Upon a cursory listening only, USC professor John Fitz Rogers’ recent Gale Recordings release Transit seems to owe more to Emerson, Lake and Palmer than Varèse, Ligeti or Nancarrow. Nonetheless, after acquiring the composer’s score, it’s quite obvious that Transit, as a completely notated work of art, does indeed exist in a state of transition amongst the aforementioned artists. And — Holy Jesus, Batman! — what an incredible state it is. Consisting of 11 sections arranged in two parts, the piece is a 44-minute cumulative push forward replete with airy flute patches, multiple mensuration cannons, biting sawtooth waves, dense contrapuntal scoring, convincingly synthesized Latin percussion, irrational tempi indications, and of course amazing guitar work — both written and improvised — by longtime JFR collaborator Michael Nicollela. And while it is certainly difficult to ascertain the musical milieu in which Transit best resides (a characteristic that has baffled and intrigued the likes of The New York Times, 20th Century Guitar Magazine and Home Theater HiFi Magazine), I doubt that JFR would want it any other way. Exquisitely mastered in Columbia, South Carolina at the USC School of Music by engineering treasure Jeff Francis, this record is a veritable essay in modern studio techniques. The sheer sonic experience itself, sans score, is quite the one to savor.

Three long years, numerous hours of compositional toil, and ridiculously massive strands of binary code later, JFR and company have produced an exciting, solid record that will no doubt become a high water mark in Rogers’ ever-extending catalog. But perhaps more importantly, with the release of Transit John Fitz Rogers certainly seems to have successfully shed the last remaining vestiges of his Ivy League musical upbringing – well, at least most of it anyways.