View source for Modal jazz

{{Short description|Sub-genre of jazz}}
{{Missing information|modulation|date=January 2022}}
{{Infobox music genre
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| cultural_origins  = Mid-1950s, United States
| instruments       = {{hlist|[[Clarinet]]|[[saxophone]]|[[trumpet]]|[[trombone]]|[[piano]]|[[double bass]]|[[drum]]s|[[Musical keyboard|keyboard]]|[[electric guitar]]|[[acoustic guitar]]}}
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'''Modal jazz''' is [[jazz]] that makes use of [[Mode (music)|musical mode]]s, often [[Modulation (music)|modulating]] among them to accompany the [[Chord (music)|chord]]s instead of relying on one [[tonic (music)|tonal center]] used across the piece.

Though exerting influence to the present, modal jazz was most popular in the 1950s and 1960s, as evidenced by the success of [[Miles Davis]]'s 1958 composition "[[Milestones (composition)|Milestones]]" and 1959 album ''[[Kind of Blue]]'', and [[John Coltrane]]'s quartet from 1960 to 1965. Other performers of modal jazz include [[Chick Corea]], [[Bill Evans]], [[Herbie Hancock]], [[Joe Henderson]], [[Bobby Hutcherson]], [[Pharoah Sanders]], [[Woody Shaw]], [[Wayne Shorter]], [[McCoy Tyner]], and [[Larry Young (musician)|Larry Young]].<ref name="Essential">Henry Martin, Keith Waters (2008). ''Essential Jazz: The First 100 Years'', pp. 178-79. {{ISBN|978-0-495-50525-9}}.</ref>

==History==
In [[bebop]] as well as in [[hard bop]], musicians use chords to provide the background for solos. A piece starts out with a theme that introduces a series of chords for the solos. These chords repeat throughout the whole piece, while the soloists play new, improvised themes over the repeated [[chord progression]]. By the 1950s, improvising over chords had become such a dominant part of jazz that sidemen at recording dates were sometimes given nothing more than a list of chords to play from.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Story Behind Modal Jazz & Hip Hop |url=https://splice.com/sounds/packs/sunday-supply/modal-jazz-and-hip-hop/story |access-date=2024-06-11 |website=Splice |language=en}}</ref>

[[Mercer Ellington]] has stated that [[Juan Tizol]] conceived the melody to "[[Caravan (1937 song)|Caravan]]" in 1936 as a result of his days studying music in Puerto Rico, where they could not afford much sheet music so the teacher would turn the music upside down after they had learned to play it right-side up.<ref name="mercer1994">{{cite interview |last=Ellington |first=Mercer |subject-link=Mercer Ellington |interviewer=[[Marian McPartland]] |title=Mercer Ellington On Piano Jazz |at=13:50 |url=https://www.npr.org/2011/04/22/135629755/mercer-ellington-on-piano-jazz |work=Piano Jazz |date=24 April 2011 |orig-year=1994 |access-date=2013-12-03 |quote=Well Tizol did the melody, and he said that, you know, he used to hear those unusual melodies, because in Puerto Rico where he studied, they were very poor and they couldn't afford too much music. So in order to make them get more practice and get varied compositions, they'd turn the music upside down. And the result, you get that modal sound that comes from most of the things Tizol's involved in.}}</ref> This "inversion" technique led to a modal sound throughout Tizol's work.<ref name="mercer1994" />

[[Sun Ra]] reportedly rehearsed a small group consisting of [[Harold Ousley]], [[Vernel Fournier]], and [[Wilbur Ware]] in 1950 that played original songs that were modal in which the melody was based on a single chord or vamp – ten years before this approach became popular in jazz.<ref>Szwed, John F. (1997) Space is the place: The Lives and times of Sun Ra (chap. 2). New York: Patheon Books</ref> 

