Progressive music

For other uses, see Progressive music (disambiguation).

Bandleader Stan Kenton coined "progressive jazz" for his complex, loud, and brassy approach to big band jazz that conveyed an association with art music.[1]

Progressive music is music that attempts to expand existing stylistic boundaries associated with specific genres of music.[2] The word comes from the basic concept of "progress", which refers to advancements through accumulation,[3] and is often deployed in the context of distinct genres, with progressive rock being the most notable example.[4] Music that is deemed "progressive" usually synthesizes influences from various cultural domains, such as European art music, Celtic folk, West Indian, or African.[5] It is rooted in the idea of a cultural alternative,[6] and may also be associated with auteur-stars and concept albums, considered traditional structures of the music industry.[7]

As an art theory, the progressive approach falls between formalism and eclecticism.[8][9] "Formalism" refers to a preoccupation with established external compositional systems, structural unity, and the autonomy of individual art works. Like formalism, "eclecticism" connotes a predilection toward style synthesis or integration. However, contrary to formalist tendencies, eclecticism foregrounds discontinuities between historical and contemporary styles and electronic media, sometimes referring simultaneously to vastly different musical genres, idioms, and cultural codes.[10] In marketing, "progressive" is used to distinguish a product from "commercial" pop music.[11]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference AMProgJazz was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Willis 2014, p. 219, 'Progressive' music can be seen as an experimentation with alternative routes"; Moore 2004, p. 22, "What was so revolutionary about this post-hippie music that came to be called 'progressive' ... was that ... the umbilical link between idiolect and style had been broken."; Macan 1997, p. 246, "the progressive rock of the 1970s had been 'progressive' only as long as it pushed the stylistic and conceptual boundaries of rock outwards"
  3. ^ Holm-Hudson 2013, p. 85.
  4. ^ Guern 2016, p. 33; Martin 1998, p. 41.
  5. ^ Holm-Hudson 2013, pp. 85–87.
  6. ^ Macan 2005, p. 250.
  7. ^ Reynolds 2013, pp. 6–7, 16.
  8. ^ Holm-Hudson 2013, pp. 16, 85–87.
  9. ^ Cotner 2000, p. 90.
  10. ^ Cotner 2000, p. 93.
  11. ^ Allan F. Moore (1 Apr 2016). Song Means: Analysing and Interpreting Recorded Popular Song. Routledge. p. 202. ISBN 978-1-317-05265-4.