Modal jazz

History and character

Modal jazz emerged in the United States in the mid-1950s and dominated the 1960s as an alternative to bebop: instead of fast progressions with a different chord every two beats, the tunes are built on a few very long chords (8–16 bars each) and on modes (scales) that become the material for improvisation. The theoretical ideas come partly from George Russell (his Lydian Chromatic Concept and his experiments of the 1950s) and from earlier piano experiments (Bud Powell uses Lydian chords in "Un Poco Loco", 1951). The breakthrough belongs to Miles Davis: "Milestones" (1958, G Dorian in the A sections and A Aeolian in the B section) and above all Kind of Blue (1959) with Bill Evans, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Paul Chambers, Jimmy Cobb, and Wynton Kelly: "So What" (16 bars of D Dorian, 8 of Eb Dorian, 8 of D Dorian) and "Flamenco Sketches" (five modal areas).

John Coltrane with his classic quartet (1960–1965: McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass, Elvin Jones on drums) takes modal jazz toward spiritual intensity: "My Favorite Things" (1961, a waltz over E minor and E major vamps), "Impressions" (same form as So What, D Dorian/Eb Dorian), "Africa/Brass", "Crescent", A Love Supreme (1965). From the same school come Herbie Hancock ("Maiden Voyage", 1965, over sus chords), Wayne Shorter, McCoy Tyner as a leader ("Passion Dance"), Miles Davis's second quintet, Joe Henderson, and Bobby Hutcherson.

The aesthetic: an open, spacious sound, voicings in fourths, pedal tones and ostinatos, long improvisations that develop through motifs and intensity rather than chord changes, a "modern" use of the pentatonic scale, and playing "outside" and coming back in. Modal jazz underlies post-bop, fusion, much of contemporary jazz, and the harmonic language of many film scores and ambient music.

Scales and keys

The principle

In modal jazz the mode (not the chord) is the center: the bass states the modal tonic (a pedal or lines around the tonic), piano and guitar play chords drawn from the mode (often in fourths) that change over the tonic, and the soloist develops motifs inside the mode and then steps out and back in.

Dorian

• Formula: 1 2 b3 4 5 6 b7 — T S T T T S T. On D: D E F G A B C.
• Characteristic note: the major 6th (B): it distinguishes Dorian from Aeolian; over Dm7 the 6th is not an avoid note.
• Chords: Dm7/Dm11 (i), Em7 (ii), Fmaj7 (bIII), G7 (IV7), Am7 (v), Bø7 (vi), Cmaj7 (bVII).
• Typical voicing: the "So What chord" on D: E A D G B (three fourths + a major third), shifted in parallel inside the mode (F B E A C, etc.).
• Real-world example: Miles Davis — So What; John Coltrane — Impressions (D Dorian / Eb Dorian).
• Common mistakes: playing the b6 (Bb) as if it were Aeolian; thinking "just Dm7" and repeating arpeggios instead of using the mode.

Aeolian

• Formula: 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7 — T S T T S T T. On A: A B C D E F G.
• Characteristic note: b6 (F): a darker color than Dorian.
• Example: Miles Davis — Milestones (B section in A Aeolian).

Phrygian and Phrygian dominant

• Phrygian: 1 b2 b3 4 5 b6 b7 — S T T T S T T. On E: E F G A B C D. Characteristic note: b2 (F): a dark, "Spanish" color. Chord: Esus4b9 / Fmaj7/E.
• Phrygian dominant (5th mode of harmonic minor): 1 b2 3 4 5 b6 b7. On E: E F G# A B C D. Characteristic note: b2 with a major 3rd. Chord: E7b9sus / E7b9.
• Real-world example: Miles Davis — Flamenco Sketches (one of the sections is in D Phrygian/Phrygian dominant, with a Spanish color).

Lydian

• Formula: 1 2 3 #4 5 6 7 — T T T S T T S. On F: F G A B C D E.
• Characteristic note: #4 (B): an open, suspended major sound with no "avoid notes". Chord: Fmaj7#11.
• Use: major sections of modal tunes, endings, ballads (Bill Evans, Wayne Shorter).

Mixolydian and Mixolydian sus

• Mixolydian on G: G A B C D E F. Sus chord: G7sus4 (= F/G or Dm7/G).
• Characteristic note: the b7 without tension toward the tonic: in the sus chord the 4th (C) replaces the 3rd and is no longer an avoid note.
• Example: Herbie Hancock — Maiden Voyage (moving sus chords: D7sus4, F7sus4…).

Dorian b2 (second mode of melodic minor)

• Formula: 1 b2 b3 4 5 6 b7. On D: D Eb F G A B C. Chord: D7sus4b9 (Dsusb9). A color used by Hancock, Shorter, and in modern jazz.

