Ray

Thanks for that. Good introduction to the topic for anyone new to the subject.

Z

Yes it seems to vindicate (or validate) the Lydian thesis at a very fundamental level. If as the overtone series suggests, its true to say that every note suggests a dom7 chord, then every note has an implied Lydian Major tonic on the b7. This must be what Ornette is all about. Every note is potentially at least an implicit key centre. This would explain why Ornette's improvised melodies always modulate spontaneously, nearly always use third based major and blues scales, sometimes changing more frequently than others and therefore more obviously 'chromatic' sounding as a result. It was always mostly tonal, however free that tonality actually was. the difference lay in the melody always determining the harmony rather than vice versa.

His 'Harmolodic' theory was harder to pin down but it certainly involved treating the normal instrument clef transpositions as if they didn't exist. On his 'Skies of America' he had all the instruments in the orchestra reading from the C clef creating a clash of Bb C Eb Ab and whatever else there was!!

Alan