Modal jazz

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Modal jazz
Cultural originsMid-1950s, United States
Typical instruments

Modal jazz is jazz that makes use of musical modes, often modulating among them to accompany the chords instead of relying on one 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

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.[1]

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.[citation needed]

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.[2] This "inversion" technique led to a modal sound throughout Tizol's work.[2]

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.[3]

Saxophonist

altered dominant chord.[5]

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.

Among the significant compositions of modal jazz were "

Flamenco Sketches", Bill Evans's "Peace Piece", and Shorter's "Footprints".[6]

Opening chord to "Maiden Voyage": minor eleventh chord (Am9/D).[7] Playⓘ Using D Dorian.[8]

Miles 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.[9][6] 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

Crescent (1964), A Love Supreme (1964),[6] and 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", and the traditional "Greensleeves
".

References

  1. ISBN 978-0-495-50525-9
    .
  2. ^ a b Ellington, Mercer (24 April 2011) [1994]. "Mercer Ellington On Piano Jazz". Piano Jazz (Interview). Interviewed by Marian McPartland. 13:50. Retrieved 2013-12-03. 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.
  3. ^ Szwed, John F. (1997) Space is the place: The Lives and times of Sun Ra (chap. 2). New York: Patheon Books
  4. ^ Mercer, Michelle (2007) Footprints: The Life and Work of Wayne Shorter. Penguin.
  5. ^ DeMotta, David J. (2015) The contributions of Earl "Bud" Powell to the modern jazz style. Doctoral dissertation, The City University of New York.
  6. ^
    ISBN 978-1-118-06852-6
    .
  7. ISBN 978-0-300-07259-4
    .
  8. ISBN 978-0-943748-48-1
    .
  9. ISBN 978-1-59257-751-4
    .
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