©Adam

Stokes 2018

Eric Dolphy, The Diminished Scale and The Emancipation of Dissonance

Abstract

The following article is an adapted excerpt from a larger work about the influence of

Arnold Schoenberg and The Second Viennese School on the 1960s avant-garde Jazz Multi-

instrumentalist Eric Dolphy. Transcriptions of Dolphy’s solos were made from his seminal

‘Out to Lunch’ album and copies of Dolphy’s personal manuscript books were obtained from

the Library of Congress in Washington, DC; these materials were studied and compared with

the works and teachings of Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern and Alban Berg. This excerpt

discusses Dolphy’s use of the diminished (octatonic) scale and other eight note structures.

Pitch class sets have been used to analyse the harmonic material alongside language more

typically used in the analysis of Jazz and other tonal music.

 ©Adam Stokes 2018

Schoenberg and Bird

The use of diminished materials in Jazz is not a recent development, Charlie Parker,

Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie and other bebop pioneers made great use of Octatonic

materials in the 40s and 50s and the diminished Octatonic scale has since become a staple

of the Jazz vocabulary. (Owens, 1995) Rooted in bebop, Dolphy was surely influenced by

these applications of the Octatonic scale but he drew on many other influences even going

as far as to synthesize new Octatonic scales as later examples will show.

Fig.1a, ‘Something Sweet, Something Tender’ Improvisation m1

Dolphy begins his improvisation with a descending figure starting with pitch class (0, 2, 3, 5)

or the minor tetrachord on an E, followed by a diminished pattern in pitch class set (0, 1, 3,

4, 6) followed by pitch class (0, 2, 5, 8) expressed as F7 chord first inversion (a tritone

substation of B7), whilst this fits into the Jazz idiom and could be interpreted as bebop

language it is worth noting the second group of quintuplets.

Fig.1b- Schoenberg Op.16b arranged for two pianos, Piano one right hand m 66

 ©Adam Stokes 2018

The above octatonic figure shown as G, Bb, Gb, F, E from Schoenberg’s Op.16b appears in

Dolphy’s solo transposed to D#, F, D, C, B. Dolphy’s use of Schoenberg’s melody interlinked

with common Jazz language such as the tritone substitution in beat three is a prime

example of his fusion of bebop and twentieth century classical materials, echoing Charlie

Parker’s quoting classical melodies in his works. (See Charlie Parker quoting Stravinsky in his

solo on Repetition)

Further to direct quotes from Twentieth Century Classical works, Dolphy exhibits a deeper

understanding of compositional methods developed by The Second Viennese school,

applying these methods in his improvisations as demonstrated in the following section.

Combination of Octatonic Sets

Octatonic sets1 feature heavily in Anton Webern’s earlier works (Forte, 1959) as

demonstrated in his Op.4, (Fig.2a). Here however, Webern does not solely use one octatonic

set, instead combining multiple transpositions, this provides a more atonal aesthetic rather

than favoring a single key center.

1
The octatonic scale has only three transpositions, T0, T1 and T2. Respectively Set I (C, D,
Eb, F, Gb, Ab, A, B), Set II (C#, D#, E, F#, G, A, Bb, C) and Set III (D, E, F, G, Ab, Bb, B, C#)
 ©Adam Stokes 2018

Fig.2a- Webern Op.4 Movement I, mm4-5

The phrase beginning on G through to Db spells (0, 1, 3, 4, 6) the first five sonorities of the

octatonic set III before modulating to a different octatonic set from C (0, 2, 3, 5, 8) formed

of set I. Dolphy exhibits a similar aesthetic in ‘Something Sweet, Something Tender’ (fig.2b)

where he utilizes all three octatonic sets in the space of two measures.

Fig.2b- Eric Dolphy improvisation on ‘Something Sweet, Something Tender’ mm25-26

Fig.2b demonstrates an important aspect of Dolphy’s use of the octatonic scale/sets, here

he uses all three octatonic sets over the F7 chord where traditional Jazz practitioners would

typically use only one;2 making this use of the octatonic sets more analogous to Webern and

Berg than to Parker and Monk.

2
In the instance of a dominant seventh chord chord typically only set I (Levine, 1995, p.81)
 ©Adam Stokes 2018

Synthetic Scale Formations

A notable aspect of Dolphy’s work is his use of synthetic scales formations3, the creation of

new scales from smaller materials such as tricords, tetrachords and hexachords (3, 4 and 6

note groups.)

The octatonic (diminished) scale is created from a combination of two diminished seventh

chords (0, 3, 6, 9) a tone apart (see Fig.3a) or two instances of tetrachord (0, 2, 3, 5) or (0, 1,

3, 4). In his personal manuscripts4 Dolphy uses this formula and alters it by combining one

instance of a diminished seventh chord with a dissimilar tetrachord to form new eight note

scales.

