Re: [Harp-L] C7 +4 ????

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

There are at least two ways to look at this chord, and each creates a
different impression on the listener.

Prior to maybe 1955 it was viewed as a 7th chord with a flat 5th: C7b5.
In this incarnation the flattened 5th creates tension and is used to
spice things up - think of those big-band endings of tunes with high
trumpets blazing out the flat fifth in a huge, orgasmic brass chord.

However, during this period and maybe ten years leading to it (all
dates are approximate in the extreme) you can hear it taking on another
 character. More and more it turns up in places like the right hand of
piano players like Bill Evans. Instead of creating tension, it creates
a floating sensation. In this incarnation it's better called a raised
11 (7#11) chord.

if we keep extending members of the chord up through odd numbers we
get:

1 3 5 7 9 11

This could be spelled, for instance, C E G Bb D F#.

We can leave out the 5th and even the 9th. This chord occurs
"naturally",i.e., with altering the underlying scale, in the 4th degree
of the ascending melodic minor scale. For instance, the G melodic minor
ascending is:

G A Bb C D E F#

If use this scale and build an 11th chord on C, we get the dominant
raised 11th chord.

Winslow

--- rmcgraw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

> How do you spell this chord? Just the regular 1-3-5 flat 7 [C-E-G-Bb]
> with
> the sharp 4th added after the 3rd? [C-E-F#-Bb] Or do you omit the
> 3rd? the
> 5th?
> WVa Bob
> 
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