Modal pentatonics

Over a D Dorian mode you can play the minor pentatonics on D, E, and A (D F G A C; E G A B D; A C D E G): each highlights different tensions (E pentatonic = 9, 11, 13). McCoy Tyner and Coltrane build phrases "in fourths" this way.

Playing "outside" (side-slipping)

Shifting up a half step (from D Dorian to Eb Dorian) for a few bars and coming back in creates tension and release without changing the rhythm section's chord.

How to choose

Harmony

Static, modal harmony

A few long harmonic areas (8–16 bars each), bass pedals, and sus and quartal chords moving in parallel over the modal tonic. Tonal function (tension–resolution) is replaced by the contrast between modal areas (So What: D Dorian → Eb Dorian → D Dorian).

Voicings

• Quartal (McCoy Tyner): stacks of fourths (D G C F) and open fifths in the left hand.
• So What voicing (Bill Evans): three fourths + a major third.
• Sus chords (Hancock): Am7/D, Cm7/F.
• Planing: the same voicing shifted in parallel inside the mode.

Pedals and ostinatos

The bass often plays a pedal (Jimmy Garrison on A Love Supreme and My Favorite Things) or an ostinato (the four-note motif of "Acknowledgement" in A Love Supreme).

Harmonic rhythm

Very slow: 1 chord every 4–16 bars. The "fine" harmonic motion lives in the piano comping (voicings that change over the same tonic).

Forms

32-bar modal AABA (So What, Impressions), free sectional forms (Flamenco Sketches, where the soloists decide when to move to the next scale), open vamps, 16-bar forms (Maiden Voyage with sus chords).

Typical progressions

Rhythm and groove

Feel

Two main families: the "relaxed" medium swing of Kind of Blue (soft ride, walking bass, sparse comping) and the polyrhythmic intensity of the Coltrane quartet, where Elvin Jones layers triplets, 3 against 2, and 6/8 over the 4/4 to create a "sea" of rhythm. Many modal tunes are in 3/4 or 6/8 (My Favorite Things, Shorter's Footprints) or in even eighths.

Accents

Few fixed accents: tension comes from crescendo, ostinatos, and polyrhythms. The bass can play in two, in four, or on a pedal.

Microtiming

A "wide" ride (Jimmy Cobb, Tony Williams), floating triplets (Elvin Jones); the tempo is elastic but the form holds.

Drums

Principle

Modal drumming creates space and wave: on Kind of Blue–style tunes it accompanies with discretion; in the Coltrane quartet Elvin Jones is a co-soloist who builds tension with polyrhythms and dynamics.

Ride

Soft spang-a-lang, sometimes with wide triplet figures and overlays (accents every 3 triplets = 3 against 4). Large, dark ride cymbals (22").

Hi-hat

On 2 and 4 or "free" (Tony Williams played it on the quarter notes or left it out).

Kick and snare

Triplet comping, kick and snare accents that overlap the pulse (6/8 over 4/4), continuous crescendo; on ballads, brushes and mallets on the toms.

Toms and cymbals

Tom rolls (Elvin Jones), cymbal swells with mallets in intros and outros.

Dynamics

Very wide: from pianissimo (mallets) to fortissimo at the peak of the solos; long crescendos across several choruses.

Interaction

Piano with quartal chords "in waves", bass pedal or walking, drums in polyrhythm: the rhythm section creates a carpet in which the soloist moves freely.

Sections

Understated head; solos with crescendo; sometimes a long final vamp with the drums at full intensity.

Fills

More "phrases" than fills: triplet rolls that cross the bar lines, tom crescendos.

Sounds

Kit with medium-tuned toms, 18–20" kick, large dark ride, crash-ride.

Typical mistakes

Drums that are too regular and "bebop" on intense modal tunes, uncontrolled polyrhythms that lose the form, cymbals too loud under ballads.

Bass

Sound

Upright bass with a round, sustained sound, often recorded with more presence (Paul Chambers, Jimmy Garrison, Ron Carter).

Role

• Pedal on the modal tonic or the fifth, to provide stability.
• Ostinato (the A Love Supreme figure, the My Favorite Things vamps).
• Walking around the modal tonic using the notes of the mode.
• Lines in "two" in intros and heads.

Notes

In modal jazz the bass avoids outlining chord changes that aren't there: it stays on the tonic and the notes of the mode, using chromaticism to move.

Examples

Paul Chambers (So What: the head is played by the bass), Jimmy Garrison (Coltrane), Ron Carter (Maiden Voyage).

Harmonic instruments

• Piano: voicings in fourths (McCoy Tyner), the So What chord (Bill Evans), sus chords (Herbie Hancock), open fifths in the left hand, comping "in waves" with the sustain pedal.
• Guitar: quartal chords and clusters (in post-bop and fusion).
• Vibraphone: Bobby Hutcherson, four-mallet chords, a suspended color.
• Horns as harmony: two-voice responses (So What: the "So What" answer of trumpet and sax to the bass).

