It's also important to consider in any given song if they were trying to stay exactly steady. How much fluidity of tempo is intentional? It's a shame that most

It's also important to consider in any given song if they were trying to stay exactly steady. How much fluidity of tempo is intentional? It's a shame that most music these days doesn't even consider using changing tempo as a tool. Music is all about contrast. Classical music and jazz embrace tempo as a tool of contrast, but we've mostly lost that in popular recorded music. The great jazz drummers knew exactly what they were doing. Here's a great example: (Harvey Mason on drums) http://labs.echonest.com/click/?trackId=TRTGDWN125488885AB&artist=Herbie+Hancock&title=Chameleon http://labs.echonest.com/click/?trackId=TRTGDWN125488885AB&#... This chart looks pretty crazy at first, but if you are familiar with the music it makes so much sense. I believe that they (the entire band) knew exactly what was happening with the tempo throughout the entire 15 minute song.