In music, the art of the trio involves a delicate balance and holds the potential for great power. On Anthony Pirog's Pocket Poem, his second solo album and fifth release on D.C. based Cuneiform Records, the Washington D.C. alt guitar hero and his rhythm section wring all the beauty, majesty, and mayhem possible from their triumvirate. Pirog is to guitar what Michael Jordan was to basketball — he's capable of anything he can conceive, and his conception covers quite a bit, from ambient atmospheres and mind-melting electronic subversions of sound to lyrical acoustic picking and fiery fusion.
One of Pirog's most recent projects before releasing Pocket Poem was a band that redefines the rock power trio (a concept that runs all the way back to the days of Cream and The Jimi Hendrix Experience). Pirog teamed with hometown legends Brendan Canty and Joe Lally of punk rock superband Fugazi to form The Messthetics, releasing two albums on Ian MacKaye’s iconic D.C. label Dischord and delivering their post-post-punk brain/brawn merger to tens of thousands at the 2019 Coachella festival.
But rock is not the only arena in which trios hold a powerful sway. From Oscar Peterson to Wes Montgomery, some of jazz’s greatest moments were also realized by trios. And from the time Pirog was studying music at Berklee College of Music, specializing in jazz guitar, and NYU, where he received a degree in jazz performance, progressive jazz was part of his artistic DNA.
Returning to D.C. after graduation, he and local cello star Janel Leppin blended improv, ambient, and electro-acoustic sounds as Janel and Anthony, which quickly became one of the Capital City’s most in-demand live acts and released several albums, including Where Is Home (Cuneiform 2012). D.C.’s diverse music scene thrived in the new millennium, and Pirog played with countless musicians in the city’s jazz, experimental, rock and modern classical scenes. He also began recording with nationally established, older musicians. Pirog's blend of searching and searing guitar found its way into works by avant-jazz hero William Hooker, free improv guitar giant Henry Kaiser (on 2019 Cuneiform release Five Times Surprise), and more. In The Spellcasters, which included late guitar-legend Danny Gatton’s rhythm section (John Previte, Barry Hart) and guitarists Joel Harrison and Dave Chappell, he recorded Music of the Anacostia Delta (Cuneiform 2016), which celebrated D.C.’s indigenous, hybrid guitar sound. But when Pirog partnered with acoustic bassist Michael Formanek and drummer Ches Smith for his first solo session, 2014's Palo Colorado Dream (also on Cuneiform) he happened upon a special kind of chemistry.
Formanek is a jazz vet who's recorded with Dave Liebman, Fred Hersch, and the Mingus Big Band, as well as popping up on albums by Elvis Costello and the like. Smith is a fixture of the downtown NYC scene who's worked with other forward-thinking guitar conceptualists like Mary Halvorson, Marc Ribot, and Elliott Sharp, in addition to making records with Tim Berne, John Zorn, and countless others.
When the three first came together, their ability to egg each other on to fresh territory led to some lightning-in-a-bottle moments. So it isn't hard to see why Pirog would summon Formanek and Smith back to the studio for his second solo project. After reaching new heights with Messthetics, he returned to the trio that first showed the world the range and reach of his guitar gifts.
For Pocket Poem, Pirog decided to expand the trio's palette by mixing modern technology with vintage guitar synthesizers. \"The use of guitar synths by John Abercrombie and Allan Holdsworth is very interesting to me,\" he says, \"and I wanted to explore the timbral possibilities available using these instruments in the recording process.\"
Envision Adrian Belew, Tortoise, Bill Frisell, Bert Jansch, and Brian Eno squeezing into a particle accelerator. The end result after flipping the switch might sound something like Pocket Poem. The album touches on every aspect of Pirog's musical personality — rock, jazz, avant garde, electronic, even folk — and with his cohorts' contributions, it all arrives at a place that's progressive in the most literal sense. At once exploratory and reflective, subtle and storm-brewing, organic and high-tech, Pocket Poem establishes Pirog's place not just as a major guitar threat but as a gifted composer.
