Much of the modal jazz that was recorded in the 1960s and '70s paralleled Middle Eastern music in a number of ways. First, post-bop explorers like John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, Yusef Lateef, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk were playing the same modes and scales heard in traditional Arabic, Indian, Egyptian, Armenian, Turkish, and Jewish music. And second, a lot of post-bop had a very spiritual outlook, often inspiring comparisons to devotional Islamic, Hindu, Sikh, and Jewish forms. Spirituality is a key element of Vibrations in Time, a CD that spans 1973-1978 and reissues recordings that Byron Morris and his group Unity had recorded for their LPs Blow Thru Your Mind and Vibrations, Themes and Serenades (both of which had long since gone out of print). Underscoring the richness of modal jazz, gems like "Transcendental Lullaby" and "Ether" reflect the spiritual concerns that many post-bop groups had at the time. Saxman Morris and trumpeter Vincent McEwan both take their share of inspired solos, and female singer Jay Clayton brings an ethereal quality to much of the material. These recordings are quite obscure, but if you're seriously into modal jazz, Vibrations in Time is well worth the search.
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