Modal Jazz

Different Types of Modal Jazz:
Modal Jazz can be of a classical nature or can have its roots in West Coast jazz. The classical variant has a very cool, cerebral quality which the West Coast variant is a lot more intense and mysterious. The classical modal jazz uses just a few chords and each mode goes on with its improvisations for a long time. Miles Davis’ So What is a perfect example of this kind of style. There is a lot of repetition and in this particular piece, there are just two chords that are used.  

History of Modal Jazz:
In order to understand modal jazz, one must possess knowledge of the musical modes. In the bebop music genre as well as in the hard bop music genre, the musicians used the chords in order to provide the actual background for all of their solos. In the beginning, the song would begin with a theme; the theme would announce the chords that are going to be used just for the solos. Throughout the entire song, these different chords would then be repeated, while at the same time, the soloists would actually play improvised and new themes over the chord progression which is repeated.

In the fifties, composers started using the modal approach. They made the decision not to be the ones to write their songs by using chords - however they used modal scales instead. What this means, was that the bassist, didn’t have to navigate from a single important chord note to another, that was as long as she or he stayed right there within the scale that was being accentuated and used the right notes located within that particular scale, he was able to virtually go everywhere. In order to give you another example, the pianist wouldn’t have to perform the exact same variations of the chords or chords, but was able to do just about anything just as long as she or he stayed right there within the scale that was being used.

The Overall Result:
The result overall was the freedom of expression. A matter of fact, the actual way that a individual soloist created a solo dramatically changed with the invention of modal jazz. However, before this time, the soloist goal was to actually play a solo that would which fit right into a particular set of chords. However, along with the modal jazz music genre, a soloist has to be able to create a melody typically in one scale, which potentially could be boring to the actual listener. Therefore, the musician’s goal is to now make the melody so that it is as interesting as it can be. In essence, modal jazz was a return to melody.