Chord-scale system

[8] Originating with George Russell's Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization (1959),[8] the chord-scale system is now the "most widely used method for teaching jazz improvisation in college".

[2] Aebersold's materials, and their orientation to learning by applying theory over backing tracks, also provided the first known publication of the blues scale in the 1970 revision of Volume 1 [11] There are differences of approach within the system.

[8] Miles Davis's Lydian Chromatic Concept-influenced first modal jazz album Kind of Blue, is often given as an example of chord-scale relationships in practice.

[13] Disadvantages include the exclusion of non-chord tones characteristic of bop and free styles, the "in-between" sounds featured in the blues, and consideration of directionality created between the interaction of a solo and a chord progression: "The disadvantages of this system may become clear when students begin to question why their own playing does not sound like such outstanding linear-oriented players as Charlie Parker, Sonny Stitt or Johnny Griffin (or, for that matter, the freer jazz stylists)":[13] The chord-scale method's 'vertical' approach ... is 'static,' offering little assistance in generating musical direction through the movement of chords.

[14] This appears to have led educators to emphasize a specific repertoire of pieces most appropriate to the chord-scale system, such as John Coltrane's "Giant Steps", while excluding others, such as Coltrane's later styles of composition, and producing generations of "pattern" players among college-educated musicians.