Mike Keneally, You Must Be This Tall

The term "progressive rock" in some ways became as unwelcome in the '70s as that of "cool jazz" in the '50s. Sure, in both cases the music sometimes suffered from excesses and the reaction against it with "punk" and "hard bop" was predictable and perhaps inevitable. Nonetheless there was plenty there in both cases of music that was totally valid, excellent, worth hearing still.

So if I tell you that Mike Keneally's album You Must Be This Tall (Exowax 2414) might be thought of as progressive rock today, you must not take that as to mean that you are in for some kind of pretentious synth version of the "1812 Overture" or something of that ilk.

It is complexly arranged compositional rock that takes the best of Zappa in his ambitious moments and groups like Yes and perhaps a hint of Pink Floyd's middle period . . . or at least it's music that has something in common with that, but made into a new something.

Keneally plays a very nice electric guitar along with acoustic, synths, bass and vocals. There are live drums much of the time played by Marco Minnemann. It's new advanced, "progressive" rock that rings true and does not at all play on nostalgia as much as builds a music on the foundations of the past.

Keneally is a guitarist with excellent taste and sound, a rock composer with a great sense. And the album fully satisfies a need for some hip complexity that always remains musical. So, there.

Operation ID, Legs

I covered Operation ID's recent EP a few days ago here. Today, a full album, Legs (Table and Chairs 003). What I said about the EP applies also to the full CD. They are a Seattle-based unit that gives out with a pleasingly potent mix of compositional progressive jazz-rock in a contemporary vein, following in part a trail originally blazed by Frank Zappa and early-mid Soft Machine.

It's a five-piece outfit of Ivan Arteaga on saxes, Jared Borkowski on electric guitar, Rob Hanlon, synths, David Balatero, electric bass, and Evan Woodle, drums. This music makes its mark especially in the ensemble arrangements and the overall ambiance. The solos suit the pieces at hand but are not the primary thrust of the music.

It's ground-breaking, path widening prog/post-prog instrumental music of a high order. And it's well worth checking out if that sounds interesting to you.

Bassist-Composer Ron Anderson and His PAK Do "Secret Curve"

To say Ron Anderson and PAK must have rehearsed a little to get the music they do on Secret Curve (Tzadik 8079) would be to understate the situation. The music is filled with irregular figures, hairpin stop and go turns, ensemble synchronicity of a most intricate sort and all manner of asymmetrical burn-grooves. A first listen makes that plain.

Mr. Anderson does not set out to overwhelm with virtuoso hi jinks a la some of the more notorious speed fusers. Secret Curve begins and ends around the centrality of compositional thrust. The complexities are harnessed to Ron's musical vision, just like a fast movement in a classical symphony is indeed what it is, fast, because that is how the music moves, not because the music is second, that speed first.

Secret Curve highlights the playing of PAK, a trio of Ron on electric bass, Keith Abrams, drums, and Tim Byrnes on trumpet, French horn and keyboards. The music gets reinforcement and color-depth with the help of some key guests: Anthony Coleman on piano, Jerome Noetinger, electronics, Eve Risser, piano, Tom Swafford, violin, and Stefan Zeniuk on reeds.

The trio is at the heart of the music, though. Anderson's throttle bass has extraordinary moments of centered line building which get plenty of interpretive, complementary drive from Abrams' drums. Byrnes' horns and keyboard fill in with harmonic and melodic top-parts that have style and distinction. The ensemble expands and contracts with the entrance and exit of the guest performers.

This is a downtown thrash-jazz tour de force. There are not a lot of solos but rather ensemble excellence. The music expands upon the two Z's--Zappa and Zorn--at their most intricate and frenetic. In the end, though, the music has a Ron Anderson sound to it. This is HIS music. This is original music. This is exciting music.

Anderson plays some impressive bass. The entire ensemble excels in ever-building cascades of thrash ecstasy. The pieces bear up well under repeated listens. You should most definitely hear this one!