jazz chords

[Kenneth Teh]

I know this is an old topic and various folks have
discussed this at length on this list.  Nonetheless,
I'd like to throw in a few more remarks on the
subject.

It's true that the jazz chord names printed by
lilypond are weird from a jazz perspective and it is
also true that there is a mechanism via
chordNameExceptions to tweak the output or one could
always use text markup to do it exactly as one wishes.
 However, some observations:

(1) Text markup for chords don't allow you to
transpose chords.  So, when I am writing out parts,
the chordmode has a clear advantage since you can
transpose the chord names via \tranpose.

(2) \chordmode actually tries to build chords from its
input.  So, when you produce MIDI output, you will
actually hear the chords played.

(3) Chords on jazz charts are really indications.  The
actual voicing of a chord is left to the player.

It seems to me that based on these observations, what
Lilypond needs is a context for creating chord names
that

(1) does not try to actually build chords, ie, the
MIDI output produces nothing.  This way you avoid all
the problems associated with trying to describe a
voicing which a jazz player is free to change anyway.

(2) treats only the chord root (and duration) as
significant, thus allowing one to transpose the chord
names.

(3) leaves the chord alterations as pure text markup. 
Most chord alterations are pitch indepedent anyway. 
That is, you say m7 for a minor 7th chord, 5- to flat
the fifth, and so on.

Comments?