Although most progressive rock bands featured vocals, the long-from compositions and concept albums they produced left a great deal of room for stand-alone instrumental compositions. For example, Emerson, Lake and Palmer not only had long instrumental sections in their songs, they also re-interpreted composers like Mussorgsky, and "Tarkus" was heavily instrumental (and quite mind-blowing for a young kid coming to their music for the first time). The opening movement from that album side gives a strong sense of where I'm coming from here.
King Crimson is another group that straddled the progressive and fusion movements at the time and also featured long instrumental passages, as well as standalone instrumental pieces. A prime example of the latter is "Lark's Tongues in Aspic." It sounds at various turns like "pre-punk" music, jazz, and chamber music.
Of course, I would be remiss unless I mentioned my favorite all time progressive band, Yes. Although Yes didn't do a lot of standalone instrumentals as a band (the Grammy-winning "Cinema" from 90125 being a notable exception) the various members influenced instrumental music in under-appreciated ways. Keyboardist Rick Wakeman managed to build a successful and entirely instrumental solo career with albums like The Six Wives of Henry VIII and Journey to the Center of the Earth. Jon Anderson, although better known for his distinctive reedy tenor voice, combined ethnic instruments with electronics in the proto-New Age album Olias of Sunhillow. That album, like many Yes albums, featured extended instrumental passages like the following.
Finally, a tip of the cap to drummer/percussionist/composer Bill Bruford, whose musical odyssey spanned both Yes and King Crimson plus his own groups, which ran from progressive rock to modern jazz.
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