Deconstructing Modal Jazz Piano Techniques: The Relation between Debussy's Piano Works and the Innovations of Post-Bop Pianists

This study examines the relation between Claude Debussy's harmonic and melodic techniques and those of post-bop jazz pianists through the analysis of selected piano pieces and transcriptions of important recordings that helped establish new aesthetics in jazz during the late fifties and early sixties. Similarities between Debussy's modal techniques and hallmark traits of post-bop jazz harmony are discovered within the contributions that Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, and McCoy Tyner made to Miles Davis's and John Coltrane's small groups. The analysis presented in this article is intended to serve as a model on how jazz research can develop into pedagogical tools for jazz educators and performers aspiring to reach new levels of sophistication in their playing.