Re: Multiple tensions in Chord Mode

[Louis Guillaume]

On 6/1/12 6:16 PM, Jeff Barnes wrote:

> To me, there is no such thing as a flat 6. It's flat 13, and almost
> always that means -alt. The definition of -alt to me is altered 9th
> and flat 13. Although... I usually omit the 11th in an alt chord.
> Hmmm I may need to re-think.

As I learned it, an "altered dominant" means a specific thing, that is: 
a dominant chord with a flat 5, and you can use the b9, #9 and b13. And 
yes, you leave out the 4th. And it's *always* worthy of re-thought.

So you get a "chord-scale" that is C Db D# E Gb Ab Bb. It's the same 
pitch-set as "the altered scale", "super locrian", "a mode of melodic 
minor starting on the 7th scale degree" and I've even heard 
"Ionian-sharp-one" (!) and probably many others.

It's the context and interpretation that matters. Those altered 
dominants end up sounding like diminished 7th chords a lot of the time 
to me. In fact, I commonly play 7b9 chords as diminished 7ths (leaving 
out the root).

And so many of these things sound (to me) like it's simply an approach 
to a minor tonic (whether it resolves or not). Like a G7b5 -> C7b9 
sounds like it's going to resolve to F-. Regardless of what tensions you 
want to put on there, the flavor is that of F melodic minor. The E and 
Db will provide strong gravity towards the F- chord. Given the context, 
one may be more strongly inclined to stay in that flavor or not.

So the composer/arranger can use the tensions in the chord symbol to 
guide the player to what they were thinking by specifying the important 
tensions on the chord. But deriving some tensions from the others isn't 
always a reliable thing, and that, IMO, makes it such that a dominant 
with b9 and #9 doesn't imply an altered chord.

Louis