The music was poundingly rhythmic.

He narks in my ear all day, moaning about his problems.

Yet the focus on pushing for the best result has also fueled what current and former Uber employees describe as a Hobbesian environment at the company, in which workers are sometimes pitted against one another and where a blind eye is turned to infractions from top performers.

The strategy of using two standard tunes and two boppish originals on the first session (23 February 1945) set the pattern for subsequent dates.