the road in NY, Joisey, Philly, and I've really enjoyed KCR's memorial. Russell was/is dynamite.

[Mike Schwartz]

Originally Posted by walto

I'm on the road in NY, Joisey, Philly, and I've really enjoyed KCR's memorial. Russell was/is dynamite.

Forgot to fire it up on my computer at the offcie did catch the final hour.....

[clarke68]

Josh Roseman posted this on Facebook yesterday:

Thank You George Russell

My dad brought me to the world premiere of African Game as a kid, and that kicked off a period of years studying George Russell's output. As a young teenager and jazz geek, I was aware of his role- music scientist to the bebop generation, disciple of pythagoras, etc.

I was maybe 13. Stood in his shadow on a freezing boston afternoon, a pierced kid with trombone in bag, had everything and nothing to say to him. Managed to look up at him and stammer out "George Russell" only. I remember he sized me up (couldn't have taken long) and replied "Oh, yeah? Good." My first conversation with George.

His music was exquisitely layered, funky as hell, thought provoking and rude when necessary. His system used the rules of gravity, balance and nature.. his presentation was rich with drama and the kind of fertile conflict we find in everyday waking life.

For me, his theory was a potent dose of super-grounded musical thinking- I was (and still am) kind of a quantum-mythology player but he loved Ornette and demonstrated it'd be possible to bridge the hemispheres.

His band was huge. Probably the first large improvising meta-ensemble I ever saw. It was a training ground and a showcase for authentic heavyweights in the area-The Living Time Orchestra included players like George Garzone, Gary Valente, Gary Joynes, Steve Johns when I was growing up.

Later, I studied under him at the Conservatory, and his charts thoroughly burned my ass. He helped me to get my game face on. Which was a big deal. (I would later airbrush it with pastels and so on, but that's another story. ) He gave us all a bit of a solid roughing up- not sure how you thank someone for that, but in retrospect, I would have liked to.

To me, his earlier large works were Great, they impressed me as complete, nuanced statements about the state of the music at the time they were written. We played them frontwards and backwards. His later big pieces were challenging, vast, introspective, multifaceted, beyond reckoning. They were acoustically hard-core. I always thought George deserved a new system of physics, or a large anechoic chamber where his overtones could collide reliably- there was just so much depth and intensity to his work.

He had a large and very specific kind of presence, especially in an area like Back Bay Boston. Looking back, I feel glad to have had him lay some oldschool salty instruction on me.

Looking back, it strikes me how hard it is to absorb the meaning amidst all the noise. The sound, the math, the message seeps out and does its work in secret where we're changed before we even know. I'll have to do more listening. And study.

[CraigP]

Originally Posted by clarke68

Josh Roseman posted this on Facebook yesterday:

I'm not even a musician and I want to understand the Lydian system...

[Alino]

Originally Posted by Dennis Gonzalez

The Heavenly Choir is all of a sudden sounding really different!

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Touching epitaph Dennis.
Thank you, thank you for all the great music mr.Russell

[LutherBlissett]

Originally Posted by JPF

Composer, theoretician, pianist George Russell passed away this evening, July 27, 2009 at approximately 9:10 pm from complications due to Alzheimer’s. He leaves his wife Alice Russell, his son Jock Millgardh and three grandchildren, Maya, Kalle and Max.

There will be no funeral, but a memorial service will be planned in the future.

RIP George Russell

One of the unique architects in modern and contemporary music over the last 40 years , a great contribution as a master composer/arranger/theorist will live on. I was lucky enough to see the man conduct Living Time Orchestra in 90's had alot of fun with his music too. Thank you.