Pat Metheny-Watercolors, 77

This works more as a quietly introspective jazz work than as something progressive, but there are enough moments here, possibly even half the album, that fit well into the prog genre to give it a mention, primarily due to it's being an ECM recording, the label which could almost define prog-jazz or perhaps fusion rock. Those fans who lean more toward the jazzy side of prog will possibly think more kindly toward preserving the likes of this recording within the field of legitimate prog music (certainly not that of prog rock), but it is a very peripheral presence. Overall, were it not for the almost heart-rending mystic moodiness evident on tracks 2, 3 and the almost monstrous epic 8, I would not breath the name of this within a mile of even half the other ECM records I've heard, most of them from the 70's.

On this album are Metheny (guitar, 12-string guitar, 15-string harpguitar), Lyle Mays (piano), Eberhard Weber (bass) and Dan Gottlieb (drums). Whenever I see the name of Weber, I am nearly always assured it is a good sign after playing the album. This drummer, wherever he may be from, adds the most positively progressive presence to the recording through his use of cymbals, ever a mark of ECM finesse. Metheny is way too obviously in a jazz vein for those not keen on the whole genre of Jimmy Bruno's or Jim Hall's type of guitar stylings, but the others, most particularly the drummer, followed by the bassist, save this album for a progressive rainy day.

-Mark Dumke