Heads Up
2007
Prog
About This Album
Presumably the Bad Plus wanted to make a very specific statement when they titled this album Prog. Although there is no confusing its music for what has typically passed for progressive jazz or progressive rock in decades past, Prog embodies the true meaning of the word: it takes music forward -- not just theirs, but music itself. How they do that is relatively simple, despite the music's complexity: they go where they want to go, where others have yet even to consider going. That means throwing out conventional notions of what a jazz piano trio can and should do. That the Bad Plus is comprised of three exemplary musicians -- pianist Ethan Iverson, bassist Reid Anderson and drummer David King -- is never in doubt. Their chops are on display at every turn -- and there are many turns, unexpected and exhilarating ones that produce seismic shifts without losing focus. But they're about more than chops. Where the Bad Plus excel, here even more than previously, is in their ability to make their exemplary musicianship and ingenuity accessible to listeners who might never have come near progressive jazz or jazz-rock fusion back when that term meant such overambitious outfits as Mahavishnu Orchestra and Return to Forever.
Track List (try tracks 1,3,4,5,6,7 and 10)

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