Progressive big band was pioneered by Stan Kenton in the late 1940s as an attempt to introduce Classical compositional techniques into the Big Band genre. Kenton himself dubbed his approach "progressive jazz". Groups playing progressive big band maintained the 10+ member ensembles of traditional big band, but instead of making dance-oriented music they focused on heavier, more complex, modernistic arrangements that were designed for listening and performance rather than a night on the town. Arranger Pete Rugolo played a significant part in the development of the genre, producing important albums such as City of Glass. Rugolo was replaced in Kenton's band by Bill Russo, whose contributions to the genre are also notable.

Progressive big band preceded and is different from the Experimental Big Band, which is a big-band approach to Avant-Garde Jazz. Although both styles allowed room for improvisational techniques, the progressive groups remained grounded in the traditional big-band ethos, pushing the envelope by tweaking around the fringes with elements of traditional Western classical music, which would eventually evolve into Third Stream. On the other hand, experimental groups such as Globe Unity Orchestra went a bit further afield, focusing on incorporating elements of Free Jazz and Modern Classical into the big-band format.