Jazz has always kept a close eye on pop music. What would jazz be without all the standards borrowed from Broadway? On the other hand, who thinks Miles Davis made a good move when he recorded a Scritti Politti hit? The Bad Plus have the bass, drum and piano format of a standard jazz trio, but they first got wide notice for playing Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” On Prog they continue to mine the top forty for material with mixed results.

Too many of the pop covers sound perfunctory. The sleepy take on “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears, which opens the CD, provokes unfortunate memories of Muzak and lounge singers. David Bowie’s “Life on Mars” sounds like operatic silliness. Beyond the covers, the original tracks show a strong influence from rock and pop, and not always for the better. “Physical Cities,” for example, ends with the jazz trio equivalent of pounded out power chords that are a prelude for a rock-style drum solo.

There are moments, though, that hint at how great the Bad Plus could be. “Giant” couples a steady, octave-leaping bass line of a dance track with piano playing that shifts moods constantly between bright and stormy. And on “1980 World Champion,” the group plays with the odd energy of both Dixieland and hard rock. In the end, though, Prog is too disjointed and too gimmicky to add up to a satisfying whole.