Conception In 1958, Davis was one of many jazz musicians growing dissatisfied with
bebop, seeing its increasingly complex
chord changes as hindering creativity. Five years earlier, in 1953, pianist
George Russell published his
Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization, which offered an alternative to the practice of improvisation based on chords. Abandoning the traditional major and minor
key relationships of
classical music, Russell developed a new formulation using
scales or a series of scales for improvisations. In a 1958 interview with
Nat Hentoff of
The Jazz Review, Davis remarked on the modal approach: In early 1958, Davis began using this approach with his sextet. Influenced by Russell's ideas, Davis implemented his first modal composition with the title track of his 1958 album
Milestones, which was based on two modes, recorded in April of that year. Instead of soloing in the straight, conventional, melodic way, Davis's new style of improvisation featured rapid
mode and scale changes played against sparse chord changes. and the
Samuel Goldwyn film adaptation was in production, set for release in June 1959. The advance publicity for the film was considerable, and with the late-1950s vogue for recorded "jazz versions of...", a number of
Porgy and Bess jazz interpretations were released. These ranged from an all-star big band version arranged and conducted by
Bill Potts to one by
Bob Crosby and the Bobcats. Following the first collaboration with Evans, Davis followed up on these efforts with much interest in symphonic readings, which, at the time, jazzmen were not known for, and neither were some classically trained musicians known for interpreting jazz scores. Nevertheless, Davis enlisted members of his sextet, including
Cannonball Adderley and
Paul Chambers. ==Reception and influence==