modern jazz

American  

noun

1. any of various styles of jazz that have evolved since the early 1940s and are marked generally by harmonic and rhythmic complexity, emphasis on chord progressions rather than melody, a tendency to draw on classical forms and styles, and eclectic, allusive melodic tags in improvisation.

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modern jazz British  

noun

1. any of the styles of jazz that evolved between the early 1940s and the later emergence of avant-garde jazz, characterized by a greater harmonic and rhythmic complexity than hitherto

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Etymology

Origin of modern jazz

First recorded in 1950–55

Example Sentences

Some groups recall the past, like trumpeter Yank Lawson’s New Orleans-style orchestra, while others, like Woody Herman, Stan Kenton and especially Boyd Raeburn, anticipate modern jazz.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 26, 2026

US jazz drummer Jack DeJohnette, a major figure in modern jazz who collaborated with Miles Davis and Keith Jarrett, has died at 83, his management said on Monday.

From Barron's • Oct. 27, 2025

I’d begun working with friends of mine across all artistic disciplines, so my movement language is diverse — hip-hop, modern jazz, blues, new style hustle.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 17, 2025

Wayne Shorter, the enigmatic, intrepid saxophonist who shaped the color and contour of modern jazz as one of its most intensely admired composers, died on Thursday in Los Angeles.

From New York Times • Mar. 2, 2023

This frantic, somersaulting style turned within a few years into bebop, the elite modern jazz of the late 1940s and ’50s.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall