Minor Fourths

[ENGROSEN at ACS.EKU.EDU]

Hi Brian:

This would giving Pynchon the benefit of the doubt, but there is a way 
to think about minor fourths in music notation, particularly in jazz, 
given the reference to "horns."

Someone I studied with at New England Conservatory in the mid-seventies,
a theorist by the name of George Russell, was a major player in jazz 
theory, whose detailed examination of chord 
scale relationships, *The Lydian Chromatic Concept*, became the 
improvisors' and composers' Bible by the early sixties I believe.

In this transvaluation of chord-scale relationshipes, Russell dumps the 
traditional distinction of the major (ionian) and minor (aeolian) scales 
as the basis for jazz harmony, and makes the lydian scale, with a 
naturally occurring raised fourth degree, as the primary scale (from 
each note of which gets generated possible harmonies).  The reason for 
this was to justify theoretically the prevalence of major 7th and dominant 
7th chords with a #11 (raised fourth beyond the first octave of the 
chord's root) in jazz.

>From the perspective of Russell's theory, then, the "minor" fourth is 
simply the alteration of the #11 to a "straight" 11, often used musically 
in sus-4 chord constructions, where the "minor" fourth degree is 
substituted for the traditionally harmonically rich major or minor 3rd, 
to produce open, empty sounding chords: these are one of a whole stable 
of harmonic resources used to imply polytonal forms, also called chords 
produced through voicings in "fourths" not thirds.  McCoy Tyner is noted 
for these voicings on many middle Coltrane sessions.

Though for my money, the typo should be fixed from minor fourth and 
sixth to minor sixth and ("perfect" in white music) fourth.  I doubt he 
knew enough about jazz (though clearly a fan) to get this subtlety.

Yet, if he did know about jazz, without a doubt he would know about 
George Russell's work.  Anyone who is a serious player either uses 
Russell's theory or learned it second hand without knowing the source.

mer