Jazz in the 1960s moved through many directions at once: hard bop, modal jazz, free jazz, soul jazz and increasingly electric crossover experiments. The decade widened the genre’s vocabulary while bringing some jazz musicians closer to R&B and popular audiences.
Soul jazz and groove
Organ-driven groups and musicians such as Jimmy Smith brought gospel, blues and R&B rhythm into jazz settings, creating music that felt equally at home in clubs and on jukeboxes.
Experimentation
John Coltrane, Miles Davis and others pushed harmony, form and improvisation far beyond the mainstream, while younger rock musicians increasingly listened to jazz for ideas about freedom and extended performance.
Why it matters
Jazz’s 1960s experiments helped prepare the way for fusion, jazz-funk and the longer improvisational structures heard in progressive and psychedelic rock.