The diminished scale—often referenced by its formal moniker, the octatonic scale—occupies a niche that sits comfortably between strict diatonic tonality and outright chromaticism. Its defining feature ...

I first learned about the double diminished scale in the 1970s, inspired by pianists like Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock. At that time, I was studying a book by Nicolas Slonimsky called Thesaurus of ...