Modal jazz is an influential style of jazz that arose in the late 1950s as a reaction against the excessive harmonic complexity of bebop. Instead of rapidly changing numerous chords, musicians built their improvisation on one or two modes, which could sound for a long time, almost unchanged.
This opened a new freedom: attention shifted from “running” the chords to melodicism, space, atmosphere, and subtle shades of sound. The landmark work of the genre became Miles Davis's album “Kind of Blue” (1959) — one of the most famous jazz albums in history. The modal approach was also developed by John Coltrane, Bill Evans, and Herbie Hancock. Modal jazz deeply influenced not only later jazz but rock and film music too, showing how much expressiveness can be drawn from minimal harmonic means.