Fig.3a- The construction of the octatonic scale from two diminished seventh chords

Fig.3b- Dolphy octatonic formation #1

3
Evidence of this can be found in his music, manuscripts and Yusef Lateef’s Repository of
Scales and Melodic Patterns (1981)
4
Manuscripts obtained from the Library of Congress
 ©Adam Stokes 2018

Fig.3b shows a synthetic scale built from G diminished seventh and F minor seventh forming

tetrachords (0, 2, 3, 5) and (0, 1, 3, 4), effective the minor tetrachord and the diminished

tetrachord. In the Jazz idiom this could be seen as a natural minor scale with an added

natural seventh or the ‘bebop natural minor’ (Levine, 2006, p.49)

Fig.3c- Dolphy Octatonic formation #2

Fig.3c shows the combination of G diminished seventh and Ab dominant seventh spelling a

scale formed of tetrachords (0,1,3,5) and (0,2,3,5), the phyrgian tetrachord and the minor

tetrachord.

Fig.3d- Dolphy Octatonic formation #3

Fig.3d shows an interesting development of the two diminished chord formula as two

dissimilar chords, a quartal voicing of B minor eleventh chord and an A major ninth chord.

This spells out a longer scale beginning with (0, 2, 4, 6) or the whole-tone tetrachord,

followed by the all-combinatorial hexachord (0, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9), a hexachord (0, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9)

particular importance to Alban Berg featuring in Lulu (Berg, 1937) and Lyric Suite (Berg,

1928). (Pearsall, p.194)

 ©Adam Stokes 2018

This combination of two unrelated materials to form new structures can be seen in Dennis

Sandole’s Polytonal Scales (McGill, 2014) and Vincent Persichetti’s multi-octave synthetic

scales (Persichetti, 1961) and could be seen as another expression of the techniques used

for ‘Eric Dolphy’s Synthetic formations’ from Yusef Lateef’s ‘Repository of Scales and

Melodic Patterns’ (1981) where Dolphy combines tetrachords and trichords to form new

multi-octave scales.

Conclusion

Dolphy’s treatment of Octatonic materials is just one of many examples of his fusion of Jazz

and 20th century classical techniques. Dolphy’s extensive studies and experimentation with

these techniques set him apart from many other Free Jazz and Avant-Garde musicians of the

1960s; whilst others were looking to abandon the established rules, Dolphy was developing

intricately sophisticated new harmonic and melodic systems. The music of Eric Dolphy, in the

words of Arnold Schoenberg, ‘treats dissonances like consonances and renounces a tonal

center’ providing Jazz’s answer to ‘The emancipation of dissonance.’ (Schoenberg, Style and

Idea, 1975)

 ©Adam Stokes 2018

Referenced Works

Berg, Alban. (1922) Lulu. Vienna: Universal Edition.

Dolphy, Eric. (1964) Out to Lunch. New York: Blue Note Records.

Forte, A. (1959) The golden thread: octatonic music in Anton Webern’s early songs, with certain

historical reflections from Webern Studies, Bailey, K. (1996). pp.74-110 Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.

Lateef, Y. (1981) Repository of Scales and Melodic Patterns. Amherst: Fana Publishing.

Levine, M. (2006) The Drop 2 Book. California: Sher Music Co.

Levine, M. (1995) The Jazz Theory Book. California: Sher Music Co.

McGill, T, S. (2014) ‘Dennis Sandole’s Unique Jazz Pedagogy’. Academia.edu. Available at:

https://www.academia.edu/5602404/Dennis_Sandoles_Unique_Jazz_Pedagogy_January_2014_

(Accessed: 23/07/17)

Perle, George (2001) Style and Idea in the Lyric Suite of Alban Berg. New York: Pendragon Press.

Owens, T. (1995) Bebop, The Music and Its Players. New York: Oxford Press.

Parker, Charlie. (1988) Bird: The Complete Charlie Parker On Verve. US: Verve Records.

Pearsall, E. (2012) Twentieth-century Music Theory and Practice. Abingdon: Routledge.

Persichetti, V. (1961) Twentieth-Century Harmony Creative Aspects and Practice. New York: W. W.

Norton & Company, Inc.

Schoenberg, Arnold (1913) 5 Pieces for Orchestra, Op.16. Anton Webern Arrangement for two Pianos.

Vienna: C, F. Peters.

Schoenberg, A and Stein, L (1975) Style and Idea. California: University of California Press.

Webern, Anton. (1923) 5 Lieder nach Gedichten von Stefan George, Op.4. Vienna: Universal Edition.