George Russell | Jazz composer, 86

Jazz composer George Russell, 86, a MacArthur fellow whose theories influenced the modal music of Miles Davis and John Coltrane, died Monday in Boston of complications from Alzheimer's disease.

Mr. Russell, who taught at the New England Conservatory, was born in Cincinnati in 1923 and attended Wilberforce University in Ohio. He played drums in Benny Carter's band and later wrote "Cubano Be/Cubano Bop" for Dizzy Gillespie's orchestra. It premiered at Carnegie Hall in 1947 and was the first fusion of Afro-Cuban rhythms with jazz.

Mr. Russell developed the Lydian concept in 1953 (see more at his Web site via http://go.philly.com/russell). It is credited as the first theoretical contribution from jazz.

- AP