Two issues:
- Same as notation philosophy we often talk about: Try to be impossible
to be misunderstood
- But the context matters

What is jazz chord symbols for?
- For someone to improvise on, and
- For someone to voice with tensions of his/her choice

A jazz chord cannot be thought without its derived scale/mode.

Someone voices 9th on Locrian chord, i.e., B-9(b5).  Well, there cannot
be such chord.  If there is, what mode would you play?  Is 13th lowered
or not?  You won't know if you don't know the scale it's derived from.

But if you spelled it as G7(#11)/B, which produces the exact same
voicing, immediately you know the chord is built on G Mixo #11 (or
Berklee calls Lydian b7th) scale, and all the available tensions jumps
into your head.

On the other hand, BbMaj7/C might not be C7(sus) depending on the
context.  Sus declaration puts the 3rd to be avoid note, but E is not
avoid against BbMaj7/C.  For this reason, it might be more natural to
treat this is a Bb Lydian chord, while Bb Ionian is totally valid here
depending on the context, is it not?

The problem is that people are determining the chord name by how it
sounds from their experiences, but a chord name means nothing, to me, if
there is no understandable chord scale backs up the naming.  Of course
exceptions exists, however.

-- 

- Hiro

Hiroaki Honshuku, A-NO-NE Music, Boston, MA
<http://a-no-ne.com> <http://anonemusic.com>


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