For me, progressive began with Aeolius, (circa 39 A.D.), as he was the first to transpose the 3rd and 7th overtones in the Doric ascension of the original Gregorian chant scales. Also, he had the idea to have the baritones alternate between whole and half notes, whilst the tenors were alternating between the diminished 7th and flat 5. As the timing cycled, he accidentally discovered running a melody line in 13 over the bass in 5 (which Zappa stole, by the way), and what could be more progressive than that?
Yeah, I'm older than I look
