Uninvisible is further than ever from conventional jazz organ. While blues and funk influences are evident throughout the album, they float on a sea of shadows. Sound sources are obscure or exotic; on "Pappy Check" innovative scratching by turntablist DJ Olive creates an impression of African percussion more than club atmospherics. Even where the instrumentation is less ambiguous, the trio steers toward a filmic noir sensibility, with Medeski leading the way in unorthodox techniques.
Combustication is the fifth major album by experimental jazz fusion trio Medeski Martin & Wood, released on August 11, 1998. Combustication was MMW's first album for the renowned jazz label Blue Note Records, and also marked a stylistic shift for the band, with a deeper groove and the notable infusion of rhythmic influences from Hip hop and a variety of other styles. The album is also the first to include an accompanying turntablist, in this case longtime MMW collaborator DJ Logic.
Medeski, Martin & Wood had already created a series of fine albums and a fervent following before they were signed to Blue Note, one of the most prestigious labels in jazz history. But rather than taking it easy after having made it in the jazz world, MM&W actually pushed the envelope even further during the Blue Note years, continually challenging their listeners as well as themselves. Note Bleu: The Best of the Blue Note Years: 1998-2005 compiles tracks from all five Blue Note albums, and does an excellent job of summarizing their label tenure.
Structured like a religious mass, these seven lovely nocturnes take you to an otherworldly space of beauty and tenderness, unlike any other Zorn compositions you have ever heard. Gorgeous and restful music from a compositional seeker who continues to defy categorization, “Perchance to Dream…” is one of the most unusual and haunting collections in his catalog.
Written in December of 2020, Multiplicities: A Repository of Non-Existent Objects is a collection of twenty musical aphorisms inspired by the writings and thought of Gilles Deleuze. Volume One, released in 2022, featured the first set of ten compositions performed by the powerful electric ensemble Chaos Magick.
This fifth CD by the Chaos Magick band is one of Zorn's greatest recent achievements. Three extended compositions that run the gamut from Funk, Metal, Contemporary Classical, and more blended into a dramatic narrative that is constantly surprising and yet deeply inevitable. Featuring four of the most accomplished performers in Zorn's inner circle, this is a mind blowing document of Zorn's kaleidoscopic compositional vision. Astonishing and utterly essential!
Limited edition re-issue of their 2006 album includes a bonus six track live disc featuring 'A Go Go', 'Cachaca', 'The Tube', 'Amazing Grace', 'Deadzy' and 'What Now'.
OUT LOUDER marks the second collaboration between New York's downtown avant-groove trio Medeski, Martin & Wood and guitar giant John Scofield. The band backed Scofield on his 1997 outing A GO GO, but the results here surpass even the scintillating outcome of their first meeting. With musicianship of this caliber, however, and a collective sensibility that favors experimentation, genre-blending, and surprise, it's easy to expect great things.
OUT LOUDER serves up a respectable amount of MMW's much-loved funk-based vibe, especially on tunes like the opener, "Little Walter Rides Again," and "Tootie Ma is a Big Fine Thing," which work bluesy, New Orleans-styled grooves to crackling effect. But the vast range of the artists' taste is also evident, from Miles-inspired rock fusion to Ornette Coleman-tinged free jazz to transformed covers of tunes by the Beatles and Peter Tosh. Adventurous, textured, and accessible, OUT LOUDER is a heady and fun recording that advances the already sterling reputations of its participants.
The third studio meeting in nearly 17 years between Medeski, Martin & Wood and guitarist John Scofield has no easy referent to their earlier recordings – purposely. This quartet sounds like a real band on Juice, which is a mixed blessing. The positive aspect is that this longtime collaboration creates near instinctive communication. This is a much more inside date, though the rhythmic interplay between bassist Chris Wood and drummer Billy Martin is outstanding throughout.