progressive jazz

American  

noun

1. an experimental, nonmelodic, and often free-flowing style of modern jazz, especially in the form of highly dissonant, rhythmically complex orchestral arrangements.

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Etymology

Origin of progressive jazz

First recorded in 1945–50

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

progressive jazz

Thundercat, born Stephen Bruner, grew up in L.A. immersed in the city’s progressive jazz scene, playing with everyone from Kendrick Lamar to Suicidal Tendencies.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 30, 2026

Even Matthew Shipp, among the more idiosyncratic and independent-minded of progressive jazz pianists, referred to Mr. Jamal as “a musical architect of the highest order.”

From Washington Post ● Apr. 16, 2023

“His world was progressive jazz, plus he was a lover of classical music, so there were lots of things he hadn’t picked up on,” Betty Davis told the Guardian in 2010.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 9, 2022

Mr. Marsalis performed and recorded throughout the 1960s and ’70s with a variety of modern and progressive jazz musicians, including the drummer Ed Blackwell and the eminent horn-playing brothers Cannonball and Nat Adderley.

From New York Times ● Apr. 1, 2020

The quaint atonalities of progressive jazz and the childishly frantic rhythms of "cool sounds" were somehow soothing and reassuring in their reminder of a simple heritage from a simpler age.

From This Crowded Earth by Bloch, Robert