the George Russell Sextet - Ezz-Thetics

Personnel: Don Ellis(trumpet), Dave Baker(trombone), Eric Dolphy(alto saxophone, bass clarinet), George Russell(piano, arrangements), Steve Swallow(bass), Joe Hunt(drums)

There was a new sound that hit the jazz scene in the mid-late 1950's. All of the sudden, players like Bill Evans and Miles Davis stopped improvising over chord progressions and began basing their improvisations on what were known as modes, which were, to put it very simply, different means of arranging notes within a scale to achieve different sounds. Modes had been around for a very long time, even before the development of the major scale to be concise, but had not found their way into jazz until this point in time. This development can be traced to the brilliant mind of one man, George Russell. In 1953, Russell published a pamphlet called The Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organisation, which essentially called for the Lydian mode to replace the Ionian mode(or Major scale) as the primary scale to use in creating chord progressions, and otherwise laid out the frame work for what would become modal improvisation in jazz. Ezz-Thetics is regarded by many as Russell's greatest album. He has assembled a great cast, in particular Alto Saxophonist and Bass Clarinetist Eric Dolphy, who really soars, and is evident throughout nearly every second of the recording. A great listen, and a great lesson.