Modal Jazz
Jazz that improvises over long stretches on modes rather than fast chord changes (Miles Davis, Kind of Blue).
What it means
Modal jazz is a style of jazz in which improvisation takes place over long stretches on a single scale, a mode, rather than on rapidly changing chords as in bebop. The harmony stays put for a long time, often over eight or sixteen bars. This leaves more room for melody and tone color, and the sound seems calmer and more open.
Musical use
The end of the 1950s is regarded as its beginning. Miles Davis recorded the album Kind of Blue in 1959, which made the modal approach famous. In So What the improvisation alternates between two Dorian modes. Important stimuli came from the theorist George Russell with his Lydian Chromatic Concept. John Coltrane developed the approach further, for example in Impressions.
Modal jazz should be distinguished from bebop and hard bop, whose improvisation rests on dense chord sequences. Free jazz also breaks away from fixed chords, but often dispenses with a tonal center altogether.
Performance practice
When you improvise modally, first get to know the mode thoroughly, for instance D Dorian. Explore its character with motifs, rests and rhythms rather than reeling off fast runs. The absence of chord changes calls for conscious shaping and arcs of tension.