Saxophonist [[Wayne Shorter]] has noted that the 1953 composition "[[Glass Enclosure]]" by pianist Bud Powell was one of the earliest jazz compositions to make use of [[Lydian chord]]s, based on the [[Lydian mode]] that was not widely used in jazz until about a decade later.<ref>Mercer, Michelle (2007) Footprints: The Life and Work of Wayne Shorter. Penguin.</ref> Powell's 1951 [[Un Poco Loco]] uses the Lydian chords and even uses Lydian chords stacked on top of each implying a [[polytonality]] (D [[Major seventh chord|major 7]] over C major 7: CEGBDF#AC#) with the improvisation based on alternating Lydian-ish polytonality and an [[altered dominant]] chord.<ref>DeMotta, David J. (2015) The contributions of Earl "Bud" Powell to the modern jazz style. Doctoral dissertation, The City University of New York.</ref>

Towards the end of the 1950s, spurred by the experiments of composer and bandleader George Russell, musicians began using a modal approach. They chose not to write their pieces using conventional chord changes, but instead using modes. Musicians employing this technique include Miles Davis, [[Freddie Hubbard]], Bill Evans, [[Herbie Hancock]], and Wayne Shorter.

[[File:Minor eleventh chord Herbie Hancock Maiden Voyage.png|thumb|Opening chord to "[[Maiden Voyage (composition)|Maiden Voyage]]": minor [[eleventh chord]] (Am9/D).<ref name="What">Kernfeld, Barry (1997). ''What to Listen for in Jazz'', p.68. {{ISBN|978-0-300-07259-4}}.</ref> {{audio|Minor eleventh chord Herbie Hancock Maiden Voyage.mid|Play}} Using D [[dorian mode#Modern Dorian mode|Dorian]].<ref>Herder, Ronald (1987). ''1000 Keyboard Ideas'', p.75. {{ISBN|978-0-943748-48-1}}.</ref>]]
Among the significant compositions of modal jazz were "[[So What (composition)|So What]]" by Miles Davis and "[[Impressions (composition)|Impressions]]" by John Coltrane.<ref name="Dummies">Sutro, Dirk (2011). ''Jazz for Dummies''. {{ISBN|978-1-118-06852-6}}.</ref> "So What" and "Impressions" follow the same AABA structure and were in D Dorian for the A sections and modulated a half step up to E-flat Dorian for the B section. The [[Dorian mode]] is the [[minor scale#Natural minor|natural minor scale]] with a raised sixth. Other compositions include Davis's "[[Flamenco Sketches]]", Bill Evans's "[[Peace Piece]]", and Shorter's "[[Footprints (composition)|Footprints]]".<ref name="Dummies"/>

Davis recorded one of the best selling jazz albums of all time in this modal framework. ''Kind of Blue'' is an exploration of the possibilities of modal jazz.<ref name="Complete">Miller, Michael (2008). ''The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music History'', {{page needed|date=July 2011}}. {{ISBN|978-1-59257-751-4}}.</ref><ref name="Dummies"/> Davis acknowledged the crucial role played by Bill Evans, a former member of George Russell's ensembles, in his transition from hard bop to modal playing. Although his explorations of modal jazz were sporadic throughout the 1960s, he included several of the tunes from ''Kind of Blue'' in the repertoire of his second quintet.

Coltrane took the lead in extensively exploring the limits of modal improvisation and composition with his quartet, featuring [[Elvin Jones]] (drums), [[McCoy Tyner]] (piano), and [[Reggie Workman]] and [[Jimmy Garrison]] (bass). Several of Coltrane's albums from the period are recognized as examples of modal jazz: ''[[Africa/Brass]]'' (1961),<ref name="Dummies"/> ''[[Live! at the Village Vanguard]]'' (1962), ''[[Crescent (John Coltrane)|Crescent]]'' (1964), ''[[A Love Supreme]]'' (1964),<ref name="Dummies"/> and ''[[Meditations (John Coltrane album)|Meditations]]'' (1965). Coltrane's compositions from this period such as "India", "Chasin' the Trane", "Crescent", and "Impressions" have entered the jazz repertoire, along with his interpretations of standards like Richard Rodgers's "[[My Favorite Things (song)|My Favorite Things]]", and the traditional "[[Greensleeves]]".

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

{{Jazz}}

[[Category:Modal jazz| ]]