Davis recorded one of the best-selling jazz albums of all time in this modal framework. Kind of Blue is an exploration of the possibilities of modal jazz. Although his explorations of modal jazz were sporadic throughout the 1960s, he included several of the tunes from Kind of Blue in the repertoire of his second quintet.

Coltrane took the lead in extensively exploring the limits of modal improvisation and composition with his quartet, featuring Elvin Jones (drums), McCoy Tyner