Modal

Modal jazz on vinyl: from “Kind Of Blue” to “A Love Supreme”

In short: In modal jazz the musicians improvise over a scale – a mode – and take their time instead of racing through fast chord changes. Miles Davis made the sound famous in the late fifties, and John Coltrane pushed it further in the sixties. The Vinyl Room currently has 169 modal jazz records.

What is modal jazz?

After hectic bebop, musicians were looking for more space. George Russell supplied the theory, Miles Davis the record: “Kind Of Blue” (1959) is regarded as the key album of modal jazz. We also have his 1958 film score “Ascenseur Pour L’Échafaud”, plus Bill Evans, the pianist on most of “Kind Of Blue”, with “Waltz For Debby”.

John Coltrane turned the idea into spirituality – “A Love Supreme” from 1965 – and Pharoah Sanders and Alice Coltrane carried it on. In Britain the Don Rendell / Ian Carr Quintet took up the sound.

What to look for

Many classics exist in numerous pressings. Label, catalogue number and runout groove tell you whether you have a first pressing or a later edition – the copy description says which it is.

From our stock

First pressings

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→ Miles Davis · John Coltrane · Spiritual jazz · Jazz on vinyl · How to spot a first pressing · Grading explained

FAQ

What is modal jazz? Jazz in which musicians improvise over scales (modes) rather than fast chord sequences.

Which album is regarded as the key work? Miles Davis’s “Kind Of Blue” from 1959.

What does John Coltrane have to do with it? He played on “Kind Of Blue” and took modal jazz further in the sixties, for example on “A Love Supreme”.

Is there modal jazz from Europe too? Yes – here, for example, the British Don Rendell / Ian Carr Quintet.