Melody and vocals

Heads

Simple, "open" themes, often built on the mode itself or on intervals of a fourth (So What: the bass states the phrase, the horns answer with two chords).

Improvisation

Motivic development (Miles Davis: few notes, silence, lyricism), Coltrane's "sheets of sound" (cascades of fast notes, arpeggios on every degree of the mode), shifted pentatonics, side-slipping (stepping out by a half step and coming back in), the intense sound of tenor and soprano.

Vocals

Rare in classic modal jazz; in spiritual jazz (Leon Thomas with Pharoah Sanders) singing and choirs; today in the productions of Kamasi Washington.

Effects

None; natural reverb; Miles Davis uses the Harmon mute (without the stem) on ballads.

Instruments

• Trumpet (also with Harmon mute), tenor and soprano sax, alto sax
• Piano
• Upright bass
• Drums (sticks, brushes, mallets)
• Vibraphone, flute (Eric Dolphy, Yusef Lateef)
• Harp (Alice Coltrane) in spiritual jazz

Drum patterns

Synths and sounds

• Piano V — Piano: Grand piano with plenty of resonance (high pedal and sympathetic resonance), close mics for McCoy Tyner's quartal voicings, more ambience for Bill Evans-style ballads.
• Stage-73 V — Rhodes: Quartal and sus voicings in electric reinterpretations (Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis in the late 1960s).
• Augmented Strings — String pad: Modal beds in spiritual jazz and in modal-inspired film scores.

Song structure

Typical forms

• 32-bar modal AABA (So What, Impressions): A 8 + A 8 on one mode, B 8 on another, A 8 on the first; solos over several choruses.
• Free sections (Flamenco Sketches): the soloist decides when to move to the next area.
• Open vamp (My Favorite Things, A Love Supreme): intro, head, long vamp sections with solos, return of the head.
• 16 bars with sus chords (Maiden Voyage).

Arrangement

Often a freely played intro (piano and bass, So What), head, long solos with the rhythm section building in intensity, head, coda with a fade or pedal. Length 6–15 minutes (live even 30).

Mixing and mastering

Sonic goal

Depth, space, and naturalness: a band in a large room (Kind of Blue was recorded at Columbia's 30th Street Studio, a former church with a large natural ambience). Wide, resonant piano, defined bass, large ride, the soloist up front with an aura of reverb. Loudness −18/−14 LUFS, PLR 14–18 dB.

Drums

Overheads as the main sound (spaced pair or ORTF at 1–1.5 m), HP 40 Hz, −2 dB at 400 Hz, a ride rich in harmonics (don't boost above 8 kHz); kick and toms with support mics at low level; no compression or 1 dB. Pan 70–90%.

Upright bass

Mic + DI in phase; HP 35 Hz; 80–120 Hz body; −2/−3 dB at 220 Hz; +2 dB at 800 Hz; opto 2–3 dB. Center.

Piano

Stereo pair (spaced or XY) in the open lid; HP 40 Hz; −2 dB at 250–400 Hz; presence at 3 kHz; no compression or 1–2 dB slow; width 60–80% (the quartal voicings with the pedal live on stereo).

Horns

Mic at 40–80 cm (ribbon for trumpet, condenser for sax); HP 80 Hz; −2 dB at 400 Hz if nasal; moderate presence at 2–3 kHz; compression 1–3 dB; trumpet with Harmon: watch 2–4 kHz (don't boost). Pan center or ±15–25%.

Ambience

Hall or chamber 2–2.8 s (pre-delay 20–40 ms) as a common "room"; return HP 200 Hz, LP 8 kHz; higher send on horns and piano, minimal on bass.

Buses and groups

No aggressive glue; possibly 0.5–1 dB on the band bus.

Sidechain

Never.

Master

Chain: minimal EQ – limiter on peaks (−1 dBTP). Target −16/−14 LUFS integrated; the intensity peaks (the climax of Coltrane's solos) should exceed the quiet sections by 6–10 LU.

Common mistakes

Compression that removes the dynamic wave, narrow or mono piano, short, "dry" reverb that removes the space, bass too low (in modal jazz it is the pillar of the tonic).

Reference tracks for mixing

Miles Davis — So What; Miles Davis — Flamenco Sketches; John Coltrane — My Favorite Things; Herbie Hancock — Maiden Voyage; McCoy Tyner — Passion Dance.

Reference listening

• Miles Davis — Milestones (1958)
• Miles Davis — So What (1959)
• Miles Davis — Flamenco Sketches (1959)
• Bill Evans — Peace Piece (1958)
• John Coltrane — My Favorite Things (1961)
• John Coltrane — Impressions (1963)
• John Coltrane — Acknowledgement (A Love Supreme, 1965)
• Herbie Hancock — Maiden Voyage (1965)
• Wayne Shorter — Footprints (1966)
• McCoy Tyner — Passion Dance (1967)