Adrian Belew - Never Enough

With the addition of a string bass and swung rhythms, jazz began to swing and become a style of music that could be danced to. This gradual change started in the late 1920s and continued through to the 1940s. The swing era brought with it the creation of the big band, an ensemble comprising ten or more musicians.

Most of the music in the swing era was not improvised and instead written down, but hundreds of jazz improvisers were still employed and a crucial part of the swing scene. Bandleaders such as Duke Ellington and Fletcher Henderson became well known through the late 1930s and early 1940s. As big band music developed, more ensembles were being recognised.

With the arrival of a rhythmically and harmonically experimental style, jazz moved out of the dance hall and into the club. The term bebop is derived from a Gillespie tune of the same name. Bebop was seen as a rebellion to the swing era by musicians like Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk. Bebop musicians would take a standard song and transform it into something almost completely unrecognisable, by adding extra harmony and adjusting the rhythms of the melody.

On the other end of the spectrum came free jazz. Developed in the 1960s by pioneers such as Ornette Coleman and Don Cherry, this style of music challenged the boundaries of musical expression. Although the term may suggest otherwise, free jazz is often formulaic in structure with memorised melodies and consistent tempos. It is known as free jazz because musicians are allowed to play whatever they want without having to follow any predetermined chord sequences.

Source: What is jazz music? by Michael Beek

Adrian Belew - Never Enough

• Released in: 1994
• Genre: Rock
• Released on: Salad Days album

"Adrian Belew is a multi instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, producer and guitar guru. Belew has released 20 critically acclaimed solo records and was the frontman, singer, co writer and guitarist for progressive rock powerhouse King Crimson for 30 years."

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