Modal jazz changed what comping is for. When the chord stays the same for sixteen or thirty-two bars (think "So What" — D-7 for sixteen bars, then E♭-7 for eight, then D-7 again), the harmonic information is gone. The drummer's job stops being to articulate chord changes and starts being to generate energy across long, harmonically static stretches.
Elvin Jones with Coltrane is the textbook. The ride pattern stays in motion, but the kick and snare start participating in a rolling 8th-note triplet feel — kicks and snare hits land on the second or third partial of the triplet group, creating a constant sense of forward motion that doesn't depend on harmonic change to push the music. The whole texture becomes one rolling wave.
Three Devices
- Triplet kicks — the bass drum lands on triplet partials, often the second or third of the group, weaving with the ride.
- Snare-and-hat building — the hi-hat hand opens up to a wash, the snare adds intermittent comments. Density increases bar by bar.
- The arc — every 4-bar phrase has a contour. Start sparse, build, peak, release. The release is what makes the build mean something.
Exercises
1 — Triplet Kicks Under the Ride
Kick on every beat (with the hi-hat foot doubling on 2 and 4) under the standard ride skip pattern. The Elvin device: as you play this, place each kick stroke slightly late — closer to the second triplet partial of the beat than the downbeat. The kick weaves into the swung 8ths of the ride rather than landing under them. Notation says quarters; feel says triplet partials.
2 — Snare and Hat Building (4-bar arc)
A 4-bar build: bar 1 ride only, bar 2 adds one snare comment, bar 3 adds another, bar 4 has the snare on every &. The hi-hat foot stays consistent throughout; the kick joins from bar 2. Density increases bar by bar — the listener should hear the music tightening across the four bars without anything explicitly changing in the harmony.
3 — Rolling Triplet Texture
All 8th-note triplets on the ride — twelve evenly-spaced ride hits per bar. Kick on every beat (the hi-hat foot doubles on 2 and 4). The Elvin device: as you play, place each kick stroke between the first and second triplet partial of the beat — slightly late — so it weaves through the ride rather than landing under it. The result is a constant rolling wave; nothing articulates beat divisions cleanly. This is the Coltrane-quartet texture in its purest form.
4 — 8-Bar Arc (Build and Resolve)
Eight bars in three phases: spacious (1–2), building (3–4), peak (5–6), release (7–8). The snare density tracks the arc — none in the first two bars, syncopated in the next two, every & in the peak, then silent again. Same harmonic landscape from start to finish; the drumming creates the entire shape. Practice this until you can feel the build as a physical sensation.