Jazz Fundamentals

Greg Polanik CoordinatorCorina Iukovici Co-Coordinator

Academy for Lifelong LearningCape Cod Community College

Spring 2015

Chapter 7Modal Jazz

So What?

Miles Davis

Modal Jazz

• 1958-1960s

• An intentional move away from complex Chord Progressions

• Based on minimal Modes, not Chords

• Mode = Scale

• Can be Hot or Cool, Fast or Slow

• Miles Davis, again, is the pioneer

1958 – 1963

• Explorer 1, NASA, Integrated Circuits

• Greensboro Sit-Ins, Voting Act

• Integrated Busses, Feminism

• Cuba: Embargo, Bay of Pigs, Missiles

• Birmingham & Washington Marches

• Medgar Evers & JFK Assassinated

• Birmingham Church Bombing, 4 girls

I found Miles in the midstof another stage

of his musical development

John Coltrane

Modal Jazz

• Absent or Minimal Standard Functional Chord Progression

• Slow or Static Harmonic Motion, Scales/Chords last 4, 8, 16 Bars

• Chords often Quartal, Polytonal

• Bass Pedal Point, Drone, Often Used

• Playing ‘Outside’ Common

• Color & Sound Become Important

Modal Jazz Precedents

• The Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal OrganizationGeorge Russell (composer) 1953

• Bill Evans (piano) worked with Russell

• Gil Evans (arranger) worked with Miles Birth of the Cool & 3 other albums

Miles’ First Modal Jazz Song

• The Miles Davis Sextet - 1958

The First Great Quintetplus Cannonball Adderly

Milestones

AABAA = 8 bars G DorianB = 16 bars A Aeolian

Modal Soloing

+ Simple harmonic structure

+ No navigating changing chords

+ Easier to find ‘correct’ notes

+ Free to explore ideas, avoid clichés

- No musical interest from chords

- No forward motion from chords

- Soloist provides interest, movement

I’ll play it firstand tell you what it is afterwards

Miles Davis

Important Modal Jazz Players

• Miles DavisTrumpet, Band Leader

• Sextet 1958:John Coltrane (tenor sax)Cannonball Adderly (alto sax)Bill Evans (piano) (Wynton Kelly)Paul Chambers (bass)Jimmy Cobb (drums)

Modal Songs

• Kind of Blue – 1959 Miles DavisInfluential; Most Popular AlbumSketches of ideas Miles (and Evans) wrote just before recording sessionThe band never saw the songs before they went into the studio

So What LiveFlamenco Sketches

As long as I’ve been playing,they never say I done anything

They always say thatsome white guy did it

Miles Davis

Important Modal Jazz Players

• Bill EvansPiano – most influential of modern jazz?

• Worked with George Russell

• Classical voicings, impressionistic

• Used interesting chord substitutions

• Trio: Scott LaFaro(b) Paul Motian(d)

played with textures, time, feel

Important Modal Jazz Players

• Herbie HancockPiano – the best ever?

• Child prodigy

• Modal harmony with classical training

• Stacked modes over modes

• Developed rhythmic freedomw/ Ron Carter (b), Tony Williams (d)

Modal Jazz Songs

• Bill Evans

Peace PieceNardisMy Man’s Gone Now

• Herbie Hancock

Maiden Voyage

It bugs me when peopletry to analyze jazz

as an intellectual theoremIt’s not

It’s a feeling

Bill Evans

Important Modal Jazz Players

• John ColtraneTenor & Soprano Saxophone

• Becoming the most important

• Modal and Indian influences

• Technique forces future players to:Study and become as good, orDevelop a non-technical style

Important Modal Jazz Players

• McCoy TynerPiano

• Quartal harmony, Pentatonic solos

• Explored playing ‘Outside’

• Rhythmic strength

• Integral part of Coltrane sound, w/Jimmy Garrison (b), Elvin Jones (d)

Modal Jazz Songs

• John Coltrane• McCoy Tyner

My Favorite Things SOMImpressionsIndia

Important Modal Jazz Players

• Wayne ShorterTenor & Soprano Saxophone

• Great improviser, personal style• Composed many Jazz standards• Long varied career

Jazz MessengersMiles Second Great QuintetWeather Report

Important Modal Jazz Players

• Oliver NelsonMulti-Reed, Composer, Arranger

• Inspired by modern classical

• Played in / arranged for Big Bands

• The Blues and the Abstract Truth

E. Dolphy, F. Hubbard, B. Evans,

G. Barrow, P. Chambers, R. Haynes

Modal Jazz Songs

• Wayne Shorter

ArmageddonWitch Hunt

• Oliver Nelson

Stolen MomentsYearnin’

Music Theory

Melody

Melodies based on Modes

Harmony

Quartal Chords voiced in Fourths

keyboard

Jazz Vocabulary

• Modes – scales built by starting on different notes of a parent scale

• Outside – playing the wrong notes

• Pedal Point – fixed droning bass note

• Quartal – chords based on fourths

Hot can be cool,and cool can be hot,and each can be bothBut hot or cool, man,

jazz is jazz

Louis Armstrong