MODAL JAZZ TIMELINE
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"It must have been made in heaven"
Jimmy Cobb, drummer on Kind of Blue
"The music has gotten thick, guys give me tunes and they're full of chords. I can't play them..."
Miles Davis 1958
1958
1958 - Early Forays
1959 - Kind of Blue      







The big one, the album that popularised modal jazz and went onto become the biggest selling jazz album of all time. You can’t underestimate it’s influence in modern music, and it’s no surprise that it’s the one jazz album owned by people who didn’t listen to jazz! Whereas previously Miles Davis had dabbled in modality, Kind of Blue was the first album to boast an all modal jazz track line-up. Armed with a only series of compositional sketches Davis went into the studio and the rest as they say is history. Practically all of the songs on the album have gone on to become modal jazz standards – “So What”, “All Blues”, “Blue in Green”, etc. It’s no coincidence that the supporting cast for this album – John Coltrane (tenor saxophone), Bill Evans (piano) and, to a lesser extent, Cannonball Adderley (alto saxophone) went onto become leading lights in the modal jazz movement.
"The m***** ****** who taught me how to write." Miles Davis on George Russell
1953 - George Russell's Lydian Chromatic Concept   










The catalyst for the birth of modal jazz can be traced backed to composer George Russell’s 1953 book Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization. Using the Lydian Scale as the primary scale of Western music, the Lydian Chromatic Concept introduced the idea of chord/scale unity. It was the first theory to explore the vertical relationship between chords and scales, and was the only original theory to come from jazz. George Russell’s theory is credited with “turning Miles Davis on" to a new modal approach to composition.
1953
Lydian Concept
1958
Early Forays
1959
Kind of Blue
1960-65
Golden Period
Mid 1960s
Free Jazz
Mid 1960s-
Influence
1960-1965 - Golden Period
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Inspired by the modal approach used on Kind of Blue, there was a mini modal revolution among jazz artists in the early 60s. Each musician put there own personal stamp on the modal jazz sound -   John Coltrane burned with energy and intensity on "My Favourite Things" (1960) and A Love Supreme (1963), Herbie Hancock was impressionistic and airy on "Maiden Voyage" (1963), Bill Evans introspective and melancholy on "Re: The Person I knew" and Wayne Shorter mixed coolness and tension on "Witch Hunt". Out of all of these artists, John Coltrane probably went onto become the leading pioneer of modal jazz, exploring the genre more than anyone else. This was a golden period for modal jazz and many of the recordings from this era are hailed as classics.
Around the mid 60s, a new type of modal jazz became popular, often described as "pan-tonal” or “non-tonal” music. These modal jazz songs contain chords that change as rapidly as say in a bebop tune, every measure or so, but do not relate to an overall key centre. Often, the harmonies are so complex it is difficult to follow them. An example is Wayne Shorter’s composition “Limbo” as played by Miles Davis on the album Sorcerer (1967). At this point modal jazz was evolving into free jazz, which paid even less consideration to the tradional rules of harmony and was very "out there". The transistion from modal to free jazz is captured brillianty in John Coltranes mind-blowing Interstellar Space (1967).
Mid 1960s – Pan-tonal/Free Jazz
Mid 1960s - Influence
The influence of modal jazz extends well beyond the realms of the genre, with many pop, rock, and funk artists employing the approach. Improvisatory rock musicians of the 1960s often name-check Davis’s Kind of Blue or Coltrane's My Favourite Things and A Love Supreme. Pink Floyd keyboardist Richard Wright has said that the chord progressions on Kind of Blue iinfluenced the structure of the introductory chords of their song "Breathe" on the landmark album Dark Side of the Moon (1973).

Modal jazz songs have a timeless and cool quality to them and it’s not coincicednce that many of these songs from the early 60s still still sound fresh and hip today. Nowadays, most young people getting into jazz buy Kind of Blue as there first album and often move onto the 60s modal recording of Herbie Hancock and John Coltrane. It is perhaps these classic modal jazz recordings which will continue to inspire future generations to start listening to and playing jazz.
Frustrated with the chordal complexity of modern jazz and influenced by George Russell’s Lydian Chromatic Concept, Miles Davis and Gil Evans made tentative steps into the world of modal jazz with there reworking of “Summertime”. The song featured on the album Porgy and Bess (1958) and it includes a long modal vamp section with no chord changes. Davis went one step further, with the full blown modal jazz song “Milestones” on the 1958 album Milestones. On this track he set the scene for the historic modal jazz masterpiece Kind of Blue that was to follow in 1959.