Episode 169: Modal Jazz

After Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue took the jazz world by storm, jazz musicians and fans expressed much excitement about what has been termed ‘modal jazz’. This is a sub-genre that uses long passages of unchanging harmony based on different scales rather than a series of chords.

In this podcast I talk about the history of modal jazz, including some of the music that influenced Miles Davis in putting together this amazing recording.

Some say it goes back to 1936—with Juan Tizol’s Caravan. And drummer Max Roach claimed that Benny Goodman was an earlier contributor to modal jazz. On this program I play one of his solos that illustrates that.

Then there is the connection between rock music and modal jazz, and how they influenced each other.

You’ll hear lots of great music and get some of what I hope you’ll find to be interesting information.