Artist: Miles Davis
Album: Kind of Blue
Modal Tracks: So What, Freddie Freeloader, All Blues, Blue in Green, Flamenco Sketches
Date: 1959
Description: The record that popularised modal jazz. Brooding, atmospheric and at times melancholic this album sums up Miles Davis perfectly. Such is the influence of this recording that practically every modal song on this album has become a jazz standard – “So What”, “All Blues”, “Blue in Green”, etc.
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Artist: John Coltrane
Album: Giant Steps
Modal Tracks: Naima, Cousin Mary
Date: 1959
Description: Although Giant Steps is renowned for it’s technically challenging, runaway title track. The beautiful, soothing ballad “Naimia” is a Coltanre modal gem and offers some calm respite from the albums intense “sheets of sound”.
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Artist: John Coltrane
Album: My Favourite Things
Modal Tracks: My Favourite Things
Date: 1960
Description: The title track is a modal reworking of the famous Sound of Music song in 6/4 time. Don’t let this put you off! This is a modal classic featuring the immeasurable talents of McCoy Tyner (piano) and Elvin Jones (drums). It’s also a good introduction to the modal music of John Coltrane and is more accessible than his later free jazz work.
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Artist: John Coltrane
Album: Impressions
Modal Tracks: Impressions
Date: 1960
Description: “Impressions”, recorded live at the Village Vanguard, is an epic modal piece based around the same chord progression as Miles Davis’s “So What”. The cool detachment of the original, however, is replaced with a relentless barrage of intensity and energy as Coltrane and co. bounce off each other at hyper speed. It provides a fascinating glimpse of mid-period Coltrane, approaching a modal song with one foot in the cool jazz of the 50s and another in the free jazz of the 60s.
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Artist: John Coltrane
Album: A Love Supreme
Modal Tracks: Psalm
Date: 1964
Description: The coolness and detachment of previous modal jazz records is literally blown away by the raw energy and spiritual intensity of Coltrane’s masterwork A Love Supreme. A searching and experimental album it captures the aspirations and tribulations of the 60s and, for better or worse, paved the way for future forays into free jazz.
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Artist: Gil Evans
Album: The Individualism of Gil Evans
Modal Tracks: Las Vegas Tango
Date: 1963
Description: Talented jazz composer/arranger Gil Evans famously collaborated with Miles Davis on the albums Birth of the Cool, Miles Ahead and Sketches of Spain. He is widely regarded as having a seminal role in the development of cool and modal jazz.  “Las Vegas Tango” is an atmospheric and mysterious modal piece.
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Artist: Bill Evans
Album: Moon Beams
Modal Tracks: Re: Person I knew
Date: 1962
Description: Haunting and romantic, Moon Beams was Bill Evans first all-ballad album. The track "Re: Person I Knew" was allegedly a tribute to Scott LaFaro - the talented bassist who died tragically in a car crash shortly before this record was made. It is a sad and beautiful song and a fitting epitaph. Bill Evans was truly a genius, his melodic and minimalist approach to playing oozed class and his modal recordings still sound fresh today.
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